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They had been sailing a few days as Rro as captain. Most the crew had entirely shifted their loyalties believing their captain to be dead. But as they sailed on Rogers felt the air get cool. Like so cool that it didn't chill your skin, but your bones. The sea was slowly turning from a rich aqua blue color to a deeper black, they had entered the Dagger Gates. The sea where Death doesn't dare to sail. "Griffon, you ever seen a zombie?" The pirate laughed as he continued to sail straight and true.

An island city appeared on the horizon but Rogers sailed past it, the crew wasn't happy but they understood. Only hundred year old men lived out there, rotting away but unable to die. And as for the Cannonball Jack, she sailed just far enough behind Rogers ship to keep an error distance. The ability to attack at any time.

"Someone get Skyra on deck," Rogers knew that the pig man had fighting skill and the snout face had earned a bit of respect by the crew and even Rogers. He needed to know the full story of what they would be up against in this sea of dead sailers.

"I don't want to talk to you hairy apes," Skyra said from atop from the stern of the ship. He was looking out to see, throwing all else to the back of his mind. He felt he still had not earned respect from the apes after he lost to Griffon. Deep down, losing to a human made him pissed off.

"I'm not interested unless I get to slay some of you brainless simians or something that will make you realize we Scrauser are not just a bunch of pigs!" Skyra didn't know how much of the lack of respect he got was in his head, but at this point he didn't care.

Having won the duel, but being very injured in the end, Griffon spent those days recovering from his injuries. The spear marks on his side and the cut on his leg were easily cleaned and wrapped. The huge gash on his arm was a longer, more painful process to clean and treat. Bandages covered quite a bit of his arm. Three days after the battle the pain had definitely subsided, but the wounds had not completely closed yet.

Now he sat on a barrel telling a story to some of the crew about his time in a Drow prison. He told about his capture, the fights to the death he was forced to take part in, the friends he met, and was finally starting to tell of his escape.

Rro sailed on until one of the crew mates called down something from the eagle's nest, another crew mate approached Rogers with the news. Apparently the ship that had been following them had sunk, no cause or reason! Just went down, swallowed by the sea near to instant. This was extremely odd even if a ship had Cannon holes in the hull it would take hours to sink completely, so how had the Cannonball Jack sunk so easily?

A gargle came from water in front of the ship and Rogers reared a bit to starboard, he had never seen anything like this before. "All hands!" He yelled as the ghost ship began to surface, "battle stations!!!" Men ran to cannons and others adjusted the sails but there was something else strange going on. NO ONE WAS ON THE GHOST SHIP! The Cannonball Jack was completely empty...

The ship passed Iveth's slowly, just a ghostly shadow of it's former glory. As it passed screams echoed on board. Rogers motioned to the crew and they just watched the ship sail of quietly before vanishing into the mist, "eerie..." He said after a few moments, and the group continued to sail forward.

Skyra saw the passing ship that had no passengers on it. Skyra was not sure what to think about what he saw. "Huh? Where did everyone go?" Skyra asked down below. He then walked down to the deck and wanted answers. "Alright you filthy apes," he started. "Explain that ship now!" Watching the ship made him think of Iveth. He couldn't help but look at Rro and glare. He knew he was responsible for what happened to Iveth, but he couldn't prove it. ...Also, if they could dish out pig jokes, they could take monkey jokes.

Still in the middle of finishing his story, Griffon was interrupted when the call to battle stations went up. As the crew he was telling his story to dispersed rapidly, Griffon left to find the captain. Griffon was a storyteller, not a sailor, so he would stay by the captain to watch how he handles everything, what he watched could possibly go down in his later stories. When Skyra came down with an insult before a greeting, Griffon raised a brow and looked at him. "I think we are all in the same need of a bath my friend. You're on a ship after all, things tend to get dirty when you can't wash it."

