[SPOILER ALERT!] Mossflower Odyssey Summaries

[Vizon]

At a newcomer's request, I have taken it upon myself to offer a shortcut for those who do not have the time to read all of the previous contests. The basic story of each Odyssey will be divulged - the big surprises, deaths, and the conclusions, so if you would rather read them in full and be surprised, scroll no further!

I will be adding to this as I have time.







Mossflower Odyssey I: The Journey to Carrigul

CHARACTERS:

[spoiler]Important non-player characters:


Lord Aster, the falcon in charge of the outpost mountain town of Yew, who recently seceded the position after the death of the former Badger Lord. Crippled and flightless after being tortured by beasts of Carrigul.


Flax, the no-nonsense vole captain of the guard


Pyracantha, vixen leader of the traveling acting troupe, the Dewhurst Players


Tikora, the big villainess weasel of the story


Player Characters:

Yew Guards:


Vanessa Fern, otter, brawler, Scottish accent


Noonahootin, Long-ear owl, Senior Officer and scout


Istvan, blood cult following otter with high convictions

Dewhurst Players:


Gashrock, seamstress costumer rat


Risk, Clown performer, burly ferret strongarm with a violent past, AKA "Cookie"


Poko, child ferret, sassy pickpocket

Merchants:


Nyika, young wildcat with the 6th Sense


Zevka Blackbriar, educated mercenary pine marten


Goragula, big-name mafia boss, posing as a common merchant named "Greenfleck"

The story begins with Pyracantha's Troupe being commandeered by the Yew guards to lead them (and a group of merchants) through the mountain pass to the notorious growing blight of a city called "Carrigul," since they have been there and know how to get there. The falcon in charge of Yew, Lord Aster, is afraid they are growing to be too large of a threat and needs to know just how big of a threat they are (or something like that). As they are travelling along a slippery mountain path in the snow, the ground beneath the caravan collapses and sends pretty much everyone to their doom. The main character players are the remaining survivors of the fall.
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WEEK 1


[spoiler]Poko puts on a hedgehog costume from the wagon to warm herself up. When the cliff collapses, Poko's father uses his own body to protect his daughter as they fall and dies when they hit the rocks below. Her mother is mortally wounded and Poko curls up against her until she turns cold.


Nyika and Zevka survive and find Poko. Nyika sees an awful lot of ghosts from all the dead around her and freaks out.


Zevka leads the kits through the mess and mercy kills a hare Yew guard.

Risk wakes up in a tree with a wounded belly. He finds Goragula alive and skins a rat for its pelt. He finds Poko's dead mother which upsets him and he starts looking for Poko.

Istvan crawls bruised, but alive out of a pile of snow. He believes blood pays for sins and goes around slitting throats of both the dead and the survivors, as well as cutting himself on behalf of those he missed. Noonahootin finds him and puts him in charge as one of the last remaining guardsbeasts, directing him to a cave as shelter.


Noonahootin discovers an aggressive mole tribe that tries to shoot him down, then is attacked by a snowy owl.


Everyone finds each other and they join up in the cave to stay warm. Gashrock has a gash in her leg. Poko has a dangling toe. Nyika's arm is dislocated. They fix each other up as best they can. Nyika wakes up screaming from a nightmare and wakes everyone.

In the morning everyone is on edge. Risk, Goragula, and Noony go out to look for foodstuff and run into scavenging crows eating the bodies. Goragula vanishes. Back in the cave Poko admires Zevka for being in a horde. Istvan scolds Poko for smoking. Risk goes out again with Zevka and Gashrock and reveals he was in a relationship with Poko's mother, and his true name, which is notorious. Zevka fangirls a little. Risk finds some jars of candy. There is a clue that he is connected to Nyika.

It is suggested that they travel to a nearby body of frozen water to try to find fish. Istvan explains sin to Poko and we learn more about his religion. Poko is concerned about her dead parents' souls but Zevka stops the conversation. Poko is annoyed at Nyika for pretending to be a helpless kit and milking the adults' attention with her neediness. Zevka teaches both Nyika and Poko self defense moves on the way to the lake but the two youngsters start fighting.

A tree falls, barely missing the group. Goragula crawls out from the base of the fallen tree and reveals it was no accident. Evil moles are responsible. Goragula had found their underground tunnel system and pursued a mole, catching, and "questioning" it to discover they were hunting the group and setting traps ahead of them. We discover the moles also caused the landslide/collapse that killed everyone else.

Istvan is shaken by the revelation. He talks to Nyika about her ability to see the dead. She encourages him and reaffirms his faith in the All-Mother.

Everyone feels the lake will be safe from the moles since they cannot tunnel under the water, and the otters are volunteered to catch fish for everyone. Unfortunately Istvan is not a good swimmer, in spite of being an otter, and Vanessa has to save him. He nearly dies. Nyika sees spirits dragging him down.


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WEEK 2


[spoiler]Nyika is still freaking out about the spirits trying to drown Istvan, but no one believes her. Poko mocks her and Nyika snaps, calling her mother a whore etc... until Zevka punches her in the eye. This triggers Risk attacking Zevka. Risk scolds Nyika and she retaliates by telling everyone that he is "Risk the Cutter," blowing his cover.  He walks away. She also reveals to Greenfleck that she knows he is (connected to the name) Goragula. Goragula reacts with hidden fury, then speaks defensively, saying every merchant has to deal with Goragula occasionally. Noonahootin seems to be the only one who cares about Risk being a famous assassin aside from Istvan who, of course, thinks all his blood should be returned to the All-Mother for his sins.

