Task Name: The Chase
Tier: 2
NPC or PC: NPC
Location: South blue, The Griffin(a borrowed civilian ship), Chum(A ship friendly to Edwin)
Crew, Team, or Personal:Personal
Description: After finally catching up with Edwin's ship, the wrathful Frost attempts to board the ship and seize the murderer.
Enemy Details: 5 Tier 2; Revolutionaries
Boss: not yet


Frost found herself staring at the ceiling, counting each and every board. It was the least she could do to keep her mind from ruminating on the actions of the day and the actions yet to come. It had all been adrenaline and fire just a few moments ago, but after Newfeld Senior had not so bluntly told her she would just be in the way up top she had decided to get some sleep. The hammock was quite comfortable, and the thick boards of the ship masked much of the clamor from above her, but that didn't help sleep approach any swifter. With no more adrenaline, the mind had begun to wander, began to consider what she had all done to get to this point.

She had killed another man. She had known it the second she had done it, that blow was designed to be fatal and it had achieved it's target with precision. The terrifying part of it though, was that she hadn't felt any which way about it. He had been nothing more than an obstacle between her and Edwin, and she had treated him as such. It was inconceivable. There was anger yes, but it hadn't even been directed at him, it was reserved solely for the murderer. This man that she had killed was not someone she felt much of anything towards, and now there was barely even regret. The cold and heartless logic of her mind had deemed him an obstacle and had removed it without a thought.

She forced her memory to dredge up the words the good captain had mentioned, how he had been angry each and every time he failed to save them. At the time she had professed a fear of killing people, and that had been because she did not want to end any more lives. Now however, laying in this hammock she realized, it wasn't for their sake that she didn't want to kill them, it was for hers. How few enemies it had taken to make her care little for human life, to make her callous and murderous.

She fished around in her pockets for a photograph and pulled it out, examining the faces on it.
The first, her father, the second looked very much like a reflection of her, but those blue eyes were filled with nothing but compassion. She returned the picture back to the pocket, unable to look at the faces any longer. She needed no mirror to know her eyes looked nothing like that picture. She grit her teeth. She couldn't save the lives already lost, but perhaps no-one else had to die, perhaps they could still be proud of her.

"Get up Frost, it's time for war!"

The old man's shout galvanized her to action, her body beginning to move before her mind even caught up. Over the edge of the hammock, up the stairs and onto the deck. It took little effort to spy the ship they were gaining on, it was almost within range of cannons. Fortunate then that neither ship had any, both being merchant ships. She looked to Newfeld Senior to see the man nod back at her.

"Stick to the plan, but don't be too long about it."

"Will do."

She began her climb up the long mast and tied herself off to the farthest outreaching part of the mast with a rope. Now it was only a matter of patience.

The two ships pulled up along side one another, the tips of the mast she was on was now overhanging the other ship and her angle was perfect, now to wait for the right moment. Below her, the men Newfeld senior had assembled had took up defensive positions with tridents and spears, awaiting the enemy boarding party. Men from the other enemy boat had begun to try and swing over with ropes, some were laying down planks to cross with, all swords at the ready.

With most of the enemies at the edge of the boat trying to board the other one, she slipped down her rope and detached herself behind it. She opened up the stairs to the lower levels and started to make her way down. Her eyes widened considerably at the site of so many men surrounding her, all just as surprised as she was. Two behind her, and three in front. Though now that her eyes traced what they had on hand for weapons, she smiled. Hammers, tools for fixing a ship, washing a ship, building a ship, not for killing. She drew her sabre, determined to make them proud.

She moved to strike the two behind her first, surprised at the alacrity with which the man could wield his hammer, funneling even her swift strikes away from his body. His nearest comrade was all too determined to aide him even if the best damage he could hope for was a bruised rib. The man's broom stabbed at her wildly in it's attempts to throw her off balance but it was for naught. The improvised weapon couldn't stand up to real steel and he went down with a swift pommel smack to the temple.

They were fierce, she had to give them that, but this wasn't where she needed to be right now. The plan had tasked her with finding and engaging Edwin. Her eyes searched the area while her blade kept the man's hammer at bay. She found it, of course behind the three other men, where else could it have possibly been placed. An idea formed in her head as those very same men began to close uncomfortably close. She parried the man's heavy hammer swing and spun behind him. Now to use the big man to push her way through. She booted the man hard on the back and then charged into him shoving him with all her might.

The man stumbled forward into his comrades who did their best to move their weapons out of the way as he fell down among them. Frost used the moment to dive over the fallen man through the hole his size had provided and made a break for the hatch leading into further levels. She closed it swiftly behind her and examined her new premises.

There wasn't much room around her, here at the belly of the ship. It was lined with extra swords and a singular desk with several bags stuffed with what she assumed was Beli. Her sole companion in these tight quarters turned on his heel to examine her.

"Judging by the ruckus, you thought it would be a good idea to sneak aboard my ship? How foolish. I am Captain Alexander, and for the good of all you will die."

The man didn't wait before closing the gap between the two of them and drawing his sword from his side in a slash. She replied with a swift parry and her own brand of stabbing rebuttal.  Within seconds the momentum had shifted and she was pressing him further and further away from the stairs. The man tripped over his own desk and fell back on it his sword dropped over the side of it. She raised her pommel with the intent to deliver another good night kiss when a sound filled the room.