A small white bird flew over the ship and landed up high above one of the sails. This was such an odd event even Rro was a little spooked. He kept his eyes fixed on the white bird, there didn't seem to be much land near here and this wasn't a seagull, so how did it get here? The bird began to sing and a few crew mates looked up and smiled at it's pleasant song. If only they had been expecting what would come next. The sound of the bird singing and the waves crashing masked the sound of surfacing evils and undead, zombie like men began to poke out of the water and climb up.

'Were being boarded!' A man yelled before his neck was stained red and he fell to the deck. Undead pirates climbed up the hull and pulled weapons out of their bodies, beginning to engage the crew in combat! Most did not yet have weapons yet so some fled to the lower decks where more undead had gotten threw the port holes and begin cutting good men down heartlessly.

"Back to battle stations!" Rogers yelled raising his hand, but without blood in their bodies Rogers couldn't get a hold on the undead crew! "Fight!" He yelled pulling his flint lock pistols from his belt and blowing the face off a savage sending the rotting man tumbling backwards to flip over the deck, crashing back into the black waves.

"I know we're not the best of pals Skyra but I think a temporary truce would be appropriate!" Rogers fired another shot disarming a rotter who almost brought his sword down on a crew mate. After the battle for captain, Rro thought maybe he should take Skyra's spears but decided against it in the end. He was now glad he had made that choice, "what do you say friend?" Rro was being half sarcastic, but he didn't put any pig jokes in his plea. This could literally mean the end of their adventure. Rogers had always had his blood magic as his ace in the whole... But this time he'd need something more.

"No, the other ship!" Skyra said, pointing over to the ghost ship when Griffon thought he was talking about this one. He then looked at Rro and shook his head. "There can be no true peace between us until respect is given. Once you see I'm not just a useless shrimp, then maybe it will happen. Why don't I prove to you right now of my competence?"

Skyra couldn't help but groan at the Skeletons. They just weren't good enough. Anyone could take down a Skeleton. Skyra wanted to prove himself over the ape-people. But that would have to wait for now as a Skeleton came at Skyra and the group. Skyra immediately thrust his spear at the Skeleton's head, beheading the Skeleton, but it still stood. Skyra thrust his other spear at the torso, knocking it all out in the process, but getting it stuck in the spear. Skyra put one spear down and swung the spear with the torso at a group of Skeletons. He managed to knock one over, but the others were coming quick.

"Blargh!" Skyra grunted. "Skeletons are so easy. There better be something tougher coming for us."

((Sorry guys! Lost the notification in my feed.))

Griffon was surprised by the sudden rush of undead. He'd fought many things in his adventures, but this was the first time he had fought the undead. As one lunged at him he parried the attack, then brought a fist into the being's skull. The storyteller immediately regretted it as ooze covered his fist, but knocked the being to the side. With a flick of the wrist and move of the arm and there was no longer a head on the body. "This is definitely going into the stories." Griffon says with a smile. Pardoners had a way of coming out of sticky usually in tact, so some sort of confidence stayed with Griffon even as one of the sailors he had just told a story to fell dead at his feet, another undead fiend now next to him. The confidence just shrank a little.

"Don't grieve just yet," Rro shot a zombie's head off as the headless pirate now swung his sword randomly before another crew mate kicked him off as their dead friends began to twitch on the deck. "Don't expect them to be friendly..." The fallen shipmates screeched as their bodies contorted on the wood floor, they began to stand rushing faster then the old ones to bite the living members. One living crew member was tackle and eaten alive by three or four of his undead friends, Rro fired a shot into the mess.

The bird continued to sing from above as a few crew mates cut down more undead. But the ones that didn't fall back into the sea kept on attacking, "Kill the fast ones! Your friends are the most dangerous!!!" There were about fourteen or fifteen crew mates left. The sea caped around the boat as the mist thickened, this only meant one thing the boat was slowing. "Ideas guys? Bard?? Pinky???"

"For starters, don't call me Pinky," Skyra said. "My name is Skyra. As for what we should do, how many can there be? A real warrior should be able to stand their ground no matter how many." Skyra managed to slay two more zombies who were coming in. "And if worst comes to worst, we might have to abandon ship."

