Chapter 1 - Change

Ewen peers over the lip of the boat to get a better view of the scene depicted by Guthric. "Holding light in your hand?" His discolored eyes widen in shock as he watches. "Perhaps that one is indeed touched by the Gods. A pity, she seems like a capable warrior." He then turns to Magan and shakes his head. "None. I was invited to the meal, I went to sleep after and woke here."

Kara is a little bit shocked by the sword, as she had not expected much after a broken off hilt. But this in her hands was a gift from the gods, and she offers a quick prayer of thanks to Freya. Following that, she preforms a quick last rite, taking out her holy symbol which hangs from her neck. She offers this soul a peaceful and glorious journey, as from signs they fell in battle. She does pause and collects a few feathers, as the water was quickly filling in, and she didnt want to let anything go to waste that was not needed to. That and they had survived a burning, so who knew what they were made of. After collecting the hilt and the feathers, she then tugs the rope and tries to make her way back to the ship, hopefully making it back in time, as the weather was looking rough.

As the water crashes down around her, Kara skilfully pulls herself back up the rope towards the boat and thanks to Guthric's aid is able to scramble aboard the longboat. She looks down at the sword hilt in her hand. Its light has faded now, but something within her still resonates with it. However, distracted as they were by Kara's antics and their own predicament, the rest aboard have failed to notice another vessel approaching behind them! A significantly larger ship with broad sails has drawn up besides the longboat. Its deck swarms with unsavoury looking men and women and its prow is carved in the shape of wailing spirit. Everybody roll initiative.

"Kara, I found your pirates. I suppose this saves us looking for them." Magan is quite glad to be back doing something he knows.

Magan moves to shield Isolde and looses an arrow an arrow at the nearest pirate, dealing him a nasty gash across the cheek! Ewen's action.

Ewen glances at the glowing hilt for a moment before his attention is drawn to the approaching  ship. He watches as Magan  fires an arrow and calls to the warrior. “Friends of yours?” He does not like the odds and decides to take the chance... He grasps a crystal hanging around his neck and speaks a strange, ancient sounding language as spray from the water suddenly begins to swirl around him and cover his body in a protective layer of ice! He then draws his sweord and reaches for his shield!

Coelred throws one of his axes with a mighty growl, knocking the wind out of the man closest to him on the other boat.

Having not been ready to do anything, let alone fight people, Kara makes and gets ready to shot someone with an arrow once she recovers her bow

Guthric rushes to the side of the ship and falls behind its cover, keeping his shield high. He nocks an arrow and keeps it held to the bow while confused over the whole situation, "Tell me why we're attacking these people? This is a strange lace, but I think attacking strangers is usually bad."

Branok hurries Isolde behind Magan and grasps his staff nervously as the larger ship drifts closer to them. Two men toss grappling hooks over the side and pull them tight against the side of the longboat, holding it near. Then the men aboard let out a collective battle cry and several grab ropes and swing towards the longboat! Two pirates aboard loose crossbow bolts at Kara and Magan, as their shipmates leap through the air. Both impact painfully on the warriors' armour leaving bruises that will definitely be felt the next day. As the pirates leap, Guthric takes his shot. His arrows draws blood, tearing a gash across the jaw of the man who fended off Coelred's thrown axe. The onslaught of the pirates as they drop aboard the deck of the boat is swift and savage. However, the Red Wolves are equally skilled and it seems their newer companions are also up to the task. The first pirate to land swings so wildly at Branok that he misses completely and old man had been waiting for him and beats his foe back with his staff! Magan is also ready for the two pirates that come at him and dodges both strikes as he prepares himself to fight. Guthric is less lucky and takes a battering from one of the two pirates on him, as he raises his shield to defend himself. The pirate captain shouting orders from aboard the larger ship as he does so. Meanwhile, Coelred and Ewen are both protected by their armour. Magan's action.

Magan draws his axes and takes a double swing at the pirate in front of him and Branok, the first almost misses, but catches the chin of the pirate taking it clean off. His upper jaw flaps over the space where his bottom teeth were momentarily before a second before the second blow lands, taking off his arm at the shoulder. Blood spurts from his brachial artery as he flops to the ground making the deck slippery and spraying those around him with crimson war paint. Magan roars a threat at the remaining pirates. 