Risk goes off on his own in the woods, feeling his belly wound fester. Nyika finds him later and apologizes and they talk. Risk reveals that he is the one who cut her from her mother's womb and brought her back to life when her heart stopped, and he is also the one who killed her mother (on her father's orders, as she was being unfaithful). Nyika scratches him and leaves. Risk knows he is dying so he figures he'll go out with a bang. After telling Gashrock to write a good ballad about his end and leaving the candy jar for the kids, he enters the mole tunnels through the fallen tree, sets their food and kitchens on fire, then fights them as they come, heaping bodies upon bodies.


Flax and Pyracantha are still alive and following the group at a distance, an odd couple. They too are being harrassed by evil killer moles. Pyracantha finds evidence that Risk is alive in the cave where the main group had stayed the night.

Vanessa Fern is visited by Noonahootin as she stands sits guard in the night. She questions his putting Istvan in charge instead of her. He reasons that she should be more qualified, as her father was the best soldier of their time, and he blames himself for not keeping her in line. She runs away crying. Zevka finds her and cheers her up with mead. Nyika joins them and they all get drunk and chummy. Nessa tosses the group's sack of rations over the cliff side. Oops.

They get in big trouble by Noonahootin. The name of Noony's son, Prosecutes, who evidently died in battle, is tossed out there and Noonahootin loses his cool. The snowy owl (aka "The Harfang") that attacked Noony earlier is spotted in the sky, hunting for them.

Poko goes off on her own to eat some food she'd kept hidden from the stash. Istvan catches her and accuses her of stealing and being sneaky, a sin that needs to be atoned for. He pins her down and draws a knife only to find Zevka's sword pointed at his back.

They exchange sharp words. He releases Poko and she flees into the forest. Zevka follows and they have a talk about Nyika's cruel words. Zevka says she will take care of Poko if they get out of this alive.

Zevka takes Nyika and Poko for a walk to look for food and to give Poko a dagger to defend herself against Istvan. They find a bunch of dead bodies and Zevka flips out when she sees a dead wildcat who she thinks is her friend Mekad at first (Mekad sent her a letter asking her to come to Carrigul). They return to the camp to tell Noonahootin and the others. Zevka plots briefly with Greenfleck (Goragula) to take out Istvan, as a growing threat to their party. They discuss how to fight the moles. Zevka spars with Vanessa to show the youngsters how to fight.

Gashrock informs the group that Risk is not coming back and had a plan for killing moles. She gives Poko Risk's hat and Nyika his dagger and both of them split the candy.

At night Istvan wakes Poko and convinces her not to scream, then apologizes and persuades her to go along with his ritual blood-letting (pricking her finger for a single drop, then cutting himself on behalf of her parents). Zevka wakes and is none too happy, but then Gashrock shouts and they see her being carried off by moles into the darkness. Zevka runs after them but ends up being captured as well. The group unites to go after them, Istvan in the lead. Poko, as the youngest, is not allowed to accompany them and stays with Noonahootin above ground.[/spoiler]


WEEK 3

[spoiler]Poko is bored to tears by Noonahootin's family history as they wait in a tree. The harfang (snowy owl) shows up at dawn and Poko comes up with a plan to clothesline her with the yarn from Risk's unraveled knit cap. It works and gives Noonahootin an opening to attack. The harfang retreats and Noonahootin falls to the ground, exhausted and wounded further.

Underground Gashrock passes the time by singing and talking about plays with Zevka who simply wants to escape their bonds. Zevka notes that the moles' attire looks like Carrigul fashion. Istvan and Vanessa get separated from Goragula and Nyika when there is a ceiling collapse in the tunnel they are in. Vanessa shoves Istvan out into the moles to be captured so she can follow them to the prison where they are keeping the others and break them out.

Nyika tells Goragula about the ghosts around him demanding his death, including a vole who came to her when she was fortune-teller. They find Risk's dead body and Nyika asks Goragula to skin him when they hear fighting. She finds her friends being pursued and creates an eerie scene with fire breathing and chanting, then dons Risk's skin making him "rise again" which scares off all the moles that were pursuing Vanessa, Gashrock, Zevka, and Istvan.

The ghost of Risk makes funny remarks about the perks of being dead (watching Zevka undress without being scolded, for instance). Vanessa congratulates Nyika on a great performance. They get the heck out of Dodge, but not before discovering an orphaned mole babe which Nyika rescues.

Gashrock goes back to recover a document from that she had seen the moles carrying and gets stabbed by a feisty molemaid in an artery. They see the document directing the moles' actions in exchange for provisions has the seal of Yew on it. Gashrock passes out from blood loss and dies.


Back in the sunlight again, they all regroup. Zevka grudgingly thanks Istvan for saving her life. Poko is sad about Risk and Gashrock dying, leaving her the last of the Dewhurst players.
The harfang attacks again and Zevka loses her saber in the struggle. The snowy owl goes for Poko, pinning her to the ground. Zevka reacts by grabbing the baby mole and throwing it at the owl shouting "Snack on this!"

