Halt, to everyone's surprise, unties and casts off the ship all on his own. With the two guards sotil and koman bribed to work for them, they sail east to anu.
Halt checks on garan, who is the only guard unaware of the bribe which took place. He lets her know that they want to go to Anu, and she assures him that she'll be able to navigate there without any trouble. They should all just relax in the luxury suites and make use of the open bar, and let her and the two other guards handle everything else. Halt happily accepts this and walks away.
Dave the Average, meanwhile, is making ample use of the open bar when stol walks in. "Dave," he asks. "Is this what adventuring is always like? All the bribing and kidnapping and...disruption of commerce? I mean, theon makes his living chartering ships and we just kinda knocked him out and brought him aboard." "Well, he was kind of being a dick," Dave replies. "I mean, he was literally just defending himself from Halt, though, who kinda started coming at him with a knife," Stol says. They sit in silence for a bit, and Fluffy Fluffy brings in stew. Then Stol walks out and bumps into Halt. "Oh, did you just get here?" Stol asks nervously. "Nope, I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Dave!" Halt replies. "Haha, just kidding!" Stol stands open mouthed for a moment, then hurries off to his chamber.
Halt, on the way to the bar, hears muffled shouts coming from the room they left Theon in. He opens the door to find him struggling against his bindings, his eyes staring and urgent. Halt walks up and punches him in the head, but only succeeds in causing him to vomit through his gag. "Is everything alright in there?" comes Garan's voice from the other side of the doorway. "I heard some noises." Halt quickly grabs the sheet from the bed and wraps it around Theon's mouth to further muffle his yells, and, after much hesitation, calls back "Everything's fine! I'm just getting a bit seasick!" "Do you need me to get you a potion?" Garan asks through the door. "That would be great," says Halt, and she heads off to grab him one from the hold. While she's gone, Halt quickly bundles Theon away into another room and returns to wait for Garan. She arrives with the potion, and he drinks it (to no actual effect) and thanks her. When she leaves, Halt makes his way to the bar.
Fluffy spends her time exploring the ship. She finds the library, where she pours over history texts about the eastern seas. She then makes her way to the galley, which is filled with preserved fruits, vegetables, and meats, as well as all sorts of ingredients for her own recipes. She, in squirrel form, puts together a hearty vegetable stew, and pushes bowls of the dish across the floor to the bar to share with the party.
After having her fill, she begins to again feel the unfamiliar sensation of drowsiness. She fights against it, but still briefly drowses off. In her dream, she sees a throne wreathed in purple light. Sitting in it is kidal, indistinct except for her intense, urgent face. Behind the throne unfurls a long, white, smokey snake, reaching up into the sky. Then the anvil and sickle moon symbol on her paw burns, and she is jolted awake.
Before sleeping, they all gather in Theon's room to question him. He assures them that the authorities are probably already on their way, and releasing him now could lessen their sentences. Eventually, after some bad negotiation by Halt relegates him to a timeout in the corner, they come to an agreement that if they untie and ungag Theon, he will happily remain silent until the police arrive. They do so, and leave.
The party settles in for the night. The guards are taking turns keeping watch and navigating above deck, while below the two others sleep or play dice. Dave, Fluffy, and Halt each retire to their own rooms and sleep.
The party is awakened early in the morning by Koman raising the alarm. The sun is just barely peeking over the horizon as they grab their gear and head on deck. An arrow is sticking into the mast with a blood-stained note wrapped around it. In the distance, emerging from the fog, they can see the silhouette of another ship.
Dave unfurls and reads the letter. A single black feather is affixed to the parchment, and the symbol of a dragon skull has been printed with still-wet ink at the top right corner. The note reads:
Dear Godkillers,
It is with genuine excitement that I accept your proposal for an extension to our business venture. The recent Calamity has taught us that isolationism will not serve us in times of dire need, and it is time to begin reforming our ties with the outside world. The trade in mushrooms I have started is a good beginning, and I am glad to see you are invested in this burgeoning trade as well. I look forward to being your partners in this. Please find attached a sample of the lightstreak strain, which you may use to continue growing interest throughout the wider world. Also, please find attached a forward of 200gp, with 30% commission allowed on any sales you make.
Your humble partner,
karen
They deduce that from the dragon skull symbol, and the black feather and blood, that pirates must have intercepted their response raven. The mentioned shrooms and gold are not attached to the letter, which must mean the pirates took them. And, the ship approaching them from the fog must be those pirates, which Fluffy remembers from her reading have a trade of their own in suppressant drugs. They'd identified the party as competition.
The crew of the Golden Sky sets about making preparations for the impending fight. Fluffy turns into a pelican and scouts out the pirate ship. She sees about ten people on deck, rushing around raising their dragon skull flag and setting up archers around the railing. There are two pirates who appear to be in charge. Dave collects alcohol from the open bar to make Molotov cocktails. Halt climbs up to the crows nest to set up a good sniping location. Garan is sent below decks, and they set the Golden Sky on course to come alongside the opposing vessel.
A single arrow arcs from the pirate ship to the Golden Sky and buries itself in the deck. Halt looses an arrow in response, striking the archer who fired the first shot. Fluffy transforms into a hawk and flies over the pirate ship with Molotov cocktails in her talons. She sights on a rotund pirate, one of the apparent commanders, and lets one fly. It misses and lands next to him, however, and he responds incredibly fast, grabbing a knife from his belt and tossing it at her, mildly clipping her wing. She flaps back for a second one, and this time drops it on a gray-haired woman, the other commander. This time her aim is true, but the pirate notices the projectile last minute and swats it out of the air with her cutlass. Fires from the two cocktails however have begun to spread across the deck.
