It's calm seas and a beautiful horizon this far south! The Kennex Brothers are on a treasure hunt and it's a fine day for it, the sun shining down and the breeze keeping a snap in the sails and pushing the stern of the ship along behind. The longships' prow noses through the crystalline sea, heading away from Stormward and towards waters known for their eclectic company.

Having dug up the 'treasure' -- that was really just about 500 silver that Aethan had switched for the place of his sword that Ian had hid as a child -- they are now on a more serious actual treasure hunt. Or just sailing, one or the other. Who knows when they'll have another chance? It is nice to be the admiral, because then you can take whichever ship you want, which is, of course, what Aethan has done, and he is currently at the helm, though his expression is not quite as impassive as normal. He's even smiling! Will wonders never cease.

"You'd think they never let you conn a ship anymore, Aethan," says Porter around a mouthful of apple. He's been eating them almost constantly since the apple harvest festival, and he has the damndest habit of eating the core and all, like a goat. "You should take that up with the admiral. He's the one with the magnificent hat." Porter can't resist ribbing his older brother a little.

Ian is at once clumsier and more at home on the pitching deck of a ship. His cane is stowed somewhere, replaced by a sword at his hip. The sword he's used since he was fifteen. He has a tendency to fall if he's not holding onto anything, but there's plenty to hold onto, so the end result is that he moves more easily on a ship than on land. With his hands on a railing, he's content to listen to his brothers tease each other. Or really, he's just content. The wind ruffles his short, dark hair.

Aethan gets Giant purple admiral's hat from Canvas Backpack.

Aethan checked command + sailing at difficulty 20, rolling 36 higher.

Ian checked dexterity + sailing at difficulty 20, rolling 51 higher.

Porter checked dexterity + sailing at difficulty 20, rolling 24 higher.

Aethan does have a really excellent hat, it's true. It is giant, and purple, and it has a beautiful feather in it. And he is also wearing it, which may seem incongruous for the normally unadorned admiral, but his brothers know him better, obviously. This is a trip which requires the proper pomp. He even lets out a snort that's more laugh than not at Porter's comment. "I'll do that," he remarks dryly, before turning over his shoulder to yell some orders at the other sailors they have brought with them for the trip. Whatever he says, it's very admiral-y, and he's obeyed without question, so that's nice.

He's quiet for a moment, turning back to the horizon, before he reaches into his coat, pulling something out, which he hands off to Ian. And perhaps surprisingly, it's also a map -- but not a map that's a child's drawing. No, this is a real map, with landmarks around Stormward that Porter and Ian would no doubt recognize, well-drawn to scale. And some directions, then a mark denoting...well, something. Something that is on one of the islands near their home. But WHAT?! "Maybe whatever that is will be better than 500 silver, hm?" he remarks somewhat enigmatically, though seeming quite pleased with himself as well. For him, it's a lot.

Porter crowding in to see is something like an enthusiastic mountain casting a long shadow when one isn't expecting it. He peers down at it, then tilts his head to the side. "The cartographers really outdid themselves. This looks official. You could have it framed and mounted." A seaward gust blows through ruffling hair and parchment alike. "It could be as much as five hundred and fifty silver, you know. Someone never did pay me back that fifty silver." He clears his throat.

Ian is in the shrouds, climbing down from helping with the sail. After what happened to him, a sensible person would stay the hell out of the rigging, but Ian is apparently not sensible. He might stumble on the deck, but he climbs like a monkey. He climbs down to where he can take the map from Aethan and then situates himself sitting in the shrouds to look at the map. "I didn't draw this one." Aethan might be the Admiral, but Ian is Captain Obvious.

Aethan checked perception at difficulty 25, rolling 11 lower.

Ian checked perception at difficulty 25, rolling 12 lower.

Porter checked perception at difficulty 25, rolling 17 lower.

The smaller clipper-type ship that comes up behind them approaches far too swiftly for it to be spotted and a proper warning given. It's flying a black flag with white skull and crossbones, an ominous sign to be sure. There's only a moment to decide what to do as the pirate crew ready their hooked ropes and prepare to board the bigger longship.