The owl bites the mole babe reflexively when it collides with her, then seems alarmed at what she's done, gathering the babe into her claws and flying off. Istvan is livid. Vanessa (Nessa) is equally horrified. Poko is just happy to be alive. Nyika sides with Zevka, having realized that the moles and the owl seem to be allies.

The ground beneath them begins to change and they make a run for it, escaping at last into a strange territory marked by pillars of bones which the moles will not cross. Noonahootin is told about the Yew seal on the mole document. He refuses to believe Lord Aster might have sent them to their doom intentionally. His wing wound has festered and he is in bad shape. They decide to try to cut away the infection and cauterize the wound rather than amputating the wing. The gory task ends with Noony shouting "SKIESABOVEITBURNSITBURNSITBURNSITBURNSIT..." A pause. "ISMELLDELICIOUS!" before falling to the ground unconscious.

Istvan begins calling Nyika "Mistress of Spirits" with some admiration. He tells Zevka about his abusive home and she hugs him. They find structures but before they can explore them the ground opens up with a burst of steam and Goragula falls into a hole (the area is hyrothermal).

Far behind, Pyracantha and Flax are following the main group's trail. They find a wall-eyed inbred mole child that has run away from the others. Her name is Ruta and Pyracantha adopts her.[/spoiler]

WEEK 4

[spoiler]Nyika saves Goragula, pulling him out using the medical supply bag (and Istvan's backup strength). His haunts curse her for saving him. Risk's ghost defends her. Nyika confides Greenfleck's true identity to Zevka, alerting her to the danger of the toad. The group settles for the night in one of the abandoned houses in the village ruins. Nyika still stinks from Risk's corpse so she sleeps separate from the others, waking in the middle of the night. She feels sorry for not taking care of Poko like her mother's spirit had asked and decides to re-knit her hat that had been unraveled. She finds knitting needles in another abandoned house with two stoat sisters - one pregnant with twins - but doesn't realize they are dead skeletons until dawn when Istvan and Poko peek in on her. Istvan has stayed up all night also, keeping watch over her outside the house. She apologizes to Poko and opens up a little, talking about her adulteress mother who Risk killed after giving her the re-knitted hat.
The group heads for the largest, highest structure - a temple. Istvan insists he must shed blood in restitution of the All-Mother's judgement on this village. Nyika insists he has lost too much blood already and that she should do it instead. They feel like they are being watched and find a riddle written in stone.

Noonahootin gets claustrophobic and exits. Nyika follows to keep him company and he tells her of his family heritage and the Court of the seven winds. They discover an old snowy owl nest and piece together through clues and ghosts that a merlin falcon (Lord Aster, presumably) had lured them to their deaths at the paws of a Carrigul soldiers, then smashed all but one egg, which he'd carried away. They dodge geysers of boiling hot water all the way back. Nyika recaps events and they wonder if her momentary death at her birth might have instilled a connection with the dead. They spot some ermine sneaking around, then reunite with the others.

Goragula is spying on the group from behind a rock. Poko shows Zevka and Noonahootin a letter that Goragula dropped when he had fallen that reveals without a doubt that he is Goragula, the criminal. Goragula acts fast to defend himself, seizing Nyika as a hostage, but Nyika manages to break away, leaving the toad exposed to the wrath of Istvan and Zevka who rush him, though it's Noonahootin who reaches him first and slays him with his talons.


They find a natural springs bath house and the females take first turn getting cleaned up. Poko spots a young ermine spying on them and chases him down (sans her garments). She asks what he's doing spying on them and he asks what she's doing in their territory and in their baths. They become fast friends, the ermine introducing himself as "Takis." He is intrigued by the newcomers, but other ermine are unhappy about their temple being invaded. Takis takes Poko on a tour of the area, revealing the history of their clan. The leaders and priests with the knowledge of the plains were killed by a foreign army. The priests had the ability to predict and even control eruptions, so without them the spirits of the earth turned against the ermine and now only a remnant remains on the high temple plain. Takis wishes he had passed the tests to be a priest (he like all the others, has no power over the geysers). They end at the hall of the ancients, and Takis is amazed that Poko knows how to read the riddle (only priests could read in their culture).

Vanessa joins them and they figure out the riddle and open the door only to find another door behind it with another puzzle. Poko's toe has been getting worse and worse as she's been running around and Takis finally notices her limp and pain. He offers to take her to a blind healer in their tribe who amputates the toe properly.

Zevka talks to Nyika about her past and they figure out that Mekad is quite possibly her brother (his pregnant mother was killed and her unborn kitten stolen). Takis leads Zevka to a recovering Poko and they talk about the value of beasts, valuing happiness over power, and the importance of family. Zevka tells Poko to never change. She gets Takis to trade her bottles of mead for a little crossbow as a gift for Poko.

Vanessa still hates Zevka for throwing the baby mole, but they work together along with Nyika and Istvan to try to solve the next riddle/door. Zevka reveals that she no longer considers Istvan a madbeast who might kill them in the night and apologizes for formerly trying to come up with ways to kill him. He appreciates her apology. The puzzle is so complicated, Zevka finally just climbs the darn thing, breaks it open and manually turns the wheel that the maze of pipes would have directed water through, had it been solved correctly. So they cheat their way through door #2.