She dared to glance behind her to note that the door had predictably been opened, and the men from earlier were filing down the stairs and selecting some of the swords from the walls. Her eyes lingered just a tad too long as the captain shoved her hard and scrambled over the desk to retrieve her sword. She recovered quickly enough, but now she was once again surrounded, only this time they had better weapons. She had to sigh, this really wasn't going her way now. Only one way out.

She jumped, clearing the desk with a single bound and pushed on the Captain with a ferocious assault. There was nothing for it, she had to bring this man down as quickly as possible or she would be completely out maneuvered, there simply wasn't enough room to dodge to the side. This however also worked against the captain, as a Fencer is expert at moving directly forward or backward with alarming haste. She had noticed the man seemed to pay little attention to his surroundings and now drove him over several of the bags of Beli the man failed to notice throwing him considerably off balance. A swift spin of her blade had him disarmed and a resounding thunk to his skull left him in morpheus' hands.

Unwilling to lose any ground to the men now swiftly making their way to her, she sprinted to the desk and jumped atop of it. They regarded her for a moment before attempting to close in, swords a clamor. With the desk being positioned at the middle of the belly, she had the maximum amount of horizontal room to dodge in, while the men before her were dealing with considerably less room. She could press them with stabs and they could only move back and forth. Their numbers counted for nothing in this tight zone. She stabbed and thrust, slashed and swiped at the men, never giving ground and never taking any. Leaving the desk would give up her advantage, both height and movement.

Spurned on by the men behind him, the man in the lead of the small troop pushed very close to the desk, only finding himself without room to retreat from her attacks when his friends piled in behind him tightly. He cried `Back`and the men in back cried `Forward`, all while she took advantage of both. He went down swiftly enough with a sound thunk. Momentum was a terrible thing though and his falling body pushed them back as the man behind him tried to carry him back. She had a moment and she was determined to take it.

She pushed forward and engaged the man that was trying to carry his buddy back. He of course had to drop his friend and readied his sword just a bit too slowly. It was out of his hands before his grip ever strengthened. A sound smack to the head had him unconscious as well. She was about to stop and figure out just what to do about the others when a bag sailed through the sky and unceremoniously collided with her head.

She found herself backpedaling without even the smallest trace of control as the world devolved into colored spots. She could still make things out, but they were moving.... She swung her blade a couple of times in front of her trying to fend off enemies she couldn't really make out as she steadied herself against the desk. The men before her noticed this strange dose of fortune and surged forward with little regard for their safety, one swinging his sword with reckless abandon, the other toting another large bag filled with Beli.

The man threw the second bag at her, hoping for a knockout blow. Frost's sword caught the bag in the air with pure luck and split it wide, spilling bills into the air. They filled the air like a heavy blizzard leaving all combatants relatively blind. The two men pushed onward through the snow of bills and attempted to keep up the pressure despite this new disadvantage.

Frost's eyesight was returning to normal, despite some considerable dizziness. She kept her legs braced against the desk and waited for the on coming foes. The first almost walked into her as she punched him in the face with her guard before his sword could come down. He fell smartly to the side just in time for the other man to fill the gap and realize the pointed edge of her sabre was aimed at his neck. He began to backpedal slowly, dropping his sword.

"Now now, there's no need for any violence, ah was just doing what ah was told."

She smiled slightly.

"Then keep doing so, and tell me where Edwin is."

Now that she could get a decent glimpse of him through something other than the bloody efficiency of her aggression she could see he was just a kid in some rather too big clothes.

"Sure thing, sure thing. We dropped Edwin off at Redtide Island, it's like our secret base."

As if he could read the menace in her eyes he continued talking at a faster pace.

"Ah, yeah, I could show ya where it is, just don't send me to the prisons."

She put her blade back in its sheath and contemplated what to do with the boy. With no thought immediately coming to mind she took note of the lack of sound coming from above.

"Where was this ship headed, before we stopped it?"

The youth cracked an awkward smile with his buck teeth.

"Well after we got Edwin back to Redtide we were heading to another base of ours to get trained in how to fight."

She regarded the youth for a moment when a man slowly made his way down the steps to glance at them both.

"I take it you won?"

She smiled at Newfeld Senior. He didn't have so much as a single cut on him.

"Yep. All of them alive, could use some help with the irons though."

"Ha, no way. We used them all up with the ones we captured, boys couldn't swing a weapon to save their lives. So, do we have Edwin in this mess?"

He waved his hand over the mess of groaning bodies that filled the room. She gestured to the boy and replied.

"No. But this one can lead us there. He mentioned a big island base. Do you have any plans for that?"

The old man motioned the boy forward and looked at him sternly for a moment. That was all it would take, the old man's gaze could melt a hardened soldier to terrified gelatin before him. He returned his gaze to Frost.

"Lets steal their ship, and their uniforms, sneak aboard, snatch up Edwin and run home. Let the marines deal with the island how they will, all I want is Edwin's head. We can send my ship home with the prisoners we acquired so far and be off in no time."

She nodded, it was a solid plan.

"Alright kid, lead the way."

With that, the rest of the prisoners were sent on their way, and the now lessened crew of the Griffin headed towards Redtide island aboard the newly captured 'Chum'.

[Middle;End]