Ian gets Basket-hilted Rubicund Sword from Aged Satchel.

Ian puts Heavy Cane in Aged Satchel.

Porter wields Intricately forged ancient steel broadsword.

"You can have it back as soon as you replace bottle of vodka you stole from me and drank our first trip out," Aethan says with a look to Porter, but after a moment, he amends, "Or the equivalent." The equivalent non-alcoholic thing, one assumes. He looks back over to Ian with a wider smile, and adds, "No, you didn't. I found it." But whatever else he might have said -- like where he found it, or really anything else at all -- is stopped by the magical arrival of another ship. He doesn't even see it until it's right upon them, and he lets out a curse, cutting hard away from it and reaching for the axe on his hip. "Starboard!" he yells. "Cut the ropes!"

Aethan wields diamondplate axe.

Distracted from his study of the map by the shouts of the crew, Ian looks up. He automatically moves to hand the map back to Aethan, but Aethan isn't there, so he tucks it into his double breasted coat. His motions are swift, but at the same time unhurried. He's getting that look in his eye, the profound sense of calm, as though all is right in his world.

Porter is already running, boots pounding on the deck the instant that Aethan calls for the ropes starboard to be cut. His bridge coat billows out behind him, blue leather flapping to reveal brassy gold brocade on the inside as he draws his broadsword and hacks at the lines tethering the ship to theirs. The first one cuts easy, but there's more than one. "One down!"

Ian climbs higher into the shrouds to get a better idea of exactly what they're facing.

Aethan checked command + leadership at difficulty 20, rolling 54 higher.

Porter checked strength + huge wpn at difficulty 20, rolling 17 higher.

Ian checked wits at difficulty 20, rolling 11 lower.

The sailors under Aethan's command jump to his bidding the moment their Admiral barks out the order. Like well-oiled cogs, they start to join Porter's heroic efforts to cut the ropes. They manage at half on the eight lines thrown, scarring the rails of the ship with their hatchets and blades.

Up the other four ropes, pirates start to crawl, two by two.

"I see about ten," Ian calls to Aethan and Porter (and the rest of the crew) while he skims down the ropes again. "I can't see belowdecks." And then, without ceremony, he moves to meet the first men climbing on board.

Aethan's head jerks toward the side where the other boat is, watching for a second before he lets out a whistle of warning, and cuts the ship hard the other way, //toward// the other ship, in an attempt to knock the boarding pirates who do not know what the signal means -- unlike his brothers and their crew -- off balance.

Porter rumbles along the deck, hand skimming the gunwale as he runs at the next rope. Undoubtedly it bears another boarder and Porter purposefully waits a couple of beats so they can get that much higher. Then Aethan whistles shrilly and the big sailor flashes a bright grin from beneath his immaculately groomed beard. He casts a jaunty salute and then brings the broadsword down hard, cleaving another line to send a pirate falling just as the longship angles toward the pirate ship. Life is going to be hard for them down below.

Aethan checked command + sailing at difficulty 30, rolling 28 higher.

The ominous creaking of the gunwale is audible as Aethan turns the longship hard to port and the wind catches the turn in the sails. The pirates look startled, and as there's only a few left on their ship, the ragtag crew are slow to respond, slow to turn away. They clearly weren't expecting such a ballsy move.

Thanks to Aethan, two fall into the brink between the slowly colliding ships. Ouch. But four pirates make the decks of the Kennex ship, and brandish wicked looking swords.

The ominous creaking of the gunwale is audible as Aethan turns the longship hard to port and the wind catches the turn in the sails. The pirates look startled, and as there's only a few left on their ship, the ragtag crew are slow to respond, slow to turn away. They clearly weren't expecting such a ballsy move.

Thanks to PORTER, two fall into the brink between the slowly colliding ships. Ouch. But four pirates make the decks of the Kennex ship, and brandish wicked looking swords.

