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Saefinn's Stories - Printable Version

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Saefinn's Stories - Saefinn - 08-07-2013

[edit] This is going to be a single thread from now on. Save making a thread everytime I write something.
((I've written another story for Saefinn's history. This is the story of how Saefinn became a captain. It contains bad language and scenes of a graphic nature (well, not technically graphic, as they're word, but you get the idea). I'm trying to explore Saefinn's dark side a bit as well, think I might struggle combining his lightheartedness and darkness, bit I think it has worked so far))

A Captain's Comeuppance

The night waves crashed against our ship, the wind blew hard through my braided hair. I was sat port side, my foot sat atop my other knee. The moon was out, illuminating the deck. A Roegadyn was sat humming an old sea shanty tapping his foot with rum in hand. I felt a slight nervousness, a tingling in my stomach. I felt pipe-smoke in my lung; I coughed it out. Roddy was sat beside me smoking. I couldn’t believe everybody agreed with me. We were all tired, nobody signed up for this shit, theft and smuggling was our game, ruffing up locals and torturing those who didn’t ‘pay’ their debts, the bottom feeders, the commoner struggling to survive each living day, the refugees seeking shelter. Families reminiscent of the ones were left behind. For most of us this was a revelation and we all stood in agreement, we needed change.

“He shouldn’t have done it.” Roddy sighed.

***

At port captain had me hold a Hyur child with a pistol to her head, with his pistol to mine.

“Don’t disobey your captain, you know what happens!” He chuckled. It was too far, for the divine’s sake, I did just about any dirty deed he asked, I’ve killed in cold blood, I’ve tortured, I’ve cut people from limb to limb, I’ve destroyed men’s manhood, I’ve left women scarred, I’ve had their children watch in horror so they may learn to never cross Captain. I even found a way to take pride in my work, to hone my technique, but he asked too much.

“Captain, don’t you think?” I asked.
“Don’t think, do!” He bellowed, “They knew the deal.”
“Please,” begged the kid’s father, pinned down by two other Hyurs, “I can’t afford to feed my family, I just needed…”
“See lad,” Captain smirked, “he’s not a man at all, what kind of man can’t provide for his family?”

“Then let me do him, he’s the one who got himself into this mess, not his kid.”
“Don’t second guess me boy. Remember, I own you. Now do as I saw before I blow your fucking brains out.”

I gulped. I closed my eyes. There was no use being a hero, the kid was dead anyway, be it by my hands or his. I pulled the trigger. Screams from her mother, her father cried. I felt the blood on my hands. It didn’t feel right, there was no way that it could feel right. My hands were shaking. I felt the weight beneath my arms, the warm sensation running down my tunic. It didn’t feel the same as before, another taboo broken, but this time it wasn’t liberating. There was no redemption from this, I wanted to cry, but inside I felt a rage burning up. I wanted to rip captain’s throat out, call him every bad word I could think of. The bastard was laughing, for the love of all that is good, he was laughing! He felt no remorse, he didn’t do this out of necessity, he didn’t do it for the money, the bastard loved it. I decided, he had to pay, I swore that he would pay. I didn’t care how, I would make him pay.

***

Roddy put his arm around me. “Look man, don’t look so glum.” He handed me some mead.

I remained silent, feeling cold inside. I took the mead, took a swig back, tasting the sweet honey as it warmed my throat. No amount of alcohol could shake this feeling. I was remarkably focused. I had my plan.

“Everybody’s on your side mate.” Roddy smiled warmly, “He’s got it coming.”
“We do it now. Make sure everybody’s ready.” I grunted.
“Aye,” Roddy jumped off, “you might wanna finish that.”

Roddy made his way below deck. Moments later I could hear a cheer. I knocked back the last of my mead, wiped my mouth and smashed the bottle to the ground. It’s time.

I marched over to the captain’s door, with an army of pissed sailors making their way over.

“Tonight!” I bellowed, “Tonight is the night for a mutiny!”

Everybody cheered and the door opened. Captain stood, sword in hand, his red long-coat flapping in the wind.

