RP:To Catch a Pirate

Part of the Birds of A Feather Arc

Summary:Leigh infiltrates the Broken Barrel in attempt at discovering from drunken chatter, details about the pirate ship that attacked Arien's merchant vessel.

Characters: Leigh, Npc Merchant vessel crew

Location: Rynvale; The Broken Barrel Inn.

Leigh pushes her way into the Broken Barrel, cloaked and inconspicuous. As per Arien and Higgin’s request, the surviving crewmembers of the merchant ship that had been attacked are noisily taking advantage of the free food and drink granted to them by the governor. They were completely oblivious to the fact that it was not only a complimentary meal, but also a clever ruse to get them liquored up just enough to make them willing to share any tidbits they left out of the initial report on the attack. And the huntress planned on being the one with willing ears for any loosened tongues. She passed several of the rowdy sailors in a path for the bar without acknowledging the presence of any of them, her eyes looking directly in front of her at her intended destination. For all intents and purposes, she was nothing more than a weary traveler in a threadbare cloak looking for a drink and perhaps some tantalizing gossip to pass the time. Garbed in her usual attire, which still reflected a time when she was Empress and wore only the best, Leigh would have had a harder time looking the part and so she forewent her expensive clothes for the evening. “Ale,” the lycan’s hoarse voice requests, accompanying the tapping of two fingers on the counter. A mug is delivered shortly after and paid for with two copper. She sips the beverage reluctantly; it was a cheap, bitter drink she could barely stomach, but she was determined to keep a low profile and that meant purchasing the cheapest thing available. Meanwhile keen ears pick through the boisterous conversations taking place at the tables behind her and even currently human ears twitch beneath layers of tawny locks. “Mirabella has been acting suspiciously lately. I think she’s beddin’ down with her ex again,” a sloshed deck hand mutters to a friend. “Ya think?” Mirabella’s sleeping habits are, of course, a complete nonissue to Leigh. She tries again, this time focusing on a pair of voices to her right. “It doesn’t look infected, but do you suppose I ought to have a doc give it a look see? I’m embarrassed to let anyone look… down there.” The former empress cringes and takes another swig of bitter ale just to get her mind off of whatever was ailing that particular gentleman. It is then that the huntress’ ears pick up on something relevant. “Oh, yes indeed, Missy. I was one o’ the few to actually put up a fight, but with the rest o’ these cowards throwin’ their hands up in surrender and beggin’ fer mercy, I had no choice but to go along with it. I used to work on a pirate ship myself back in my heydays, ya know.”

Leigh leaves the bar immediately, ale in hand, and makes her way towards the source of the braggart’s voice. She soon finds a middle-aged sailor seated comfortably with a buxom wench, far too young to be fawning over him, sitting on his lap. Without a word she joins the gathering of starry-eyed young men and women circling the fellow. He regards her for only a moment, appearing quite proud of himself for luring in yet another comely lass with his daring tale of survival. “Aye. I betcha I put a hurt on ‘round ten of ‘em ‘fore the capt’n called us down and surrendered to them pirates. I don’t blame him none. He didn’t make for a very strong leader to begin with.” The huntress barely resists the urge to role her eyes at the blowhard and settles in for the rest of his tall tales. She could be as patient as she had to be. Hunting was the best teacher for patience, after all.

Leigh : As time wore on, Leigh found herself increasingly annoyed by Seamus. She had learned his name around two hours ago, but not much else aside from the fact that he seemed to change his story depending on what made the girl on his knee swoon the most. On the upper hand, the rest of the crowd seemed to grow bored by his boasting as well and the persons at his table dwindled to one besides the huntress and the shapely flirt sitting on Seamus’ lap. The man sitting across from Leigh, whom she had learned was named Justin, turned out to be yet another surviving crewman. He had been on the receiving end of the older man’s playful cuffing all night and appeared to grow weary of the abuse. As he rises from his seat and heads for the exit, Leigh places her still half-full mug of ale on the table. “You’ve been quiet all evenin’, Missy. What’s the matter? Am I painting a much too vivid portrait of the violence for your delicate ears?” Seamus and the wench share a laugh at his comment, but the huntress ignores it completely as she stands up. When she turns to leave without so much as a word, the old sailor can’t believe her nerve. And after he had just favored her with such an exciting tale. He calls after her to no avail. She reaches the exit and disappears into the cool night.

Leigh wastes no time in catching up to Seamus’ friend just down the street. He was keeping an even pace, bracing himself against the brisk night air, as the fog rolled in off the sea. She assumes he is headed for the docks, but she doesn’t want him to get that far before she has a chance to get something out of him. The woman had decided that whatever information she could extract from the braggart in the Broken Barrel would be stretched if not completely fabricated. His younger friend, who had rolled his eyes at exaggerated details during the story, would be more likely to give a trustworthy testimonial. So, Leigh stops in the middle of the street and allows Justin a few more steps before speaking. The fog and her cloak would help in keeping her identity a secret just in case further interrogation was required later. She couldn’t afford to be recognized and thus avoided in the future. “Your friend has quite a mouth,” she says, breaking the silence found beyond earshot of the inn. Justin stalls in his tracks and turns to see who was speaking. “Yeah, a real blowhard, he is. You had enough of it too, eh?” Leigh doesn’t even offer a nod, instead moving the conversation towards what she really wants to know. “He spoke a lot about himself and the crew, but he neglected to mention what the assailing ship and her crew was like. Without such details, it makes it difficult to get a clear idea of what you poor fellows went through.” Justin, perhaps due to a mixture of drunkenness and strong feelings of dislike for his old buddy Seamus, doesn’t appear at all suspicious of the stranger’s motives. He simply nods with a scowl and gazes off towards the docks. “Seamus left out a lot of details. Like how he was actually the first man to start begging for his life and how he never really worked on a pirate ship when he was younger. That ship put a chill in my bones, though. It was dark that night, but the ship was darker. I never seen one like her before and I don’t want to see another.” Leigh’s eyes narrow a bit and she wonders if perhaps that is one of the minor details the crew forgot, or didn’t want, to divulge. There couldn’t be that many dark ships. At least not many as imposing as the one Justin apparently saw. “Dark, you say. Interesting,” the woman nods. “Oh yeah. From afar I’d say it blended right in with the night sky and sea, but up close it stood out. Gods, even the sails were black!” The huntress contains a grin, feeling she had accomplished something tonight. Now, if she could just get the lad to spill something else pertinent to the case, she could return to Arien with the good news. Unfortunately, Seamus chose that very moment to stumble down the street behind Leigh. He too was heading for the docks and without a word to either sailor, the former empress turns to make her way back to the Broken Barrel. As she passes the grumbling Seamus, she notices the right side of his face sports a very distinct red, hand-shaped mark. Perhaps he got a little too familiar with his young admirer. Leigh, on the other hand, has some grumbling of her own to do. She couldn’t risk continuing her conversation with Justin with Seamus loitering about and she didn’t doubt that the younger man would clam up the way he had at the inn with the braggart around. Seamus had already proved himself an unreliable source for trustworthy information and it would be no use trying to question him in the other man’s stead. So, Leigh is forced to abandon her hunt for tonight. Tomorrow, she decided, she would search the damaged vessel for clues and if possible, corner Justin and get the rest of the story from his mouth directly.