Overhaul and Hiro were in one of four life boats in the ship, and at Skyra's suggestion three or four crew mates jumped into one. "Guy no!" Rogers knew this was a bad idea, "don't do it!" But they did , the life boat hit the water and was instantly over taken by the undead, the crew were dragged out of their tiny life boat and drowned! Undead pulled them downward, deeper and deeper toward their doom. "No abandoning ship!" Rogers called to the fifteen or so crew mates left.

He noticed the thick blood puddle on the floor and opened his hand in it's direction. The blood began to bubble before becoming and giant red dragon! It whipped around once throwing a almost a dozen zombies away from the ship and back into the water. This serpent made of blood then faded as it slipped into the water itself. "I'm not a pirate lord for nothing!" From behind him a zombie swing his sword toward his head and a crew mate blocked it.

Bang! The head flew off and body toppled off the deck, "thanks." This was bad, undead we're tearing up the ship, they didn't seem to stop coming, and Rogers crew was down to fifteen... A cry was let out, now fourteen men! The bird above kept on singing, "it's the white bird. It's the physical manifestation of the men's lost spirits! Silence the bird, stop the zombies!!!" Rogers had an idea though, this would come in handy later! "Skyra, Griffon!" He called, "one of you find a cage in Iveth's old galley! Capture that bird!!"

((OCC: Gamerz has brought it to my intention that he is busy getting ready for college. He suggested one round without him would be fine since he is just fighting the undead. Skyra is is your turn then we will return to Griffon!))

"What the hell!" Skyra cried when he saw the dragon of blood. "How did you do that!? ...Nevermind, I'll go find the cage first. After this ordeal is over, then we'll talk." Skyra then ran into the ship to find the gallery. Upon finding it, there was an old birdcage in plain sight. Skyra grabbed it and went back to the deck. "Fine, now what?" Skyra asked.

As Skyra dashed away to fetch the requested item, Griffon worked on holding off the swarm of undead. He countered a slashing hand, cutting it clean off, then flicked his wrist and slashed the sword through it's neck, severing the head. He turned and crushed the skull of a recently resurrected crew mate, then ran his sword through the eye, brain, and back of the skull of another member of the horde. "So, capture the bird, stop these things?" He asked them. Great, he thought, then he beheaded another undead fiend.

"I don't know," Rogers laughed, "but I believe it is worth a try!" He took the cage from Skyra and handed it to a crew mate pointing upward the man climbed up to the top of the mast struggling with his balance for a moment before sweeping the cage trapping the white song bird! The cage closed and the undead looked confused for a moment. The fighting quelled, and then... Angry shout echoed across the deck as undead tried to climb the mast to free the caged bird.

More undead climbed upon the deck slashing apart the crew mates, another fell, then another, two more... Including Rro, Griffon, and Skyra there were twelve crew mates left on board the ship. Undead surrounded the crew slowly but surely all hope seemed to be gone with the songs of the bird. "Would anyone care to say a few words before we are..."

A cannon could be heard echoing in the distance, but no large chunk of lead and metal tumbled across the deck! No, a bright, blazing FIREBALL rolled across before going over the edge and falling into the sea. The undead lit up instantly, the heat dries them out from the sea water and the embers caused them to be set a blaze! Collapsing and burning away, this single shot took out more then half of them but where had it come from? "Not him..." Rro's smile faded, the jolly captain knew exactly who it was. The only pirate with the skills to survive here.

Athens ship had come from behind wondering what crew this was with the balls to sail threw the Dagger Gates without a dragon cannon. These were special cannons that shot fire balls killing undead foes next to instantly! "I was gonna let my crew watch as you folks were torn apart by undead savages," a voice bellowed as the ship turned, swinging into a position right next to theirs. A tall dirty blonde haired man swung in from a rope and landed on deck.

"But when I saw the legendary blood dragon I knew Jolly Captain Rogers was on board!" Athens pulled out a pipe and placed it between his lips. He had no facial hair had had only one weapon on his belt. A golden knife of some sort. He snapped his fingers and between them a blue flame appeared. He lit his pipe and continued. "I thought you got captured Rro? What happened??" Before he got his response he shifted his attention to the crew including Skyra and Griffon.

