The seas were quite as The Misery’s End lay still within the waters. She was in the middle of changing the sails, going from the glorious brilliant white colors to a dark, abysmal black. The progress though was not going as hastily as the captain of the sip wanted though because if they did not get them changed before the sun fell beyond the horizon their prey would be lost to them.

This ship was no passenger ship or vessel of war. No, this ship had only one purpose upon its wake. To take what was theirs, and to leave behind fear. As the main flag, the flew across the topmast belong to no nation, but instead the white skull. A pirate vessel, and one like no other. The large ship sailed by wind alone, no oars were needed like most of the galleys that sailed within the seas, the man who had constructed this ship had thought of that. He instead wanted the crew to be in perfect condition when they decided to board another ship and not exhausted from the rowing.

“Get yer back to it boys! I want those damned sails changed!,” The order was barked out, the voice that spoke it meant business and those who were with the man since the beginning knew it as well. “Bos’n!!” He called out and a burly man, carrying a whip came up to the captain. “Any hands that slack, let them feel the crack o’ yer whip, understand? Because if not I’ll take that whip and use it on yerself” He growled at the man. “Aye captain,” he replied and immediately went off to his duties before Raines had the chance to say another word. Which was the smartest thing the man could have done because if he had waited around for orders he would have more than likely met the end of the captain’s axe.

He walked off heading to his chambers when he heard the sound of the whip crack out through the air and orders being barked by the boatswain. A grin appeared on his face as he pushed open the doors. Fear and respect were what lead a ship of thieves, and he would not have these men slack just because they were free from the laws that normal citizens abided by. He had commanded this ship for 7 years and would continue to do so.

He walked over to the table that was in the middle of the room, a map lay across the wood held in place by daggers at the corners of it. Marks were drawn upon the map showing the course that The Misery would take, and the ship that it would intercept. The compass that laid upon the map showed that they were still in the right heading. Their goal was to take the cargo of the merchantman that was heading towards Adeluna, what they did with said cargo was up to how much supplies they had left in the hold. If they had plenty they would sell them at more than triple their cost, if they were running low they’d take it for their own. Either way, it was beneficial to the whole crew.

He picked up the pipe and backed it tightly with herb, before taking a small piece of paper and lighting it on fire and using that to light the pipe. He took a draft, and slowly exhaled it. “Poor sods, thinking it’d be a simple delivery. Too bad tha’ their misery was only to begin.” His thoughts were interrupted by the knock on his door as his eyes glanced over. “Enter!!” he shouted out. He knew who it was already, and wondered what they needed from him.

Raleigh could make out the voice of her captain on the other side of the door immediately after she knocked. She pushed the door open, stepping inside Raines’ quarters. “Captain,” she said, nodding her head in a respectful manner. Her eyes scanned him for a moment, her taupe colored gaze eventually locking with his. She drew in a sharp breath before advancing towards him, standing across the table from him. The smell of the herbs burning in his pipe burned her nostrils as she inhaled, though the smell gave her something of an odd comfort, as it had become as familiar to her as Raines himself. Without further hesitation, she lifted her arm, which had been slightly hidden behind her, and proceeded to drop a freshly severed hand, still dripping blood, onto the table, careful to miss the daggered down map.

“Rogers,” she said rather simply. “You remember him, don’t you? Weird looking bloke we picked up back in Egjora a few months back?” She paused, for dramatic effect more than anything, letting her captain recall the memory of which crew member she spoke of. “Suffice to say I have had enough of his knobbly fingers pinching at my backside whenever I passed by him,” she said, no hint of remorse to her voice. “Shame, really. He could have been an asset,” she added, though she shrugged her shoulders slightly. She looked at Raines with a rather sharp glint in her eyes. “I’m not sharing quarter with the crew anymore,” she said, rather matter-of-factly. “I’ll sleep in the damned galley if need be. You know I can hold my own when I’m awake, captain, but all it’s going to take is one of the crew to make a stupid decision while I sleep. Most of those men haven’t been with a woman since they took up with you,” she added, her voice slightly low - she knew that her captain would get the point she was trying to make. She had the respect of the crew, but there were always bad eggs coming out the hen house.

“Berth’s going to need a good swabbing,” she said, clearing her throat so as to indicate that her moment of showing even remote fear was over. “ Don’t suppose the crew’s going to want to be sleeping with the smell of a slaughterhouse lingering in the air,” she said, hinting at the metallic tinge the air in the crew’s quarters had no doubt taken on with the spilled blood.

