Furry Pirates
The Star of Byzantium

The Story to Date

Episode 1
Episode 2

Episode 1

Escorting the Anna-Maria, a merchant fleut of the Dutch East India Company (also known as the VOC by its Dutch acronym) arriving from Capetown, the hired armed merchant brig Night Star pulled in at Gibraltar.  Captain Bollen easily brought her vessel into port in a flawless arrival under the nose of several Spanish ships and a couple of English traders.

After Captain Bollen announced the roster for shore leave and Quartermaster Snack distributed everyone's pay, the happy sailors from the first shore party left for their hard-earned recreation.  The quartermaster, accompanied by Master Gunner Thuuri, successfully shopped for powder and shot to replenish on-board supplies, although part of the fine-grade powder would need to be delivered the next day.  Thuuri oversaw the loading of his precious powder on board, while Snack opted to visit the drinking establishments of Gibraltar.

Meanwhile, Captain Bollen, accompanied by the Ship's Wizard Shadow, took her logs to report immediately to the Company and ask for her new orders.  Upon reaching the Company's offices, she realized she might be in for a bit of a wait as the offices' large waiting room was packed with captains and traders.  Spotting an elderly equine who had already made his way about two-thirds of the way down the waiting line, she struck a conversation with him in order to cut in line as gracefully as possible.  From master van Meeckeren's conversation, she learned that the Company's offices had seemed increasingly crowded of late and waiting time seemed to grow worse.

A disturbance at the very head of the line attracted their attention.  At Captain Bollen's request, Shadow sauntered to the source of the commotion and found an irate ox by the name of Cornelius Bort, yelling in frustration at the little mole of a clerk who screened visitors for the secretary-generaly.  Shadow learned that Trader Bort was growing angry after showing up several days in a row without being able to meet with Secretary-General Martinssen, while his unpaid and perishable cargo languished.  Discovering that Bort was also in need of a ship to move his cargo, Shadow suggested that the trader and Captain Bollen come to an understanding and approach the secretary-general together.

After Shadow intimidated the harried company clerk into giving them the very next appointment with Secretary-General Martinssen, he, Captain Bollen and Cornelius Bort were brought in.  Martinssen reviewed the Night Star's logs, as well as a letter of recommendation from the captain of the Anna-Maria and Bort's paperwork.  He then cautiously explained that due to some difficulties with their suppliers and support, the Company was currently only able to pay for half Cornelius Bort's dues for the cargo, which was revealed to consist of expensive but fragile tulip bulbs (worth a fortune at the time due to the on-going European craze for the flowers.)  Although he tried to push the funding problem towards Bollen and Bort and get them to share the entire risk, they would have none of it and pressed him to cut them a better deal on behalf of the Company.

Reluctantly, Martinssen backed off and suggested that the three meet again early the next morning to negotiate specifics.  He gave them an appointment for six thirty at a Spanish cafe, La Vaca Sonriente.

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Episode 2

Black Jack Thuuri, upon hearing a rumour that the Night Star might soon set sail again after having just made it into port, spent the night in debauchery in Gibraltar's "seedier" area.  With the ease of the virtuous, Captain Bollen for her part got up bright and early to keep her appointment with Martinssen and Bort.  In addition to Ship's Wizard Shadow, she asked Quartermaster Snack to attend the meeting because of her trading skills, and dragged the Carpenter's Mate Rufus along to ensure the proper stowage and protection of the fragile cargo.  In a cautious negotiation, the representatives of the Night Star wrangled the payment of the fees and duties in Gibraltar by the Company, those in Amsterdam by Cornelius Bort's business agent, and a whooping twenty percent of the sales profit at the end.  However, they learned with some discomfiture that only half of the cargo was in Gibraltar, the other being in Athens, some 2,000 nautical miles away.

Meanwhile Thuuri, having returned to the Night Star with a fierce hangover, had worked the gun crews hard.  Getting increasingly impatient because his last four barrels of fine-grained black powder and his hundred rounds of five-pound shot were nowhere in sight by noon, he gathered half a dozen burly crewmates with itchy belaying pins, and headed for the supplier's warehouse.  However, the merchant was nowhere to be seen.  Once a sailor broke the door on Thuuri's order, the warehouse was found in good order but empty, as if keeping the sabbath on a weekday.  Attracted by the noise of Thuuri's group searching the place, a couple of city guards stopped by but since they only spoke Spanish, communication was pretty much nonexistent.  More guards arrived and tried to move the sailors along, which resulted in a brawl where the sailors completely overpowered the city guards.

When Snack and Rufus went to supervise the loading operations at the warehouse where the tulip bulb cargo was stored, they met with a a small boy hiding behind crates.  Velasco, a little mouse, begged them to let him get on board their ship without telling his mean master Alfonso.  They hid him in a crate and carried him on board.  There, they discovered that Thuuri had gone looking with his powder in rather martial fashion.  They quickly found Shadow, who was trying to round the liberty men and get them to return on board for a quick departure with the next tide.  Shadow then alerted Captain Bollen and, with a few crewmen for backup, they all went to look for Thuuri at the warehouse.

They found him looking very smug, with half a dozen unconscious city guards.  Shadow brought the guards around and tried to find out what had happened, but hit the language barrier in turn.  With a lot of signs and pointing, Shadow and the guards managed to convey the impression that no one knew where "Fredo" the merchant had gone.  Taking the initiative while the Night Stars discussed, the guards went out -- and a few thumps were heard.  Thuuri went out in turn to see what was happening and avoided a blow from a cudgel wielded by a large rat.  Behind him, Shadow was not quite so lucky and was hit squarely by a stone from a sling.

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Credits: This site copyright Sophie Lagacé, 2002-2003.   Furry Pirates written by Lisa Breakey and Bruce Thomas, copyright 1999 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games.