Nyika goes off and starts cutting herself. Istvan finds her and is horrified. She's carved a big backwards "R" across her face, chest, and arm (the "Cutter's Mark" according to legend that Risk used to leave on his victims). They bandage her up and take away the knife and Istvan gives penance for himself for setting her on this wayward path.

The group gathers at the final door, the only place left unexplored. Istvan solves the magnetic puzzle and they finally descend into the former priests' hidden chamber, along with Takis. They find a scroll that outlines experiments performed utilizing rocks that change in appearance when gas activity is present (waves of poison gas kept the plain below uninhabitable until they figured out how to use the reactions of the rocks to predict when to evacuate).

Vanessa comforts Poko in the night, telling her of her own father's death (in an ambush). Coincidentally a little later she hears voices and sneaks up on a trio of ermine talking about them. They talk about her last name being Fern and how they'd killed her father on orders, complaining of having to do all the dirty work of Yew and Carrigul, just to stay fed. Vanessa goes berserk and attacks, killing one of the ermine as she demands to know who killed her father. She chases them into the night, but they know their own land far better and lead her into a cave full of poison gas that knocks her unconscious. Istvan and Zevka come looking for her at the sounds of her shouting and Istvan brings her out of the gas. Zevka is still lost in the tunnels and the ermine all come out of the darkness wearing masks and armed with crossbows to slay them. Vanessa tells of the knowledge they've discovered that will be lost if they are killed. Takis comes out of the crowd and sids with Vanessa & co. He shows off his newfound knowledge, predicting a geyser burst to prove himself a genuine priest. The ermine seem spellbound and convinced to let them pass without harm until the brother of the slain ermine steps forward, calling for justice. The law of the ermine requires the fighting paw of a murderer to be cut off. Vanessa agrees, knowing that she is not only guilty of the murder, but Zevka is dying in the poison-gas caves. She exchanges her paw for Zevka's life and her companions' safety.

Back at the frozen lake, Pyracantha, Flax, and Ruta the molechild are following the cold trail of the other survivors. They discover Zander, Tikora's ex mate hiding out in the mountains like an outlaw. He tries to kill Ruta, but they make it overly difficult so he leaves.
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WEEK 5

[spoiler]Takis and another ermine lead the party of outsiders out of their territory via the poison gas tunnels (they all borrow masks). Poko is disappointed that Takis won't be coming with them, but acknowledges that he has family and responsibilities (unlike her). She tries to teach him basic phonetics, sketching a series of cheat sheets on thin peels of aspen bark. As the sun sets, they say goodbye. She shares a smoke with Nyika, against Istvan's wishes, and they talk. Poko discovers a secret pocket sewn into Gahrock's coat which she's been wearing. It contains her "Ballad of the Cutter" as well as a tiny pouch of buttons and gemstones. Poko lends the ballad to Nyika. They return to Istvan cutting himself for Nyika's sin, Zevka recovering and vomiting under the care of a somber one-pawed Vanessa, and a sore-footed Noonahootin. Poko suggests the captain disguise himself as a short-earred owl while they are in Carrigul since his face is well-known.

Zevka draws Nessa out of her funk by fighting her, proving she can still fight with only one paw.

Once they draw near to Carrigul, Noonahootin helps Poko and Nyika sneak away so that they can run ahead into Carrigul to find disguises for everyone at a shop Poko remembers.

Zevka is none too happy about Noony lying to her and allowing the youngsters to go off into a dangerous city by themselves. While changing cloaks the falcon feather is revealed and Noonahootin has to come to grips with the evidence that Lord Aster is a traitor in league with Carrigul, and his entire life, devoted to serving Yew and the Guard, has been a fraud (he himself taught Lord Aster how to fight in the air). He flies off, but Poko finds him and convinces him to come back to them. She helps create his disguise and identity, "Duke Sigurd von Metzger", snipping off his long ear feathers and distinctive mustache.

The crew enters Carrigul in disguise. They witness a public execution and all are surprised to see the executioners have tattoos like Istvan and cite the All-Mother's justice - especially Istvan. The punishment doesn't fit the crime (insulting high priest Tikora) in Istvan's eyes, but he hopes he can help reform these newfound brethren. He and Nyika go from tavern to tavern, gleaning information. Istvan learns that "High Priest Tikora" started the settlement of Carrigul and controls everything. Nyika keeps her info secret until later.

In the dead of night, Nyika sneaks off, but Istvan accompanies her like a stubborn shadow. She is determined to find out who "Ruark" is, who sent the letter to Goragula that caused him to leave Yew personally. She stops at a haunted apothecary and takes all the "Root of Valerian" tinctures (at least, according to the ghost vixen), then heads to a certain Tavern, sneaks in, and proceeds to dump a vial in each of the barrels of ale. She enters the tavern through the main door later and demands to see Ruark (Carrigal's own mob boss), claiming to represent Goragula. She tells him of Goragula's death and confirms her suspicion that he had ordered the road collapse in an attempt to eliminate his rival. They hear an uproar from the tavern and Nyika throws her (poisoned) alcohol and glass in his face, upending the table and trapping him beneath it with her knife to his throat. She demands to know who is holding Mekad and he divulges the name "Beechton Valash" before she bashes him in the temple. As she exits the back room she discovers that she has poisoned everyone with the tinctures rather than put them to sleep. She runs back to the apothecary and yells at the ghost vixen for tricking her, threatening to burn down her shop. All the murdering haunts turn on her at once and she makes a circle of salt to protect herself. Istvan comes in but Nyika feels trapped by the angry spirits until she figures out she and Istvan can help them move on by offering forgiveness via their own blood on the ghosts' behalf. It works and they leave. Istvan tattoos her face with white markings like his own.