“What’s going on here?” He screamed. “Did I hear a mutiny? Saefinn, you scurvy bastard, you think…”

Before he could utter another syllable the crew had raised their blades, with Roddy at the front holding a pistol in hand.

“Traitorous bastards! After all I’ve done for you. All right, I surrender.” He dropped his blade, one of the Roegadyn crewmates grabbed Captain by the arm and sat him down on a barrel. A Miqo’te tied Captain up in rope.

“What’s the deal here? Leave me stranded somewhere? A bottle of rum and send me on my way. You can have my ship.”
“Tell me you’re sorry,” I growled.
“Oh, about that? Ahahaha, well lad if you’re sore about that, why didn’t you say so? It’s what you signed up for.”
“Well, it’s not what you sold to us, now is it lads!” I yelled, the crew cheered. “How was it you recruited us, ‘a life of adventure, crime and freedom – the pirate’s life is for you’? I admit I was stupid to fool for that drivel.”
“And what, you wanna be cap’ain, show you can do better? Ha! You think it’s all fun and games, that making money is easy. You wouldn’t last 10 days without me!”
Roddy passed me a knife, Captain’s eyes lit up, I could see the fear.
“Hey now, come on, you want to do things differently, I get it. I thought you were against all this.”
“I’ve learned to enjoy it. And boy, am I going to savour this one.”

I leant over to captain, grabbed him by the chin. “Where’s that smile of yours?” I then cut 2 small incisions either side of his mouth. I could see he wanted to scream, he knew what was coming next, he had seen me do it a thousand times when he went to collect his debts. I punched him in the stomach. Took a right hook to his jaw and booted him right in the bollocks.

“Come on lads, make him smile!” I stepped away, letting the crew get cathartic. I stared out to the ocean, listening to an orchestra of grunts and cries. I gave it a few moments to savour it, the cool sea air in my face, my aching knuckles. Pure bliss. I turned round back to Captain.

“Let’s take a look lads.” They stopped their beating and backed away. Captain was barely conscious, bloodied and purple. The cuts on either side of his mouth had grown across his cheeks. “That’s the smile I was looking for.” I chuckled. I grabbed captain’s hand. I took my knife to his index finger, Captain writhed. I slowly dug my blade in, severing it from his hand. He tried not to scream.

“Crew!” I exclaimed, “This kind of shit is reserved for people who deserve it.”
I severed another finger. I then grabbed his wrist, pulled up his sleeve and inscribed, ‘bastard’. I looked up and could see that captain had passed out.
“That was fun while it lasted. Somebody throw him overboard! Somebody grab an instrument, we’ll crack open the kegs and throw ourselves a fucking party!”

I marched below deck with Roddy behind, I grabbed a tankard straight from one of the shelves, opened up a keg and dipped my tankard in, filling it with rum. I knocked it straight back – the alcohol all going to my head. Bitter taste. Hiccups. I felt good. I burst out laughing, Roddy gave me a strange look. He took up a pint of his own, put his arm around me and joined in.

RE: A Captain's Comeuppance (Story) - Saefinn - 08-18-2013

((Another story. This one is set during phase 4 of the beta.))

A Meeting with a Commodore

Saefinn had become somewhat celebrated. His name was on the tongues of a few important people in Limsa Lominsa, including the admiral. A strange thing for a pirate, he felt. He thought it would have been harder giving up fellow pirates and even harder fighting against them, given his handicap, he’s a terrible fighter! Work was work, money was money and it meant fewer rivals at least, so he felt no remorse helping rid Limsa of a few pirates. What the Lalafell taught him was valuable, he had trained hard with the Arcanists’ Guild and practiced through the work provided by The Downing Wench. He didn’t expect to uncover a conspiracy in the process. It seemed fortune now favoured him, because rumours surfaced of a certain Sahagin manipulating a rival crew, a certain Sahagin Saefinn would rather see his brains splattered on the floor. This was great news, but Saefinn knew there would be no way he could fight him on his own, especially considering he’d probably have to fight through a whole crew of pirates. It wasn’t going to be that easy. This is when Saefinn decided he needed a new crew, but it wasn’t as if he could advertise willy nilly, the guards would soon be on to him.