Before Magan or anyone else can answer the rhetorical question, the pirates suddenly board their smaller vessel and immediately go on the offensive! The nimble warrior dodges around a clumsy attack as he prepares to come up his a riposte; however, just as he makes an upward cut with the sweord his aim is thrown a bit by the rocking of the ships bumping and rocking against each other. "I am not your enemy, fool, but I will defend myself! Begone, or you will find your end amidst these shores!"

Coelred attempts to swing at the pirate closest to him with his axe, but the pirate dodges out of the way and Coelred misses his swing.

Kara, having little doubt this are the pirates they needed to take out, quickly swings her newly found sword at the closest opponent, yet is greatly puzzled when nothing happened, but a warm fuzzy feeling in her hands. Still, she doesnt loose her faith in Freya for her failure to follow her will.

Guthric took the blow in stride, turning his shoulders to off-set the impact. Whipping around, a blade flashes from his hip and drives the brigand back. Guthric's eyes are wild and a cry slips from a wide smile. "Now for some fun!"

Branok swings his staff at the pirate in front of him once more, but this time fails to make any contact. Behind him Isolde cowers against the side of the boat and screams. Two arrows are loosed at Coelred and hit with such force that his is sent reeling backwards as they thunk painfully into his shoulder and side, before recoiling off of his heavy armour. Pressing their advantage, the two pirates facing him thrust and slash with their warseax, one finding purchase on the warrior's leg. Another slashes at Ewen with its warseax, but the otherworldly fighter takes the blow on his armour, redirecting the motion to the side. At the other end of the boat, Magan skillfully dodges two hits and Branok evades a third as they fight desperately to protect Isolde. In the middle of the ship, Kara and Guthric stand back to back, defending each other from the pirate assault.

Hearing Isolde behind him sends a pang of guilt through Magan. We need to end this quickly He sees an opportunity to exploit a weakness in the pirate on the end of the boat and skillfully steps forwards, swinging both axes to his left using Branok to shield his movements, catching the pirate who had been focused on the monk off guard, one axe causes him to lose his footing a little on the blood, giving space for the second to jab forwards unconventionally into the side of the pirates face with the haft leaving his ears ringing. "Branok switch. Keep Isolde safe."

Ewen once again catches the blade on armor and redirects the energy of the blow to the deck of the ship. He follows up with a back-handed slash that impacts hard into the man's torso, knocking some of the fight out of him, but doesn't cut through the thick woolen armor the man wears! "Stand down you fool!"

Coelred swings bluntly at the belly of the pirate to his left, knocking the wind out of him.

Seeing her new sword hilt not being very effective, she pulls out her axe and swings at the pirate infront of her, not ready when she did so

The odds were quickly spiraling out of control when Guthric took a cautious step back and bumped the wall of their boat. "Hope you swim better than you fight!" Throwing himself across the deck, Guthric dropped his shield and drove it into the nearest pirate, sending the brigan overboard. "They can't fight in the water!" He called to the others.

Branok steps back to guard Isolde and swings his staff at the pirate, but the fearsome man bats it aside with a glare. The archers up on the ship continue to harass Coelred with arrows, using the elevation to their advantage, and their arrows tear deep, bloody gashes across the nobleman's temple and cheek. The pirate fighting Ewen roars in defiance hurls himself forwards, thrusting with his narrowseax, but Ewen steps neatly around the blow. The first pirate facing Coelred in melee finds only armour as his blade clanks against the warrior's mailcoat, but the second man has keener eyes and finds an exposed spot, slicing into the knee-pit and drawing blood. The next pirate brandishes a langseax at Kara, but fails to bite into her boiled leather jacket. The pirates facing Magan on the bow of the boat begin to coordinate, taking advantage of their positioning, but Magan shields his back as he turns to face the one who must also concentrate on Branok.