Nyika passes the info about Beechton Valash to Zevka who reveals he is actually her and Mekad's employer. She kicks herself for divulging too much information to him and for not making the connections herself. Nyika says she should leave the group, as she's brought down the wrath of the underworld on her own head.

Zevka goes out with Istvan and Poko to look for clues about Mekad's whereabouts. Poko talks about roof-jumping with her Papa and Zevka buys mouse jerky for Noonahootin from a shady food cart. They eat a good meal then split up to search on their own. Vanessa is abducted from the middle of the market square by a bunch of goons who she bloodies, but cannot overcome. Poko sees it happen from the rooftops and tries to follow them, but loses them on a side street.

Zevka resolves to get Poko out of Carrigul as soon as she can to keep the young ferret safe, but first she is going to find Nessa and Mekad. Istvan and Zevka question a suspicious fox at the scene, then leave quickly when angry beasts in uniforms storm the marketplace, probably looking for Istvan and Nyika. They decide to find Nyika first. At the apothecary they find Nyika but Guards surround the building. Istvan bursts through a side wall and leads most of them away while Zevka kills the rat soldier who remains to search the building. Nyika changes her outfit to disguise herself as a priestess and Zevka decides to confront Beechton Valash. Beasts are in awe of Nyika and she plays her "Mistress of Spirits" role very convincingly. Istvan gets himself captured intentionally so that he can speak to High Priestess Tikora.

Far behind the others, Pyracantha, Flax, and Ruta follow the trail of the other survivors to the bone pillars where Ruta warns them to stop. She tells of the earth being wrong and poisoning beasts who enter. Pyracantha is miserable that the last surviving member of her troupe seems to have vanished into this deadly place. They take an alternate route towards Carrigul, climbing a cliff side. They are captured at blade point by a group of Carrigul guards at the top. They torture them for information until Zander, who has been following them, appears and starts killing guards. When free, Flax and Pyracantha join the fight. Zander makes sure even those who flee are killed so that no one makes it back to Carrigul to tell them what happened. He supposes he will join Flax and Pyracantha.
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WEEK 6

[spoiler]Back at the tavern the others have heard rumors about Nyika's grizzly deed. She is mortified, but then explains that she never meant to kill anyone. The poison was only supposed to put beasts to sleep - including Ruark so she could slip away after questioning him, but it didn't work out that way. She learned from him that "it was all a plot. Kill Goragula, collapse the markets in Yew, and incite war." They were all pawns, and all their family and friends who died died because Ruark ordered the mole attack. Half the guard were sent to their deaths so that Yew's forces would be diminished. They still don't understand how Lord Aster, who hates Carrigul and was tortured by Carrigul beasts could actually be helping them.

Nyika thinks she can find more answers if she can get close to Tikora and present herself as the Mistress of Spirits. "You can't keep unraveling threads the way you are. Go to the knot. Tikora will know."

Poko goes off on her own search, hoping to find a clue to the others' whereabouts before Nyika goes off on her suicide mission. Poko finds an old ermine prisoner - a "priest" from Takis's home. He and others had survived the slaughter by volunteering invaluable advice to help harness the volcanic vents which allowed Carrigul to become a thriving (well-heated) city. To preserve his own skin, he had also helped them build giant forges, which he deeply regrets, for it has enabled them to make great quantities of weapons and armor. Enough to conquer all Mossflower and beyond. Poko asks where the forges are, hoping that Carrigul's strength might also be its greatest weakness.

Istvan faces Tikora only to find that she has absolutely no faith in the All-Mother and is only using the religion as a means of organizing and controlling her city. We discover she is with child (why she let Zander stick around as long as she did). She knows about the others and plans to bring them in for questioning also. Then she slices Istvan's left eye and face before returning him to prison and scheduling his execution for the next day.

Tikora's guards approach Noonahootin and invite "Duke Sigurd von Metzger" to the castle to meet Tikora as a visiting noblebeast. Nyika comes as his cultural adviser/religious counselor and Zevka his valet. At the castle Noony (as the Duke) is lead to a banquet hall where his son, daugher-in-law, and grandchicks are also waiting as guests, as well as Beechton Valash (who is a fox).

Beechton spots Zevka at the banquet and quietly arranges to meet with her behind closed doors. They retreat to a room with a single personal guard and Poko, who seems to have wormed her way into Beechton's trust by betraying Zevka. Zevka is manacled to a chair while Poko and Beechton Valash gloat about what a stupid sucker she is until Poko swipes the key to the manacles and releases Zevka. Zevka dispatches the guard and Poko stabs Beechton in the gut when he tries to strangle her. Zevka beats him to death, managing to learn the location of Mekad. She takes Beechton's money and gives it to Poko, telling her to leave town and escape while she can. Poko reveals that even if she did, she wouldn't be safe from the growing forces of Carrigul. She tells of the forges and the massive accumulation of weaponry and how everyone across the country will suffer like their caravan and Takis's city if they don't find a way to stop it. She tells her plan to Zevka. Zevka writes letters and signs them with Beechton Valash's signet ring. One she gives to Poko to get her out of the castle while the other is to try to get Istvan out of the dungeon. She reaches Istvan, but alarm bells start ringing before they can escape and they are surrounded by guards.