When attending to business in Ul’dah Saefinn, stopped by The Quicksand for a few drinks and encountered an interesting couple…well, they didn’t like being called a couple, they were just individuals of a similar situation. The purple haired ex-tavern wench, Rosarian and Thaumaturge in training, I’shkandar, both looking for work. Saefinn was unsure at first, but neither Rosarian or I’shkandar seemed to care much for the law, it seemed Rosarian was more interested in getting away and I’shkandar seemed to like the prospect of adventure. Which was enough for Saefinn, but he perhaps made too many promises, he was kind of taken up in the moment and he talked about the idea of defeating those who abuse their power, about fighting for the underdog and other mumbo jumbo. To be fair, he believed in standing up for the underdog, it’s the very reason he offered a certain guard a Limsa grin – to him, that was ‘defeating those who abuse their power’, but when he mentioned the Garlean Empire, this might have been a tad too far, but Rosarian seemed to like the idea and she was a tough nut to crack. Perhaps he would one day be crazy enough to take on more than petty guards, manipulative captains and crooked merchants – heck, there were some Yellow Jackets he sort of started to take a liking to, but if they found out who he really was, they would surely change their tone. On the bright side he was already showing promise in the arcane arts, achieving feats he previously thought impossible. Perhaps there could be some substance to his claims.

Their meeting left on a note, Limsa Lominsa were willing to pay for mercenaries to take on the pirate crew supporting the Sahagin. He promised the pair work and it seemed like an opportunity for Saefinn to strike back on one of the Sahagin responsible for the death of his old crew. However, Saefinn needed a plan, when he thought about it, if it were just the 3 of them, they wouldn’t stand a chance. He needed somebody to take the defence and somebody to heal them. Rosarian boasted her strength and ability to fight, but she didn’t look equipped to take any hard damage and well, I’shkandar was a Thaumaturge, great for killing things, not so great in the defence department. Saefinn thought perhaps he could hire somebody to do it, but he didn’t have much coin to his name, instead he felt there was only one person who should really take the front lines, to prove himself as a captain and that was he. The idea worried him, he was never a good fighter, which is what attracted him about the arcane arts. This is what brought him to Reyner and the Yellow Jackets.

“So, Reyner, do you mind if I call you Reyner?” He smiled.
“Yes, you may. What is it you wish to speak to me about?”
“It’s about your Yellow Jackets. They’re, well it’s a little embarrassing for me, they seem to pack a lot of brawn. Tough little guys…well…maybe not little on the account of that Roegadyn, he’s huge but still. I saw them in action, they could take a beating.”
“They are there to protect. But what are you asking me?”
“Well, as you can see, I’m not that much of a bruiser. I mean, I have this little fluffy bundle of joy,” he pointed to his yellow carbuncle by his side, “to take a beating for me. And well, I wanted to toughen up a little.”
“Hmm…” Commodore Reyner stroked his chin, “well it is not me you should be speaking to. You should be joining the Marauder’s guild, just head downstairs and speak to the receptionist. You’re probably going to need to start small, get used to the weight of an axe. If you need some tips once you have got some practice, I will let you speak to some of my Yellow Jackets, after all, they are in your debt.”
“Much obliged Reyner,” Saefinn bowed and walked down the stairs to the Marauders’ Guild reception area. After registering with the guild, Saefinn spoke to the Guild Master, Wyrnzoen, who proceeded to lecture Saefinn on what it means to be a marauder and a load of other stuff he didn’t quite pay attention to, he was more interested in acquiring his first axe so that he could swing it at some of Limsa’s native wildlife.

Once receiving his axe, Saefinn held it out, felt its heavy weight, perhaps a little too heavy, but he was prepared with training exercises, knowing he could work his way to becoming strong enough to tackle a Sahagin. He was determined, he wanted to see the blade of his axe between two fish eyes, which was enough to motivate him to embrace his training, to let his muscles ache and for him continue to fight, for himself take a beating. Saefinn was finally conquering his own shortcomings as a captain, the idea made him smile. He only needed one more thing, a crew. If he could show his brawn at Satasha then perhaps it will prove his strength as captain, maybe that'd be enough to sell it.