Ian checked strength + medium wpn at difficulty 25, rolling 36 higher.

Porter checked strength + huge wpn at difficulty 25, rolling 26 higher.

Ian checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 25, rolling 17 higher.

Ian hangs onto a line through the sudden pitch of the the deck as the ship heels into the turn and drives her thicker hull against the smaller vessel. And then he drops the last short distance and closes with the men who've made it on board. His expression is almost slack, his eyes serene, even as he draws his sword with a rasp of metal. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Because he is.

Porter checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 25, rolling 9 higher.

Aethan glances over to the side again just as Porter sends two of the pirates down into the water at the most opportune time -- or least for the pirates, really. That is likely to hurt. He has to grin at that, too, despite the urgency of the situation, and his eyes flick to Ian then too, before he turns back to concentrate on the helm, trusting his brothers to have the fighting in hand.

The boarding party has guts to take on a Kennex naval ship, but they must not have expected the Kennex Brothers themselves to be aboard. Porter gamely waits for one pirate to throw both his legs over the side and get to his feet before brandishing his sword. Steel clashes against steel, and for a wonder, Porter plays at patience. Small moves. Just a shifting of the legs to let a sword move past him by a handsbreadth... followed by a punishing pommel strike to the bridge of the pirate's nose. "Look, you really want to climb back down that rope," he suggests, not unkindly. His smile, however, is fierce. He knows that isn't going to happen.

Ian takes the sword aimed at his midsection as a yes even as he puts the pirate he's fighting between himself and the one attacking him, making dodging a lot easier than it would otherwise be. With the deck of the ship moving under him in a way that he can't feel, he has an odd, lurching style of fighting that makes use of everything around him (and occasionally also his opponents). It makes him hard to predict, while he, by contrast, seems to know instinctively where around him is, and where everyone is going to be. He's silent now. No quipping. No smiling. No sense of urgency, anger, or fear. Just the problem set in front of him of the most efficient way to take two grown men apart with his sword.

The pirates aren't sure anymore. It's clear on their expressions. As soon as they face off against the skilled swords of Ian and Porter Kennex? They're entirely uncertain. The men turn aside thrust after thrust and deliver blow after blow in heroic fashion. But the pirates are committed now. They can hear the crunch of their ship, the screams of the men behind them. It's either take this ship, or die. And so they fight on.

And now two of them rush Aethan, and the helm.

Aethan checked strength + medium wpn at difficulty 40, rolling 26 higher.

Ian checked strength + medium wpn at difficulty 25, rolling 38 higher.

Porter checked strength + huge wpn at difficulty 25, rolling 17 higher.

Aethan checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 20, rolling 27 higher.

Aethan glances over his shoulder, just in time to see the two that are rushing toward him. His expression contorts into a grimace, and he keeps one hand on the helm, the other bringing the axe up to swing it in as controlled an arc as he can, slashing one of the pirates across the shoulder, and managing to hit the other in the side as well.

Ian lurches forward when he should be darting away, uses the forearm portion of his cardian snakeskin spauldur to casually turn side the blow of a sword at an angle where the force isn't going to break his arm, and punches the man he's fighting in the face with the metal basket hilt of his sword while at the same time, smooth as silk, he draws the knife at his belt and slides it neatly between his ribs. Both men go down together, but Ian's the only one who gets back up.

The pirate attacking Porter finally gets his blade up and charges porter. Steel shrieks against steel, and the two hold their swords against one another in mortal combat. It's a matter of leverage now, and Porter pushes, muscles straining, legs churning. The pirate backs up until his legs are pinned to the gunwale... then Porter gives a final push. His sword rings as the other slides along its length and offers no more resistance, pitching the pirate over the edge to land in the churning, salty maw of the sea between the colliding ships, or to the hard wooden deck below. Either way, the scream ends suddenly.

They die horribly, blood in the sea and blood on the decks. That'll stain. And now there are only two left, and they're both fighting Aethan for control of the ship.

Ian checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 4 higher.

Porter checked strength + huge wpn at difficulty 20, rolling 2 higher.