Back at the table, Nyika realizes the banquet is all a ruse and Tikora knows who all of them are. Nyika convinces Noonahootin not to fight and throw his life away, thinking she can still appeal to Tikora as the Mistress of Spirits. The owls are imprisoned while Nyika is taken into Tikora's "care." She is an anomaly to the weasel and might prove useful with her wits and trickery. She puts a collar and chain on her like a pet.

In the dungeon the others are reunited, sans Poko. At the end of the passage, their old nemesis, the snowy owl is also being kept behind bars. She screams threats at them in molespeech. They figure out Aster probably gave the egg he stole from the snowy owl nest to the mole tribe to raise, as the tribe was under his claw, and she could grow to be a strong asset (which she had). Because of that it is believed that Aster is not crippled after all and can probably fly.

Aster shows up and escorts Noonahootin to the roof. Up top, Tikora tells Nyika that she must cut Noonahootin's wings off to prove she has no feelings for him, as a blood sacrifice. Suddenly smoke starts to rise from the castle below and somehow Cleite, Noonahootin's imprisoned son and family fly up through the smoke, having escaped. Tikora screams that they cannot get away and that she will kill Aster's mother if he doesn't stop them. He takes off. Noonahootin takes off too, determined to protect his son and his family. They battle in the sky. Noonahootin tells Aster he is acting on a lie - that Tikora does not have his mother, but he refuses to believe it - that he's betrayed everything that is important to him for a lie. He tears apart Noonahootin, who falls out of the sky.


Poko runs across the roofs when she sees Noonahootin fall through the sky and finds his body on a roof. She cries, she blames herself for creating an inadequate disguise. Carrigul guards chase her off as a grubby street urchin and she recognizes at last that truly it was Tikora/Carrigul that killed her friend. She has a plan and Noony will be avenged.

Previously in the dungeon we find Zevka, Istvan, Cleite and his wife and chicks. Cleite hacks up a pellet and Zevka gets the bright idea to use the bones in the pellet to pick the lock. Zevka lights a room of expensive alcohol bottles on fire and Cleite and Breda (his wife) carry Istvan and Zevka (who each carry a chick) through an onslaught of spears and arrows to safety. They find Poko back at an established meeting place and she tells them about Noonahootin's grim fate. They are sad and full of regrets. Istvan wants to go back for Nyika. Zevka wants to go find Mekad now that she knows where he is being held. They agree to go for Mekad first. Zevka patches up Istvan while Poko scouts out the location from the rooftops. They get inside the house using another fake letter from Beechton Valash. Using surprise, they take out those assigned to guard Mekad and Zevka releases him. He's been tortured by Tikora's priests, but is well enough. He is a moral character, as evidenced by his mercy towards the last remaining guard. One of the guards tells them about a secret entrance into the castle. They go to an inn and have a picnic on the floor while Zevka catches Mekad up on what's happened. She tells him about Nyika possibly being his sister. They toast Noonahootin's memory with cherry fizz.

They sneak into the castle via the secret entrance and save Nyika in the midst of a terrible beating. They capture Tikora and use her as a hostage to escape the castle. Midway they are stopped by Lord Aster and Zander, as well as a group of soldiers. Zander has Pyracantha and Flint.

(We get a glimpse into Pyracantha's past as she rescued orphans and raised them up as her own children. She feels for all the orphans running around Carrigul.)[/spoiler]


WEEK 7

[spoiler]It is a standoff between Aster and the group, as Aster is desperate to keep Tikora alive. He believes she has his mother. After much back-and-forth Zander confirms that it was all a lie to manipulate him and the feather from Aster's "mother" Tikora had showed him was, in fact, one of Aster's own. Tikora breaks free from Zevka's hold to attack Zander, biting off his nose. Aster is finally convinced he betrayed everyone for a lie and loses his mind, attacking Tikora and tearing her throat out before turning on the Carrigul soldiers. Nyika thinks she can save the unborn kit as Risk saved her. She cuts the weasel babe out of her dead mother. Ander says Tikora would have killed the baby since it's female. Aster attacks and seizes the newborn from Nyika's paws, flying off with it to the roof of the foundries. Poko and Nyika pursue. Behind them the others run into a band of soldiers.  Poko has been exploring the foundries so she knows a way up. They help each other reach the top and face off against Aster who wants them to see the kit die. Poko shoots him with her crossbow.

On the ground Zevka, Mekad, Istvan, and Zander clash with the soldiers. They beat them (the soldiers are not eager to fight for a dead Tikora). Zevka questions the ferret officer about Vanessa Fern and learns Aster took her out of the city, having plans for her elsewhere. Zevka finds Poko on the roof, shaking. She is distraught about killing another beast. Zevka reassures her that she did the right thing, that it's okay to feel that way about killing another beast, and that her papa would be proud of her not wanting to be a killer. When they are back on the ground, Istvan also reassures her that she saved an innocent life and that death was likely the best outcome for Aster. Poko is encouraged.

