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Victoria |
Smuggler Captain |
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Starring: |
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Victoria |
Smuggler Captain |
--- Sacred King Calendar, Month 11, Year 216 ---
-- Forsena The Inner Sea --
-- Northwest of Castle Squest --Victoria sat.
Grumpy.
Achy.
The salt in the sea air had chapped the corners of her lips and dried the skin on her hands. Washing her hair with sea water had made the once silken crimson strands brittle and afflicted with split ends.
If looks could kill, she'd be killing the smuggler captain where he stood.
"Three weeks," she mumbled.
The smuggler captain half turned with feigned interest. "Eh?"
"Three weeks and nothing!" Victoria regarded the smuggler captain. What a scrawny, unkempt, unrefined troll of a man. To pass the time, she imagined how she would kill him.
"Nothing?" he asked. "Nonsense! We've hijacked six food shipments!"
She could use cast Charm, removing his free will, and order him fall on his own sword.
"Don't forget that Caerleon ship full of Armor!"
She could use Dimension, teleporting him helplessly into the depths of the inner sea.
"To think, they tried to disguise their ship as a scrap hauler. Feh!"
Or, just for fun, she could use Venom. That would take longer and hurt more.
"Aye, having you and your magic along has been a boon to my purse!"
Something in Victoria was on the verge of breaking. She could feel it like her mind and her stomach were tugging at opposite ends of her heart. "Tell me, captain, which is it?"
"Aye?"
"Is your ineptitude accidental or on purpose?"
"Inepti-what? You mean thieving? Is that what that means? I was going to cut you in on the profits, I was. Why do you make such a sour face?"
The snap came so soundly that you could almost hear it. Inepti-what indeed. Victoria stood. "let me school you a little, then. Venom!"
Gripping pain pervaded the very core of the smuggler captain's body. He fell writhing to his knees, hot bile gurgling in the back of his throat. "Ggh-Ack--!"
"Ineptitude means telling a war-seasoned Knight of his excellency Zemeckis that you can deliver a knight of New Almekia, only to deliver nothing"
The most painful part of the spell was subsiding, and the smuggler captain was able to stand. "But…My information…Ichth…It's not my fault…Maybe the information was too late…Cough…Maybe the Knight …came through here early…Snurff…Before we arrived…"
With her right hand, Victoria unfurled her whip. With her left she began to make archane gestures toward the smuggler captain. "You have taken a talented beauty of the Empire on a three-week fruitless voyage of boredom! I shall travel to Logres myself, I shall have them append the royal dictionary such that the entry for ineptitude will feature your craven image! Frost!"
A petrifying chill gripped the smuggler captain. It began in his heart, then traveled outward in waves until his entire body was frozen solid.
Then, Victoria struck out with her whip, latching onto his neck. With a sharp tug she toppled the icy corpse forward. It struck the deck and shattered into many, many pieces.
A crowd of concerned sailors had gathered at this point. Their eyes darted from one-another to Victoria, and some of them put tentative hands on their swords.
Victoria twirled the tip of her whip ever so slightly. "So then, anyone else wish to make it into the Royal dictionary?"
Though not very bright, the crew was just smart enough to figure exactly where they stood in the situation. One brave soul took a step forward, saying, "No ma'am, captain ma'am. I, uh, I take it we'll be setting sail for port?"
Forsena / Lore / Outline