Act I
Scene I
Scene: A dock in Vesper Bay. Â A ship is burning. Â Shouts of battle can be heard. Â CRAFT and a pirate enter, swordfighting. Â CRAFTÂ is disarmed.
Craft: Foul fates! Â Am I to be undone by a pirate?
Enter RUNEÂ who dispatches the pirate.
Rune: Do you fare well, my fast friend?
Craft:Â Well and better still now that you are here, Rune. Â How goes the fighting?
Rune:Â I believe that brave McPork has the last of them at her mercy, Craft. Â With luck we shall soon find ourselves in possession of a shipment of Garlean magitek, smuggled into our fair nation for purposes unknown.
Craft:Â Garleans? Â Would that you had told me sooner, Rune. Â I would have fought the harder for it. Â Tis still fresh in my mind how they did destroy my homeland of Ala Mihgo, leaving me as naught but an orphan forced to...
Rune: Craft! Â Feel no shame. Â The past is the past, and you stand before us today a Sultansworn of Ul'Dah, and my truest friend.
Craft:Â Thank you, dear Rune. Â Your words mean more to me than any save for the Sultana herself. Â Pray, how did you become aware of this smuggled shipment?
Rune:Â Ah, well... Â About that...
RUNEÂ seems pensive. Â Just before she is about to speak MCPORKÂ enters, interrupting her.
McPork:Â What ho, bitches! Â Behold my greatness! Â T'was a battle for legends. Â No less than a full dozen of the foul bastards had me surrounded, but little did they expect my prowess. Â Came the first, brandishing curved sword with which to penetrate me, but low did I weather his thrusts and soon he found his sword dulled and worthless. Â Then came the second, a pugilist who sought to subdue me with his fist! Â Well, I am no stranger to a fisting, and took his best with a smile. Â When he was spent he fell to my feet just in time for the third to-
Craft {Interrupting}: Take you from behind?
McPork:Â Ah ha, so you did see!
Rune:Â Nay, but I wager she can well imagine any fight you might narrate. Â Pray, McPork, ease off of your tales and speak plain, are the pirates subdued?
McPork:Â To a man! Â And several women. Â You should hear about what they did to me.
Craft:Â Pray I should not. Â I have had quite enough already. Â Have any spoken of to whom they were to deliver this illicit cargo?
McPork {Pensive}:Â Ah, not as such... Â Perhaps tis best if we left the questioning to the Brass Blades. Â This is more their element than our own.
Rune:Â Nay, smuggling Garlean technology into our fair Jewel is a direct threat to The Sultana herself, and thus we must remain true to our cause! Â We shall see this through to the end!
Brass Blades lead in HEROÂ in chains.
Craft:Â This is the captain of this pirate vessel, is it not? Â He will know the villain who sought such items. Â Speak, rogue, or face the wrath of Ul'Dah.
Hero:Â I do not fear Ul'Dah's wrath, government slave, nor do I bow to your threats. Â I am a free man, and free men bow to none. Â I spit upon your masters and laugh at the chains in which they keep you.
Rune:Â Pray hold! Â I know this man!
McPork: Why Rune, I was unaware you were quite so well traveled. Â We shall have to share stories of your adventures with dashing sailors.
Rune:Â Nay, McPork, bite your tongue! Â This man is the one who told me of this shipment! Â He is our source! Â Blades, leave us!
The Brass Blades leave. Â RUNE unties HERO.
Craft: What madness is this? Â He would condemn himself? Â To what end?
Hero: An end to poverty, my poor woman. Â You are Ala Mihgan, are you not? Â Pray, do not answer, I can see it in your features and your build. Â The wages of regret lie heavy upon your shoulders. Â Your people starve in poverty as those you serve feast with gold flakes upon their kebabs. Â It is to end such injustice that I cast myself upon the shields of the Sultansworn as a wave crashes against the rocks.
Rune:Â Pray, sir captain, speak plain. Â To what purpose did you come to me the night previous and speak to me of this crime?
McPork: Truly, Rune, you do not intend to trust a pirate! Â While true, he is attractive, I did not think you one so easily swayed by the urges of your ovaries.
Craft: Silence, McPork! Â Whatever this madman's reasons, I too would hear them before he is to see the gaol.
Hero: If you would hear of who employed me to this task of smuggling, then by your honor I must be set free. Â I have much and more to do, and so I risk my life on this mission. Â Tis for freedom I fight, and so tis freedom which I must be granted. Â Give me your word.
Rune:Â It is given.
Craft: Rune!
Rune: Tis given, I said, and I shall not deny it. Â Speak, pirate cpatin, and tell us who tasked you.
Hero: My name is Hero Lazarus, and you have my thanks, fair knight. Â I shall give unto you the means by which to slay a great evil upon Ul'Dah. Â i shall give you the name of he who seeks Garlean magitek. Â Though his plans I know not, his goal is clear. Â He seeks the subjugation of his fellow man, and the solidification of his own power. Â He is an agent of The Syndicate, and wields his power like a blade to bleed dry those who can least defend themselves.
McPork: Sounds like a load of chocobo shite to me.
Rune: Pray, what is the name of this villain?
Hero: His name is Jonathan Talos!
Craft:Â Talos? Â What lie is this?
Rune: Talos is none other than a patron of The Sultansworn! Â He oversees this very group you see before you!
McPork: I told you it was chocobo shite.
Hero: Nay, tis no shite at all! Â Tis true. Â Talos did pay me to smuggle unto him these weapons, and fearing for the freedom of Ul'Dah, I did warn you, Ser Rune. Â I had heard of how he persecuted you in times past. Â You were arrested for treason, and he prosecuted you, but you were proven innocent and reinstated. Â I knew that you, of all of the Sworn, could see his villainy.
Craft: Villainy, you say? Â The man is a model citizen of Ul'Dah.
Hero: And thus a villain in any other land!
Rune: Thank you, Hero. Â I shall investigate this further. Â You may leave.
McPork: Truly, you must be joking. Â You do not actually believe this man.
Hero: I shall prove it to you! Â In Limsa Lominsa there is a warehouse, and in that warehouse are stored a collection of Garlean goods that make what you found here tonight a mere pittance. Â This warehouse is owned by Talos, though under a different name. Â Go there, and you shall find your proof.
McPork: Bah! Â A warehouse? Â One which you yourself own, no doubt.
Rune: Quiet, McPork. Â I would investigate this warehouse. Â We have naught to lose.
Craft: Except our heads! Â Sultansworn operating in Limsa Lominsa? Â the Admiral will not be pleased, and The Sultana less so. Â Pray, but I would keep my head and disregard this pirate's lies before he damns us all.
Rune: No! Â If what he says is true, then we must go. Â How clearly do I remember Talos's smile as he put me on the stand. Â there is something wrong about that man, something sinister, and I would have it out.
McPork: Fine, if fools you want to be, then more the fool shall I be. Â I will investigate this warehouse myself. Â I know how to keep quiet, and I am twice the swordarm of either of you. Â No! Â I shall hear no complaints. Â Tomorrow I shall take ship to the pirate city, and on the third day from now I shall return with news. Â Pray, be patient, and do not let on what you have heard here tonight. Â When i return all shall be made clear, in the one way or the other.
END SCENE