The sailing ship rolled over stormy seas, tossed like a flipping coin beneath those gray, swirling skies. The captain gripped the wheel with a wicked grin as the ship surfed up a wave; The ship hesitated at the top like a roller coaster before the drop, the captain relishing the opportunity to pour another splash of booze through the checkerboard slots in his teeth.
Lightning flashed in the distance, the boom of thunder resonating through the hollow hull of the ship like a drum, and especially so in the pounding head of the young prince. His messy hair was plastered to his forehead by a mix of sweat and seawater, and his tired eyes couldn't find focus in the darkness of the keep.
Crates of cargo sloshed forward and back across the creaking wooden floor, slamming repeatedly against the cage in which the prince was being kept. The pirates shouted at one another as they passed buckets of water up through the ship, some with fear in their eyes, some with a thrill. The captain favorited those who could state down death with a smile on their lips.
The pirates came from Nowhere, and their current destination wasn’t anywhere in sight, not that they had one to begin with. They had precious cargo aboard, pilfered from a royal convoy, and were sure a generous sum if they made it out alive: weapons, magic items, potions (including the fermented kind), and that ransom of a prince who was currently being thrown against the steel bars of his cage with the roll of the ship.
A beam of light caught the captain's one remaining eye, something he knew to seek in a storm such as this: The space at the center of it all, the heart of the hurricane. He released the wheel with a shrug, and it instantly started spinning with startling speed as the waves rushed them closer towards calmer waters. The ship got closer, and closer, and then, it finally broke through!!-.. Or, it was about to, if it weren't for the tentacles of a giant squid that tugged them off course!
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The ship whined and groaned as the tentacles coiled around it, gripping with such force that the crackling splinters of planks were audible even over the howl of whistling wind and sideways rain. A look of horror flashed upon the captain's face, though it took only a moment for the corners of his lips to curl upward into the shape of a diabolical smile. Over the sound of the raging sea and splintering ship, the captain's voice roared like a hot knife through butter: “CHAAARGE!!”
The braver of the pirates drew their cutlasses, and the lesser so kept hauling water lest they die regardless, wishing silently that they had never left home. The captain struck first, sinking his sword like a fang, deep into a tentacle. The beast writhed violently, flailing, the captain whipping through the air as he clung to that tentacle with his sword like an icepick. Finally flung away, he landed butt first with a hollow thump on the deck, though others were less fortunate, cast into waters destined to be their final place of rest.
Suddenly, the boom of lightning struck-.. But this time, not from the sky! One of the crew members had used a magic scroll, an expensive talisman that they were keeping for a situation just like this! The charge of electricity shot forth from her fingers, striking true at a tentacle, flickering across the body of the squid, and flashing for just a moment beneath the surface of the sea. The squid went limp instantly, releasing the ship from its clutches, and disappearing far, far below.
The captain, sorely rubbing his butt, clapped the woman on the shoulder with his other free arm. After bellowing orders to his crew, the captain returned to the helm, steering the ship deeper into stormy waters.