Aethan has rolled a critical success!
Aethan checked strength + medium wpn at difficulty 20, rolling 95 higher.

Aethan is looking a little in the weeds -- but that's before he sees Ian slay his attacker, and Porter push his over the side. His brothers' successes seem to give him renewed determination in his own fight...and maybe bring a little something out of him that both his brothers have seen, though only rarely. He slashes the first right across the stomach, and the axe is so sharp that the pirate only registers surprise for a second -- but only a second. Seeing one's guts spill out onto the deck is quite a shock. But Aethan's already going for the other, this time for his neck.

It's like Ian knew how it was going to go. He pulls himself to his feet, and rather than rush to Aethan's defense, he takes his time scanning the deck of the ruined ship. He looks over at Porter and Aethan in time to see Aethan... doing that thing that he is doing with his ax. Having confirmed that everything is in hand, he considers the best way to get onto the deck of the slowly sinking ship.

It's either overkill or indignity when Porter brings the pommel of his sword down hard on the first pirate, the one still holding his hands to his stomach as everything starts to tumble free. Porter makes a face and leaps back nimbly from the gore and ducks away from the carotid spray of the other lest he get any of the mess on his coat. The coat he got for a gift and is trying hard to keep clean.

Their work done, Aethan looks up to meet Porter's gaze, and theres a short nod. It's not of thanks, really -- it is clear that he knew he would be there. But it's just...acknowledgement, and gratitude, even though it was expected. He looks over to Ian then, and says, "Leave it, Ian. I want our treasure." There better be some, after that!

"I'd like to be sure they were acting alone," Ian protests. But almost doglike, he automatically stops considering the deck with the words 'leave it'.

Porter makes a face. "Did any make it?" he asks Ian, crossing the deck to also look over the side. One might think he's concerned about being boarded again, but his brothers know better. Porter is worried about leaving them adrift to die terribly. So they gambled and lost, perhaps they will have learned not to do so in the future.

Not a soul moves on the slowly sinking ship, not on deck, belowdeck, or in the water. There's plenty of dead bodies floating amongst the wreckage, though. Six, at least.

"Belowdecks, maybe," Ian replies to Porter. "The ship will sink eventually. It's already starting to list." He doesn't sound concerned for anyone who might be cowering below -- just pointing out the facts.

Aethan looks from Ian to Porter, the latter eliciting just a slightly softer expression. "We'll do a wider patrol when we come back," he says after a moment, "just in case, and see what we find. All right?" Call it a birthday compromise.

Porter nods. It looks like there's going to be enough wreckage for the odd survivor, if one even exists, to cling to. Maybe even make for shore. And that's enough for him. "Right," he says in agreement. He plucks a grappling hook with about two feet of rope still dangling from it and tosses it over the side. "Are we still on course after that ramming maneuver?"

Ian gives the ship one last look, more hesitant than his brothers to leave something undertaken less than absolutely complete. But Aethan's authority reigns over all, even his 'personality quirks', so, running his hand along the gunwhale as he moves, and then grabbing at the shrouds where they meet the deck, he moves to join his brothers. He unbuttons his coat enough to draw the map out; the double breasted leather protected it from the blood that got all over his armor.

Aethan checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 6 higher.

Ian checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 5 higher.

Porter has rolled a critical success!
Porter checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 9 higher.

Once Ian leaves the railing and gets the map back out, Aethan nods once, and then looks toward the horizon, squinting as a couple land masses come into view. He glances over his shoulder at the two with the map, holding steady while he waits for confirmation.

Ian's brow furrows. "Wait. Isn't this... "

"Right. With the waterfalls. You should bring Zoey, sometime. I came here once with Lady, er, a friend. It was really romantic. I built a shack and she mostly just wanted to watch, which was okay with me because I got to watch her watching me. Anyway--" Porter takes a breath. "It might still be there. It's got quite a view of the sunrise, if you're the kind to get up that early."

