Pirate Activity Reports

Sul, Aryth 8th, 997

Gruesome Shipwrecks May Mark Pirate Escalation

TROLANPORT
The Lucky Larkspur washed ashore on the Zilargo coast last week. The bodies of its crew had been mutilated almost beyond recognition, and its cargo was missing. The Lucky Larkspur is the third ship to suffer such a fate in the last two months, and port officials speculate that a new band of pirates may be responsible.
"Pirates revel in the fear they cause, but this sort of ritualistic murder goes far beyond the pale. These pirates, whoever they may be, are by far the most bloodthirsty madmen I've ever come across," said Parlo Garrelspan, the Trolanport harbor administrator. Garrelspan asserted that most of the merchant ships plying the Sea of Storms are hiring extra marines to guard their vessels against the pirates. Thus far, the marauders have left no survivors, and no calling card other than the dismembered bodies of the crew.
"While this new band of pirates is bloodier than others, they represent only a new incident in a worrisome trend," said Garrelspan. "We've seen a real influx of pirates on the Sea of Storms recently. The conclusion of the Last War left too many war-trained sailors and not enough peacetime ships for them to crew. Unfortunately, a lot of them turned to piracy."
Thus far, all the stricken ships have been owned by smaller merchant companies, but House Lyrandar and the navies of both Breland and Zilargo are taking the matter quite seriously. A House Lyrandar captain, however, speculated that pirates might not be to blame. "The sahuagin dwelling in the Straits of Shargon have some appalling sacrificial rites," Captain Derenver d'Lyrandar said. "If a sahuagin tribe has migrated into a shipping lane, its members could easily produce this sort of damage."
"I know what the gnomes think," d'Lyrandar continued, "but pirates are too smart to just butcher everyone. They want their victims scared enough to surrender, not so certain of their impending doom that they're willing to fight to the death."

Vult 8th, 997

Ghost Ship Sighted South of Sharn

SHARN
A glowing ship moving “arrestingly fast” against the wind was sighted near dawn on Far, traveling without benefit of sail or oars, said reports from two nearby vessels.
The inbound cargo galley Sarah, Green With Envy and the Lhazaar fishing vessel Frostfeather both reported the ship to the Sharn harbormaster upon landing later that day. No crew was visible aboard the ship, which passed within “a few hundred feet” of the Lhazaar ship, according to a copy of the ship’s log obtained by the Sharn Inquisitive. Present throughout the encounter was a “maddening gurgling and howling, as if the drowned were trying to escape their watery graves.” The glowing ship ran parallel to the Frostfeather for several minutes, then cut across her bow and made for the horizon. Wave action and light fog obscured it about ten minutes later.
The Sarah, Green With Envy galley saw the glowing ship at a greater distance, reporting it heading southwest at great speed.
Breland Navy Commandant Janoi ir’Nauphtula said that routine patrols saw no unusual activity yesterday nor so far today. If the ship was neither hostile nor in distress, then it’s likely any outbound vessel wouldn’t report seeing it until it reached its next port. Thus more information may become available in coming days or weeks, she said.
One possibility is that the glowing ship is another sighting of Lightning on Water, a House Lyrandar wind galleon reported missing in Rhaan and rumored to hold a great treasure. Reports from sailors last month indicated that the ship may be traveling along Khorvaire’s southern coast with only its bound elemental controlling it.
Untharr Queetan, captain of the Frostfeather, was unavailable for comment. Officials of House Lyrandar were unavailable at press time, but they have refused to discuss the Lightning on Water incident since the ship’s disappearance this fall.

Sul, Zarantyr 8th, 998

Breland Commissions New Warships to Combat Southern Pirates

WROAT
King Boranel announced on Zor that he planned to commission more than a dozen new warships to ply the Thunder Sea on antipiracy patrols. “Let my voice carry to the south on winds of justice: Any ship flying the bear is under the protection of the great nation of Breland. Crawl back into your holes, villains, or face the wrath of our new warships,” said the crown decree. Construction of the warships will begin in Sharn within the month. Negotiations described as “routine” are under way with Zilargo to obtain that nation’s expertise in naval architecture.
The ships will likely be christened by autumn, perhaps by Boranel or another member of the royal family.
The announcement of the warship construction set off a flurry of court activity when Admiral Telley ir’Nellish noted that the ships would be named after “Breland’s bravest soldiers from the Last War.” Nobles and retired military officers scrambled to put together petitions touting their valor during the Last War in hopes of having a ship named after them.
An attaché to ir’Nellish said on condition of anonymity that the new warships may wait on the docks for trained crew. The naval officer corps, depleted during the western naval battles near the war’s end, still hasn’t recovered, the attaché said.
“I never thought we’d wind up with more ships than captains,” the attaché said. “But you can build a warship in less than a year, and it takes a lot longer than that to build an officer.”

Anyone know how to swim?

er..... Now you mention it, No

Well heres'an idea....
Let's not get on a ship or boat, or any other sea-faring vessel for that matter, until the pirate activity stops. Because i can't swim either.

I am very good at sinking, luckly I can not drown.

Was that sarcasm Katerina ?
That seems a little unladylike

I don't do sarcasm, i find it to be crude and uneducated....

I can swim, well a bit. But then the sea is a little different from the pond I learned in!

And sarcasm, when performed properly, can be wonderfully effective, and need not be crude, nor uneducated. In fact, I could perhaps point you toward the literary works of an Elman Bothwright, whose use of sarcasm is stunningly funny, poignant, and well written. But, that's just my two copper.

Your view may however, have been clouded, by our groups' amateur attempts to emulate his expertise.

This is all 'cause I is a Shifter, innit ?

Ajax the astounding wrote:

This is all 'cause I is a Shifter, innit ?

Erm, yes........ It kind of goes without saying......

Looks like you never know when you might need to swim.

Well, you will go jumping off bridges......

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