"You are some lucky folks, in the presence of TWO of the FOUR pirate lords!" Athens laughed, but it was different then Rro's laugh. This was genuine, like a call to adventure laugh. Not one of a blood thirsty money lover like Rogers. His laugh was darker more determined then Athens. "Let me introduce myself, "I am Athens, the Dragon Breather! Pirate Lord of the South and Captain of the Candle Stick Pirates... Who then he'll are you lot?"

"What!? Pirate lords? Is that how you can preform those special magic tricks?" Skyra asked. "Anyway, my name is Skyra. I'm sure you've seen a Scrauser before? If you hadn't guessed, I'm one of those. I also have X-Ray vision, but that makes me see through things, so I wear bandages to dull it."

Griffon had seen enough wild activities to know that questioning Rro about the blood moving could wait until they were done. He wasn't really shocked by anything until fire washed through the deck. "Aye!" He yelled and ducked. When the fire finished, he sprang back out and killed any dying undead around him. Now, with the un-undead around him, both from his sword and (mainly) from the fire that had purged the boat, Griffon strode over to Rro and Skyra. He listened as the new man talked. Apparently it was he that had done it, and now Griffon wondered if he had a special machine, or if his powers were that awesome. Seeing how Rro had formed the creature out of blood, he assumed it to be the later. Assuming this was a good sign, Griffon took his turn to speak. "My name's Griffon, Griffon Pardoner," he said, extending a hand to the man. "If you haven't heard of me you may have heard of my family, they were legendary storytellers." Of course, the storyteller could not help but brag of his heritage.

He strolled around the crew, "Scrauser?" He smiled, "I freaking love you guys! With you eyes I find treasure beneath the waves and my diving team goes to retrieve all of it. Any chance you want a job?" Athens laughed and looked at the story teller, "I have a few on my ship, story tellers that is... Go see for yourself if you know any." He shot a stream if blue fire from his fist at a zombie attempting to regain an attack position.

Athens explained his Dragon Breather powers to the crew as well as what it meant to be a Pirate Lord. "All pirate lords have a bounty over ten million silvers!" He pulled from his belt a wanted poster of himself smiling at the artists job on his nose. The paper read '13 Million Silvers'. The men on the other ship had hardly noticed their Captain was over on this ship, they stuck to their work and socializing as Athens continued.

"There are four Pirate Lords, Me and Rogers of course." Flames consumed the man and he vanished, re-appearing beside Rogers, "then there are two others..." The crew all seemed quite interested with his big reveal. "Clove, the ghost of the sea. It's said not even HIS crew knows who HE is, I've never met this ghost but I hear HIS hands are as quick as lightning!" He chuckled, "There are also rumors HE may actually be a SHE... Ha, wouldn't that be funny."

"The last Lord, he's a cunning son of a..." An undead savage jumped up from bellow deck and made for the Candle Stick Captain! With the snap of his fingers a small ember lit the walker up like a firework and he dropped dead. "You guys don't have a Dragon Cannon? Really?? Do you want one???" The man looked towards Rro and smiled.

Rogers knew all of this, but he let Athens explain everything. He knew about Clove and... Him, the only man with a higher bounty then him. When Athens offered them a Dragon Cannon Rro knew that it would cost them. And the pirate was correct in that this was the only way to get threw the rest of the Dagger Gates safely. "How much?" He asked, extremely skeptical. But all Athens asked was one thing, the caged bird.

Rogers gave him the bird and it was released from the cage. This was odd to the blood artist but he asked no questions of it. "Thank you for the cannon..." Athens nodded and vanished into his fire. Reappearing on his own ship yelling a fair well to Rogers crew. Before the ship turned and sailed off into the mist. "I need a man on that cannon! We are leaving the Dagger Gates!" Turning his rig he headed south to get out of this undead nightmare.