Aethan glances over his shoulder again at Porter's explanation, and one eyebrow raises, before he lets out another laugh, shaking his head as he reaches up to wipe some blood from his cheek. It just succeeds in smearing it, though, but oh well. However, he takes his middle brother at his word, turning the helm toward that very island and toward their treasure. Or their nothing, but at least they had fun, right?

With such expert guidance, it doesn't take long for the brothers Kennex to find the right island. It truly is a spectacular island; golden sands, exuberant verdue, birds and flowers, and several spectacular waterfalls crashing in the distance.

Ian is, and has always been, the kind to get up that early. "Didn't we get drunk here once?" He asks, rolling up the map and offering it back to Aethan. "The tide went out and when we got back to the ship, we realized it'd run around on a sandbar?"

"We..." Porter turns his head, as if trying to see the island from a different angle. "Maybe? We're approaching from a different direction than the last time I was here, but there are sandbars on one side if you're here at low tide. I came in on the neap and just barely managed to avoid it when we were circumnavigating it looking for a cove. There should be one on the northwest side."

Aethan takes the map and sticks it into his jacket, carefully so as not to get any of that blood on it. He looks to the island then as Ian speaks, squinting a little bit at the treeline, before glancing over his shoulder, and turns the ship in the direction of the cove Porter mentions, giving some orders to the sailors as he does. Whatever those orders may be, they are quite worthy of an amazing admiral. You all heard it.

Porter has rolled a critical success!
Porter checked wits + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 70 higher.

Ian keeps his hand on something as a means of keeping steady while he watches the island pass as they skim around it. "Maybe not. That whole night was a blur. I just remember there were waterfalls because I realized a couple bottles in that one of us was always wandering off to take a piss."

Ian checked wits + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 19 higher.

Aethan checked wits + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 9 lower.

"If we take the launch, we can row in the rest of the way," Porter suggests, pointing to the beach ahead and starboard of the ship. That would give the crew enough time to work the ship about to hasten their departure. "It looks like we're going to want to follow the beach up that way, and into the forest there." Porter indicates the path with his finger, pointing to thick jungle and the peaks and ridges inside and beyond it.

Aethan seems to have little to no memory of the place, so he trusts what he's being told, instructing the crew to drop anchor and ready the launch. To be fair, if they //did// drink here, he was probably so drunk at the time that it's a wonder he didn't fall into the sea and drown. "All right," he says once it's ready, "Let's go." And then he moves to do just that.

This might as well be a vacation for the brothers. The sun is shining. The sand is soft and warm when they make the beach, and the birds seem to be singing just for them. The treeline beckons with its cool shade, and the light breeze from the spray of the not-so-far waterfalls.

Ian swaps his sword for his cane before they go ashore. He's not great with wading the last short distance to the beach, and he's especially not great on the fine, shifting sands, but he manages, picking himself up from a couple of stumbles along the way, until they get to more solid ground. Porter's the one who used this place as a romantic hideaway, so he's inclined to trust his directions. IF he spent any time here, he was drunk for most of it.

Porter is in high spirits on a beautiful island with his brothers. His damnably long legs make the stride through the sand the easiest for him, but he's in no hurry to go anywhere so he's not outpacing anyone. Not even Ian. From time to time, Porter's whistling breaks out into little snippets of singing--"Roll me over, lay me down and do it again, roll me over in the clover..." He leads the procession of hardened killers, able sailors, and able adventurers (just the three of them) right to the forest treeline without a care in the world and an eye for the beauty of this place.

Even Aethan seems to be enjoying the surroundings, and his usually blank expression is softened into what's almost a smile, content despite the carnage of not half an hour before. He follows along after Porter, looking around more than he generally does, unless he's looking for trouble.

The beauty of the island is, unfortunately, lost on Ian -- and not just because he has to take extra care walking on the uneven ground amid roots and stones. Most beauty is lost on him. But the three of them are together, Porter is singing and Aethan is making the Aethan-smile face, so he's content.

Ian checked perception + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 42 higher.

Aethan checked perception + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 14 lower.