Poko and Zevka agree that they should  take action to stop Carrigul while they can. They are going to try to take down the foundries, as Poko has been planning while the leadership is still in chaos. She has learned in her spying that closing the pressure valves will cause the great furnaces to overheat and explode in minutes. They do the deed but when they reemerge they discover that the others outside have been caught by a wolverine and a group of workers. They too are caught and everyone is tossed into a room and the door is bolted. A huge explosion rocks the building and beasts outside are heard screaming in pain before they hear everyone fleeing. No one lets them out. Poko is able to squeeze through the tiny window, promising to go around and let them out. Zevka finds a crow bar and they bust out only to find that they are trapped in the building with lava oozing closer and closer. The giant steel utilityl door that would have been their only exit is closed and they cannot lift it no matter how they try.

Poko finds the other side exits don't exist anymore and the windows are barred. She'd seen the big steel door raised and lowered by a complicated system of pulleys and half-ton counterweights when she first scouted the place, so she knows there's no way it can be lifted manually - even by many paws. Her friends are trapped. She circles around to another small window that leads to the mechanism's housing and crawls up into it. The wheel that turns the mechanism is on fire and the wall is red hot where the lava is about to come through. Poko knows what she has to do, and she does it. Then the lava bursts through.


Everyone barely escapes with singed fur. Pyracantha emerges through the smoke carrying Gashrock's (Poko's) coat that Poko had chucked out the window.

The lava destroys not only the foundries, but the city armory which was downhill from there. The group returns to the palace to find Zander displaying the body of his former mate. He is chummy with them, and asks for the weasel babe, who is, after all, his daughter. Ruark shows up, making a grab for power himself. He is about to take his revenge and slay them all when owls appear - it is Cleite returning in force to bring justice to Carrigul on behalf of his slain father, Noonahootin (whose head is still on a spike).

Zander has no interest in taking over Tikora's cursed city, but Zevka thinks it is redeemable and suggests putting Mekad in charge, as a qualified, educated and fair-minded son of a Lord. Nyika convinces Zander to let her keep the kit she had saved. Istvan decides to stay and teach the true form of his religion. [/spoiler]

EPILOGUES

[spoiler]Pyracantha uses Gashrock/Poko's stash of jewels to start an orphanage in Carrigul to offer a home for all the street urchins and surviving orphaned children.

A tentative alliance is built between Yew and Carrigul, represented by a bridge built to cross the original road collapse. Relations between vermin and woodlanders improve.

THE END


(Unfinished sketch of Zevka and Vanessa being reunited)[/spoiler]

[Matra Hammer]

This is a wonderful idea and a grand way to catch everyone up on the spin of things. I'll buy you a monster sized Toblerone if you can somehow wrangle MO2 into a coherent summation. Throwing shade because I was one of the responsible parties for that particular trip.

I can't remember where it is in the timeline...but please, Please, PLEASE don't forget the mole fling! Quite possibly my favorite MO1 piece right behind Poko when she [RADIO EDITS]

[Vizon]

Mole throw included!

[Matra Hammer]

Hello, everyone. Vizon asked me to handle the MO2 since I wrote in the cast and understand the weird turns of it better than most.

Yes, we're all well aware that MO2 was an oddball contest in the extreme. Hopefully I did an okay job of wrangling this monstrosity into a semi-coherent summation.

Please let me know if you've any corrections, questions, or notes of appreciation - and thanks to Vizon again for doing this!

~*~


Mossflower Odyssey II: Into the Deep

Important NPCs

[spoiler]Lord Hiram Rowan - reigning badgerlord of Mossflower, and the story's unseen antagonist.

Lady Vertilia Rowan - sister of Hiram, and the cast's savior.

Archibald Ramondo Urquhart - feline aristocrat in service to the Rowan swerve who leads the cast's expedition.

Richard Chatterly - robin admin of the Zostera Research Facility who loses his mind and claims himself an undersea emperor.

Hollyberry Snapson - hare extraordinaire and last surviving Long Patrol officer in command over Zostera's protection.

Bertrand Wellwood - just a simple mouse caught on the station...or is he!?

And...



Angus Featherstone - the expedition's cook. This is an actual app character that won its category uncontested, but was left unmanned by the author. The cast brought Angus along anyways, and was communally written. He does not pop up in the summary because he'd no major plot contributions, but why hide the nice avatar?[/spoiler]


Player Characters

[spoiler]

Keldon Crowle - The Purser
A rat of dark convictions and darker fur. Once sold his wife for profit, and now guards the expedition's goods.
-


Vin - Diving Specialist #1
A strange otter who may or may not have an imaginary friend. He's not actually pink or goofy mooded in the story. Might've had a fez though.
-


Luummae - Diving Specialist #2
A Great Northern Loon who is one part treasure hunter, another part opera singer, and most parts loving mother.
-


Lilith Kelerin - Scientist
A chain-smoking weasel lass whose hobbies are marine biology, poverty, and killing her abusive brother.
-


Salazar Betsalel - Mercenary #1
An old shrew brute who spent 30 years in an underground prison for a crime he didn't commit, and now must acclimate to the technological future.
-


Zash Zivesta - Mercenary #2
A ferret art historian who took up bodyguarding when the bottom fell out of her academic field.
-


Ortha - Medic
A mole mother with a special needs son who studies the dents of a beast's skull to know their overall health.
-


Mila Abboton - Historian
Squirrel academic living in the shadow of her eccentric and infamous explorer father.
-