"Coelred, keep your shield up!" Magan ducks low and swings both axes in a wide arc, throwing his whole bodyweight behind a sweeping upthrust, both axes slice viciously at the side of the pirate, catching him off guard as they embed themselves deeply in his flesh. Magan tears them free releasing a fountain of pressurised blood and gastric juices mixed with yellow pus as he steps back to better shield Isolde. "Branok, keep close."

Ewen follows his dodge with a quick sideways cut of his sweord, but the pirate easily parries the slash with his narrowseax. The strange warrior grinds his teeth in frustration as he hears a voice in his mind. 'Release the ravens.'

Coelred, feeling the wind knocked out of himself, forces himself back up from the pirates, catching his breath. With that he swings at the the pirate to his left.

Still wet and caught off guard, Kara fumbles with her axe, dealing a clumsy strike that the pirate easily evades.

Guthric charged in his fury to the next foe attacking Kara. The man had just begin moving an arm into position when the Puct caught hold of it. With a powerful yank, the man was reeled back and sent tumbling over the edge. "Help Coelred!" Guthric barked. As he gave into his Rage, base instincts took over, and eliminating his enemies were all that mattered. A watchful eyes was kept across to the other ship, though. Guthric charged to the closest pirate near Coelred, but made to to keep his shield up.

Branok thwacks the bandit again with his staff, this time drawing blood with a solid blow to the mouth. Coelred seems to have rallied and the arrows flying from above now find only the mail of his armour, bouncing off harmlessly. The pirate Ewen is duelling thrusts at him, but he skillfully deflects the strike with his shield. Two more pirates swing their blades at Coelred, but he ducks one and casts the second aside with the mail on his arm. Magan twists to avoid his foe's next swing and prepares to finish the fight... Up on the ship, the captain looks about in concern as he sees his boarding action begin to disintegrate. Turning and pulling himself tall in an intimidating pose, be bellows over the side of his ship in Cornish. "These waters are ours! What's found here is ours! Hand over your bounty!" Magan's action.

Magan laughs deeply as he swings again at the pirate threatening him and Branok.  "Perhaos if you surrender, all I will take is your boat. " As if to emphasise his point he swings casually with his second axe removing the eye of the pirate next to him with a vicious horizontal swing.  The pirate slumps to the floor.  "A sign, Odin blesses us this battle" 

Ewen let’s out a frustrated sigh as he continues the pointless dance of blades with the pirate. He points his finger at the man and mutters in a strange language as suddenly a flock of spectral ravens appear from nowhere and begin to swarm around him, pecking and clawing at him! The pirate screams in pain as the magic saps his body of essence and the ravens claw at his eyes, blurring his vision as blood begins to seep from the corners...

Coelred swings at the pirate again, bloodying his mouth. "Die, damnit!" he roars.

Kara gets her axe ready and tries to swing at the pirate closer to them, hoping to land a hit home. In her anger she shouts out in Norse "Freya will have you!!!" As a battle cry, before striking the pirate. She was tired of all these people just interrupting their simple job, and she was ready to get back to talking and working in Freya's name

As Kara swings the axe she feels a power swell inside her, much like the power she felt in the sword hilt when it flared to life in her hand. For a moment the edge of her weapon is illuminated in gold and it slices deep into the leg of the pirate, shattering the bone beneath.

Guthric's indominable form charges across the deck, slamming into another pirate. With a wild roar, he bucks the man with his shield, catches him under the arm with his blade, and hurls the man over the ship's rails, "Another down! Come, little men, the wolves smell blood in the air!"

While Branok shelters Isolde, several of the pirates knocked overboard can be seen clambering up rigging on the side of their own ship. Ewen's combatant thrusts at him again with his blade, but he is able to dodge the strike. Meanwhile, the archers aboard the pirate vessel focus their arrows on Guthric. He dodges the first but the second impacts heavily against his shoulder, costing him some momentum. The captain roars in frustration at the apparent ineptitude of his men and signals to the rest of the crew aboard his ship. The grappling lines are dropped and they begin to make to sail off.

Seeing the situation under control on the longboat, Magan draws his bow again.  "Don't let them get away." He takes a shot at the pirate standing by the wheel, hoping to keep them from turning to run. 

