Besmara's Chosen Ch. 03

Erkos woke grateful that he no longer had to sleep in a hammock, since that was just an all around bad idea. Today, the Chef, Croop, decided that it was time for turtle soup. Erkos thought to himself. Well that's better than horribly burnt swine.

Erkos shrugged and went up on deck, a mischievous thought dancing into his mind. Looking up to the riggings he cupped his hands to his mouth and called out.

"MURCH!"

Sure enough a lemon shaped giant green head popped over a sail.

"Murch, we need your help swimming to catch some turtles. Just let me tie a rope to you."

The Monkey Goblin jumped out of the rigging and Erkos quickly fashioned a harness for him, then threw him into the water, where he quickly swam out and grabbed a sea turtle, stabbing it in a goblish frenzy. As the little monster grappled with the turtle Erkos gave a mighty tug and pulled them both back up onto the deck, only to notice the maniac trying to jump back in to fight a shark that had been attracted by the blood.

"No you don't." He murmured. While he was holding the goblin by the harness a youngster, likely a powder monkey, came running up in an absolute panic, covered in scratches. He babbled something at Plugg, who quickly yelled at Erkos and his companions to get belowdecks and find out what was going on, and to pick up some weapons from the Quartermaster. Erkos nodded, and quickly went to check on the powder monkey first, avoiding a whipping by giving Plugg the worst possible death glare ever.

The boy seemed fine and Erkos headed down to the Quartermaster, calling his armour to himself as he did. He acquired his crossbow back and followed the others down to the hold. Rats. Dire Rats. Erkos shuddered and felt sick to his stomach. Looking to the goblin by his side a thought passed over him and before Murch could react Erkos threw him at the nearest rat, causing the little monster to land on the rat's head and kill it. The fight went quickly, and though the rats got in some good bites, the day was won.

Feeling curious about medical supplies Erkos began searching about, and although he didn't find any, he did come across a small magic bag. Some sort of bag of holding. He shrugged and gabbed it, deciding that he'd move it somewhere safe before returning to duty. He handed in his crossbow and smiled before heading back to work at the kitchen, where Ruben, the human male, had made a complete and utter mess of the turtles.

He looked to Croop. "You know he's really bad at this right?"

Turtle soup was salvaged that evening and everyone ate happily. Ruben began to entertain with a song that mocked the captain in subtle ways. This angered Scourge, who screamed for the singing to end, much to the annoyance of all the sailors.

Erkos gathered the men and women around him, speaking of the Pirate Code, preaching and lighting the desire for a true captain, one who follows the code. Suddenly he felt someone looming over him, it was Scourge.

Erkos had enough, the tiefling stood up tall, glaring violently at Scourge. "It would be very unfortunate if something upset me Master Scourge. I am, as you heard me talking, bound by the Pirate and Privateer code. His tail coiled around his legs as he leered at Scourge. "You know I would never do anything to an honourable foe though."

Satisfaction flickered in his eyes as Scourge stumbled back, obviously intimidated. Others were standing up behind him, gathering around. Scourge's hand drifted towards his whip as Erkos continued to look him in the eye, not letting him see that he was feeling rather scared.

The whip crashed down on Erkos' chest, causing him to scream in agony as the many branches of the cat ripped at his soft flesh, leaving open wounds. He stumbled for a second, grasping the injury as it oozed black blood. For a split second he stayed here, feeling a demon's rage building deep in his chest. He heard the whip move and something deep inside him snapped. His head rising up and eyes glowing with pure hatred he moved, swift as lightning, teeth clamping onto Scourge's whip arm, even as a spell of flashing lights hit them both. Scourge dropped to the deck, knocked out cold by the disorienting barrage of colour, and Erkos found himself facing Plugg while a brawl filled the room behind him.

The Tiefling wiped the blood from his mouth and darted forward, moving swiftly and precisely. Long sharp canines locked onto Plug's hand, leaving him hissing in pain. Then the hilt of Plugg's cutlass came down and Erkos blacked out from the pain.

He awoke to Ruben healing him. They were in the brig with three others, all female. Erkos quickly tended to them, healing them up.

His ears perked up when he heard Sandara's voice on the other side of the door, congratulating him on his bravery and telling him that it wasn't yet time to get into fighting the captain. And that he'd be fighting someone called Owlbear.

Taking this Erkos nodded and sat back. Well at least he wasn't going to be losing his head tomorrow. Though getting the shit beat out of him wasn't something he was looking forward to.