Turning her body sideways, Raleigh planted her hands firmly on the edges of the table, using the palms of her hands to hoist her body up so that she could perch herself, sitting on the edge. The blade fastened at her side clanked against the wood, and she pulled up at the whip on her belt to keep it from being caught beneath her. Her boot-clad legs dangled several inches off the ground, as she was a woman of rather small stature. She reached into her corset, fishing out a small, roughly smithed flask from between her breasts. Pulling the cork out, she went to take a drink of whatever liquid it housed, finding it to be dry. Wrinkling her nose, she placed the cork back in and tucked the flask back into her corset, leaning instead to one side and swiping the half full bottle of rum that sat on her captain’s table. She took a long swig from it, but didn’t place it back on the surface of the table just yet.

Instead, she twisted her body, leaning so she could see the plotted out direction on the map, using the hand that did not hold the bottle of rum to pull her hat from her head, her blond hair falling down around her shoulders in twisted waves from the salty sea air. Setting her hat down beside her, she used her finger to point at the plotted location of their target vessel. “Do we know what mercantile this merchantman is carrying?” she asked Raines, a slight tone of concern to her voice. “Galley could use a replenishment of rations in the relatively new future,” she said thoughtfully. “Myself, I could use a wardrobe replenishment, a clothier wouldn’t be the worst case scenario,” she added offhandedly, tugging at a loose thread coming from the corset she wore.

She took another rather hefty swig of the rum, this time setting the bottle back on the table and hopping down. She made her way around the table so she stood next to her captain this time, focusing on the map once more. “Looks to be a fairly straight on course,” she said, eyes shifting to the compass, the map, and then back up to Raines as she straightened back up. She looked up at the captain, grabbing her hat back off the table and placing it back on her head. “What’ll you have us do after boarding, Captain?” she asked, a bit of a grin on her lips - clearly hoping the captain was about to give her permission to get into a bit of ‘trouble’ aboard the ship they were going to intercept.

The moment the woman opened the door he knew there was going to be trouble. Here usual demeanor was not the same, and the sounds of dripping from behind her rang out over the voices of the crew trying to change the sails. She approached the table before dropping the severed body part upon his table. The tips of  the fingers still had some color to them, and the blood dripping from the cutoff point still had a decent flow, all pointing to a fresh cut. Raines just closed his eyes and took a far larger drag from the pipe.

“Aye, I remember the lad. Seemed he ‘ad a death wish when he first request to join the crew,” He stated as he exhaled the vapors from his hit of the pipe. He knew this would be an ongoing issue with newer deckhands that they picked up from ports. Most seafaring ships did not have a woman on board, for reasons of bad luck or just to keep the men in line. Raines had decided to give this woman a chance and she had proven her worth more times that he could count, he even made sure to give her a post that showed that she had his respect.

”Yet, I can not have you be swinging yer stabbers at every bloke who thinks they can get a piece o’tail! His gaze was deadlocked with her own, yet he had a commanding air about him and one slight misstep from the quartermaster before him could have consequences from her end. The crew was one thing that they had issues on coming by and he could not have more dead men on his hands, so this would mean that he would have to grant her selfish request if he wanted to keep the peace. ”So be it then, there is a store room close by…yet ye will be moving every piece out yerself, ya hear? If the crew has any issue with your ‘accommodations’ they can take it up with me.”

Of course he would not give into their demands or complaints, no even she knew what he should’ve meant by that threat. They would be put to far more strenuous work or even the end of his axe blade. He sat back down on his side of the table as their talk of the situation was over and he made his point. As he reached to get a drink, it would seem that Raleigh had made herself comfortable and and grabbed the bottle that he was reaching for. Of course a scowl crossed his face. He stood up to point out the route the merchantman would take”A supply run between the Sularia and Adeluna, supplies being shipped between the two. It is the usual time that their shipment runs. Hard to pass up the opportunity to snatch up some exotics from the Desert Rose.” He had remembered this trade route from his time of working as a shipwright in Adeluna, and even over the years the ship came at the same time of the year on the same exact course.

”We’ll keep what we need to resupply ourselves. The rest…well I'm sure we could fetch far more silver at our exchange rate don’t you agree?” He cared not about the issues of her clothing, she would take the damn clothes if they had it aboard anyways. She had finally set the bottle back down and when she hopped down from the table, which he reached from almost immediately and took a deep swig from it himself. ”It is quite simple, we’ll take all by force if needed. I care not if their blood is shed, keep those alive who surrender.”