The captain ducks behind the wheel, taking the arrow to the shoulder. The padding of his armour absorbs much of the blow and he roars as he yanks on the wheel, pulling the ship away from the longboat.

Seeing his companions leaving the pirate behind, Ewen attempts to skill with the blade once again only to have his attack swing wide from his opponent as the rocking of the waves from the departing pirate ship reaches their own small vessel!

Coelred swings hard at the pirate, his arm badly stinging. His swing goes wide, and his arm burns in pain.

Kara moves forward swiftly, swinging her axe into the last pirate on the longboat, trying her best to strike him down. She doesnt kill him, but does manage to injury him with a blow to the head

Guthric charges across the deck, still in a torrent of battle frenzy, and finds a fallen axe. Sheathing his sword and throwing aside his shield, he grabs the axes, steps up on the side rail, and heaves the weapon to the opposing boat. The axe tumbles and finds purchase in the arm of an enemy archer. It binds into the armor, and a red stain soon begins to spread across the man's sleeve. The sight of the successful attack sets Guthric into deeper fury. Retrieving his shield, he stands on the boat's edge and roars in triumph at the pirates.

The pirate ship begins to properly pull away from the longboat, widening the gap between. The archers pepper the smaller ship with arrows as they go, and one cracks Ewen's protective layer of ice, sending him staggering. The wounded pirate turns from the fight aboard the longboat and leaps for the rigging of his leaving ship. Ewen, Coelred and Kara may make opportunity attacks.

"Don't let them get away. To the Oars!" Magan roars at his companions as he takes a shot with his bow.Stowing it away, and taking out his shield as he begins a run clearly intending to leap for the pirate ship.

The arrows impacts bluntly in the captain's side and the man grunts, bearing down on the wheel to steer away from the longboat.

Ewen smiles grimly as his new companions come to his aid, just in time for an arrow to  slam into his side and break his protective layer of frost, knocking some of the wind from his lungs. He stabs with his blade just as the now outnumbered pirate turns to flee and the point penetrates a gap in the armor neatly into the man’s heart! With a quick flourish, Ewen removes the blade as the man collapses to the deck. “You lost your chance...” He glances up to see the ship begin to pull away and part of him is relived, but another part of him seethes at the audacity, nay the arrogance of these men to dare harm him. ‘Release the ravens. Show them our power, make them kneel!’ Suddenly Ewen’s green eye flares brightly with an eldritch energy as he points his hand towards the captain of the pirate vessel and a dark glow surrounds him as another flock of spectral ravens swoop down to harry him at the helm, sapping him of any remaining vigor as he flails about ineffectively! “Yes, fool, now you see all too late.” 

Coelred heads over to the oar closest to him, sitting down and beginning to row as he sees the ravens attacking the pirate vessel.

"We shall feast from your heathen skulls! No mercy for cowards!"  Kara screams out, her axe flashing with rightous fury and blood. She soon starts to help Coelred on the oars, calling to him " You, faster, we must catch them!"

"You two do that, but they can't run if they're dead!" Guthric charges across the deck and leaps over the watery gap. He ably catches the side rigging of the enemy ship and climbs hot on the heels of a dripping foe that Guthric had just thrown into the water. No sooner did the man get aboard did Guthric's arm shoot over the railing and snatch the man back into the water below. Leaping over the railing, Guthric's furious visage was even more terrifying. His beard and hair had grown across almost his whole face, and his jaw had stretched slightly until it resembled a wolf's muzzle. His mouth curled into a wicked smile. He let out a short, barking cry as he reached for his shield and sword, "Now, you see the Blood of the Land."

Branok also grabs a pair of oars and pulls alongside Kara and Coelred. The pirate ship continues to pull away from the longboat and the crew round on their new boarder. Two shoot arrows at Guthric, one knocking him back as it impacts dully on his armour. Three others charge into close combat with him and he casts their weapons aside, ignoring the blunt trauma, before side-stepping the final blow.

Magan continues his leap for the boat, but is distracted by the supernatural sight on the deck and mistimes his jump, falling into the water with a huge splash.