Porter checked perception + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 7 lower.

Ian stops walking. He lays a hand on Aethan's arm, Aethan being closest to him, a firm, but silent indication that he should stop as well. Lacking two free hands, he gets Porter's attention by tapping him on the leg with his cane.

Porter stops abruptly. Well, almost abruptly. He puts his foot down rather than balance on one leg. He cautiously looks back at Ian. Snake? Vampire bat? Vampire snake?

When Aethan feels Ian's hand on his arm, he stops, too, and looks over at him with raised eyebrows. "See something?

Ian has settled into his graceful, eerie calm. He nods towards a copse of trees ahead of them and, softly, says: "Let's try and find another way to the waterfall." He doesn't break out THAT look for snakes, vampiric or otherwise. Well, unless they're really, really big, maybe.

Porter thinks about it for a minute. He's been here before. Finally he points to a ridge that runs through the forest. "If we go that way, there's another path that leads up. We'll have to circle around to get to the waterfall I'm thinking of," Porter suggests. He looks to Ian, who has obviously spotted something, to see if the new direction would work.

Aethan doesn't argue with Ian -- not when he gets that look. He just nods, and turns to Porter, listening to the alternate route. It sounds fine to him, but he lets Ian be the final arbiter.

Ian totally knows if that other route is safe, unlike his player, and thus makes an appropriate judgement. Probably. Unless there's a dice roll involved and he blows it.

The brothers Kennex take the detour and though the sun starts to sink slowly on the horizon, no one gets mauled. It's almost night by the time they reach the largest of the waterfalls, near deafening as it crashes down into the rocky waters below. There's a ledge to climb up to, and it's almost as if someone has carved rough stairs into the stone hillside to get to the ledge. Wet and slippery, but there.

Ian never totally loses the sense of the alert that he picked up when he noticed what was (as he explains while they take the long way) a whole bunch of growling things in the trees ahead of them. When they get to the slippery stairs in the very hard stone hillside, he eyes them skeptically without making any move to try and climb them.

"This is it!" Porter hisses excitedly.

When they get there, Aethan cuts a look at Porter at the exclamation, before looking back toward the ledge. He nods once, before he glances to Ian, considering. "Must be behind the waterfall," he opines, looking back to Porter. "I can look and see." Though he waits, eyebrows raising, for confirmation. He does not seem to expect that Ian will want to be the one to check.

Ian starts unbuckling his spaulder as he follows the sweep of the hillside with his gaze, looking for another way onto the ledge. A sheer climb, slick, mossy rocks -- something easier than trying to walk up those stairs. He nods to Aethan; it's not like he's going to insist he be the one to do it.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Monique before departing.

There's dry patches the further one inches along, and room enough for three to go abreast on the ledge behind the waterfall.

When those dry patches are spotted, Aethan takes one of Ian's arms, and, of course, Porter taking the other, they can probably get him behind the waterfall so that they can find it together!

Ian makes some kind of sputtering protest of taking all three of them down with him, but said protests are made a little bit ridiculous by the fact that one of these people is Porter, who could potentially just throw Ian over his shoulder and carry him like a sack of potatoes. Not like he hasn't done it before.

Porter, having some idea of where they are going, lingers and stays to the rear. When Ian makes his protest, Porter gives him a look that suggests that Ian not worry about dragging Porter down the ridge, through the waterfall, or anywhere else. Porter is that part of the mountain that is coming along, able to see over the other men's heads without blocking their view of what's coming up. The small cove there in the back.

The waterfall is left behind and they travel into the small cove. It's dry back there, and quiet. Not a big space, but the unmistakeable glint of something wooden and metal loiters at the very back of the cave. Upon closer inspection? Upon brute strength to break the lock? Silver spills out. There's thousands of silver coins, a true pirate's treasure for the Brothers Kennex. Yo, ho, ho!

Monique drops a chest filled with silver.

Aethan picks up 1000.0 silver from a chest filled with silver.

Ian picks up 1000.0 silver from a chest filled with silver.