As their business was finished he went to the door of his chambers and opened it before turning back to the woman. ”Take that hand with you, i’m sure you can find a slacker to clean beneath.” He ordered and reached out and grabbed the collar of a deckhand who walked by, slightly joking the sod from the unexpectedness of it all. The young man turned to face the captain, obvious fear in his eyes wondering if he had done something wrong. ”Calm yerself boy, I just need you to clean the deck of the blood our dear quartermaster decided to trek with her. And this room as well, spotless ya hear.” The man ran off to find a pail to start cleaning.

”Time to see if the men met their deadline, wouldn’t you say? He grinned and took another swig of the bottle of rum still in his hand as he made his way out, the door still open for the quartermaster to leave as well.

The reaction offered by her captain had been nothing other than what she had expected. She knew he would not exactly be pleased with the fact that she had dismembered a crewman, but she had to make a point. Raleigh almost laughed as Raines merely closed his eyes slowly, pulling the smoke from his pipe. She drew in another deep breath through her nostrils as he exhaled, once more taking in the scent of the burning herbs. When Raines had opened his eyes again, she shook her finger at him. ”Maybe I wouldn’t be dirtying my blade with the blood of these pigs if you’d find a bit more reputable crewmen,” she said, though there was a hint of a smirk to her face. It was clear she was joking - what sort of reputable man would become a pirate?

”I wouldn’t let the swine working on this ship touch my belongings if my life depended on it,” she said, her voice becoming slightly rough and gravelly with a slight hint of annoyance, though the light that had flooded into her eyes gave way that she was rather pleased she was getting her way.

The conversation shifted to that of their upcoming venture, and she turned her attention to the route that Raines was indicating. Her eyes lit up further when he mentioned the vessel they would be taking was running from Sularia. She had not been lying when she had said her wardrobe needed some sprucing up, and if the vessel had any garments from Arri, she would be more than pleased. Granted, the type of garments that she might find may cause further problems with the ship’s crew in the long run, but she would deal with that as it came. ”I’ll make sure the galley gets restocked with whatever we can find - rations are still plentiful, but won’t be long before they begin to run low.” She circled around so she was standing next to the captain, eyeing the map more closely for a moment. ”I’ll be sure to take a good inventory of whatever we take on board,” she said, her face stoic and emotionless.

As Raines made his way to the door, she followed closely behind, picking up the severed hand as she had been instructed, letting out a good chuckle at the response of the deckhand that he ordered around. She cut herself short before it became too audible, knowing that she had already toed the line more than once in the past several minutes. Before Raines actually exited his quarters, Raleigh clapped her hand on his shoulder - a bit of a reach for her - and gave him a broad grin. :You’re rum’s much better than the swill we’ve got below deck,” she said. ”Going to have to keep that in mind,” she concluded, winking at him. She slipped around him quickly after walking out behind him.

A few of the crew shot her dark looks as she exited, clearly harboring a grudge for the stunt she had pulled earlier. She looked them dead in the eyes, her boots thudding against the deck as she walked toward the ship’s edge, tossing the severed appendage into the sea below. She turned back to the crewmen that were staring her down, and made a straight beeline for one of them. He was a younger fellow who clearly hadn’t learned the ways of the ship. ”Get to your station,” she said sternly, her voice rather commanding.

The younger man let out a guffaw. ”Bit funny, lads, innit?” he said, turning towards his fellow crewmen. ”I’d be knockin’ my boots with thems o’ the cap’n too if I’d find meself up in ranks,” he said. No sooner had the words left the man’s mouth than Raleigh’s bare fist had connected with his face, a sickening crunch accompanying the impact. Blood gushed from the affected nose almost immediately, the man falling to his knees and letting out a painful yelp. The other crewmen backed off immediately, having realized the mistake of the younger man, headed towards their stations to prepare for the upcoming interception.

Raliegh crouched down so she was at eye level with the man on his knees. ”I earn my rank by proving my worth,” she said, loudly enough so any surrounding crewmen on the deck would hear her. She then leaned a bit closer to him, and at the same level she had spoken at previously, continued. ”And I don’t sleep with pirates,” she added, before standing once more and walking back towards Raines.

She grabbed the brim of her hat and pulled it down slightly, looking her captain in the eye. ”Do we know how long until we intercept the vessel from Arri?” she asked him, clearly intent on making the interception run smoothly.