More arrows are exchanged between Halt and the pirate archers. Dave flings his daggers across the closing water gap as well. Soon, the ships come alongside. A group of pirates carry a gangplank, ready to drop and bridge the two ships. Dave chucks a cocktail at them just as they're lowering it, burning them and causing them to drop it into place. Thinking fast, Fluffy transforms back into a squirrel and Dave tosses her at the three pirates as they cross the plank, with the intention of transforming into a hippo and knocking them out. However, he misjudges his throw and she transforms behind them instead, crashing into the far end of the plank and snapping it in two, just as the pirates reach Dave. One gets a shot in with her cutlass. Fluffy tumbles down into the water below.
While Dave and Koman fight the three pirates who just crossed, another group consisting of deckhands and the two commanders begins setting up another gangplank further along the deck. Fluffy flies back on deck as a bird, and then transforms into a bear, hoping to block their crossing. The gray-haired pirate is first to come across, charging straight at Fluffy, but she's ready. With one mighty swipe of her paw, she knocks her head clean off. The others retreat back across the plank, standing off against Fluffy.
By this point, Dave and Koman have managed to dispatch the group they were fighting. Koman, however, was badly injured. A few more pirates also have emerged on deck, but are preoccupied with fighting the fires. And then out from the hatch comes another pirate, dressed in finery and decked out in expensive jewelry, a crossbow in her hand and a cutlass at her belt. She raises her crossbow and shoots at Halt, catching him in the shoulder. Halt fires back, but she easily side-steps it. Dave attempts to throw a dagger at her, but she simply draws her cutlass and knocks it aside.
Fluffy charges across the gangplank, but in dodging an arrow thrown by the rotund commander she dives off into the water again. The group tries to cross, but this time Dave is waiting for them at the other side. Fluffy flies back up onto the pirate ship and transforms into a bear, and together she and Dave slide the gangplank off the decks of the two ships, and the pirates on it fall down into the sea. Fluffy retreats back to the Golden Sky.
Halt is unsure how to take on this woman who appears to be the pirate captain. He thinks back to his time in Folendemkar, and feels a familiar presence, a power beginning to surge through him. He prays to kidal, and the power intensifies. Calmly, he nocks an arrow and sights along the shaft. As soon as he releases the bowstring, a bright purple light explodes into life at the tip of the arrow, and it soars straight into the captain. She looks up in surprise at Halt. The shot was straighter and faster than she had anticipated. Caught off guard, she heads to help the three pirates who had been putting out fires set up a new plank.
The fight continues. Eventually, the captain is injured enough that she retreats back below deck, taking one last shot at Halt before ducking down the stairs. Fluffy flies at the remaining pirates and tries to drop on them as a bear, but she lands on one of their swords and is badly injured. Eventually, the one remaining pirate retreats as well, receiving one more arrow shot before also ducking below deck.
The party regroups, taking a moment to drink healing potions and apply poultices and herbs to wounds. Halt climbs down from the crows nest, and he and Sotil wait on deck as Dave and Fluffy head down to finish off the pirates. Dave walks towards a corner and is surprised by the last pirate to retreat. Her attack misses, and she dashes away down another corridor. Fluffy, meanwhile, transforms into a black widow and descends through the deck to find herself in the captain's chambers. The captain is waiting next to her door, her cutlass drawn. Fluffy heads over to Dave and drops down onto his head as a squirrel to relay the information, and they decide Fluffy should check out the hallway the other pirate ran down. Dave tosses her up at the ceiling and she transforms into a black widow half-way.
Unfortunately, the captain had heard their conversation, and fires a bolt at Dave from down the hall. It hits him, but he responds with a thrown dagger that downs the captain, injuring her badly and causing her to fall unconscious. Dave then heads down the hall and is surprised again by the other pirate. This time, however, he's ready. He dodges her sneak attack, and once she falls into a fighting position he easily cuts off her head.
Back on deck, Halt sees a head poking over the side of the Golden Sky. He looses an arrow at it, and it just grazes the top of the head, causing its owner to tumble back into the water. He sees another pirate coming onto the deck further down the boat, and realizing this must be the group of pirates Dave and Fluffy knocked overboard earlier, he rushes over to take a shot at that one as well. Before he can nock an arrow, however, an arm comes around him from behind and presses a dagger to his throat. "Move, and ye die," says the pirate commander. Sotil doesn't approach. Halt manages to slip out of the pirates grasp, but takes the dagger to the gut in the process.
Just then, Dave and Fluffy come on deck with the captain in tow. The commander looks over, momentarily distracted. "Is she alive?" he asks, clearly very worried. Taking the opportunity, Halt nocks and arrow and shoots the pirate straight through the head. The remaining two pirates throw down their weapons and put up their hands, surrendering. Halt asks one if they can trust her, and she says she has no loyalty to her crew, she's just in it for the money. Halt approaches her in an attempt to kick her overboard, but before he can a dagger comes from behind him and strikes her. She falls backwards into the sea, dead. Halt look around to see the pirate commander he had just killed standing up. The other pirate makes the sign against the evil eye and jumps overboard. The commander takes the arrow out of his head, and allows his gaze to fall on each member of the party. "Let's go below decks," he says. "There's somethin' we be needin' to discuss."