Lakmir - Mechanic
A Goshawk mystic who tinkered from his throne over a population of snake people. Also dabbled in magic.[/spoiler]


The Story Summary by "Day/Week"

Prologue
[spoiler]Modern Mossflower is a place full of steam-powered technology and sprawling cities. Mossflower Odyssey II begins in this brass, Victorian-esque future, where some coast guards find an emergency message pod from Zostera, an underwater aquatic life research station. Zostera has been dark for some time, and the message triples the coast guard's mounting worries: "It is open. Zostera is lost. Do not send help."[/spoiler]


Day One
[spoiler]Of course the denizens of Modern Mossflower do not heed the warning. A submarine expedition lead by Archibald Ramondo Urquhart - the aristocratic wildcat servant of the presiding badgerlords, Lord Hiram Rowan and Lady Vertilia Rowan - is funded and assembled. Introductions are made, nerves are steeled, and the cast braves the deep in the Timballisto.

The submarine is almost immediately attacked by a kraken, which is fended off by the crew's divers and mercenaries. The expedition reaches the station, but they're stranded as the submarine is beyond immediate repair. The kraken has almost completely destroyed their only way out, as well as much of the station proper.[/spoiler]


Day Two
[spoiler]Survivors are found upon the station but it's clear all is not well. They're led by Emperor Chatterly, a self-appointed ruler robin who is gracious, imperious, and quite insane. Chatterly offers no clear answers on why the station is ailing, or who sent the warning signal to stay away. The cast splits up and explores the damaged and unpowered sections of the station, which largely turns up nothing but a loony fox and an independent mouse mechanic.

On reconvenining, the mercenaries spend the replanning downtime wrestling, which reveals a hidden passage. Within they find floating jars of alien organisms and tables full of occult tools. They're discovered snooping by yet another non-Chatterly faction lead by Third Officer Hollyberry Snapson of the Long Patrol. Snapson is desperately trying to invoke martial law, but her methods are brutal and it's clear even she is not all there between the ears. The ensuing fight(s) floods the pods they're in.

Vin saves the other cast members by buying them time to escape the flooding pods, but the diver drowns in turn.[/spoiler]


Day Three
[spoiler]The crew is split again as Snapson captures near half of them in the aftermath, and holds them in a giant empty aquarium. The aquarium captives learn that Snapson is in search of the Pearls of Lutra, which are rumored to be hidden in and around the station. Rumor squared: these very same pearls are thought to be able to control the kraken besieging Zostera. Luummae, the last remaining diver, is forced by Snapson to recover one of the Pearls just outside their part of the station.

Meanwhile, the other half of the cast spends their time studying the alien lifeforms found in the secret room. They develop some weapons capable of stopping the regenerative properties of the lifeforms, which were seen feasting on and absorbing the dead from the Day Two attack. However, the cohesion between this section of the cast is frail at best, and Lilith, the scientist studying the organisms, snaps from a mixture of trauma, lack of sleep, and deep sea madness. She takes Chatterly hostage by scalpel point, but is convinced to let him live by Keldon, the group's purser. Chatterly is bound and hidden.

The crew's mechanic, Lakmir, dies under arcane and mysterious circumstances.[/spoiler]


Day Four
[spoiler]Luummae's dive recovers a Pearl, and the kraken redoubles its assault on the station when it's taken. All hell breaks loose in Snapson's camp, and the cast members bound there are freed. In the chaos they pillage a closet full of paperwork and logs concerning what happened on the station, but during the pillaging their hired muscle, Salazar, goes into a trance and attacks the cast. He's subdued by the crew's second mercenary, Zash, and recovers his senses.



Meanwhile, Lilith, and the cast with her, torture Chatterly for information on the alien creatures. They learn that the station is powered by undersea gas vents of curious composition. The combustible gas served as a great fuel source, but the alien creatures came from the vents and the unfiltered vapors warp a normal beast's mind - the gas is what's making Snapson believe in Pearl magic, makes the kraken so large / violent, and generally drove the station into chaos. But they also learn that higher ups funding the station knew the gas and its use, and have been encouraging this end - the Timballisto's expedition - for further research.

A crossbow boobietrap killed the ship's physician, Ortha, as she searched Snapson's trove for evidence.[/spoiler]


Day Five
[spoiler]The cast reconvenes amidst the chaos of Snapson's retaliation to restore order, the kraken's assault, and Chatterly's gas-addled weirdos. Keldon loses his grip on reality, destroys the cast's supplies, and threatens everyone with a gun. Archibald gives the order and Salazar snaps Keldon's neck in trying to subdue him.

Bertrand Wellwood, a sane mouse from the beasts among Chatterly's group, informs the group that there's another vessel on a hidden dock that the Emperor kept for himself. The cast agrees that if they can somehow stop the kraken they can use it to escape.

The cast prepares weapons and plans for stopping the kraken. The cast learns - via Snapson's notes and Chatterly's torture - that the gas at this station was harvested and employed on mainland soldiers. Its application sent soldiers into a frenzy not unlike Bloodwrath, and Zostera's secret purpose was the further test and refine the gas for war purposes. Salazar is revealed to be one of those test subjects from his days before the Timballisto expedition[/spoiler]


Day Six
[spoiler]Lilith creates a rail cannon within one of the ship's pods, and the cast plans on using it to obliterate the kraken without. However, Snapson redoubles her attack and sets off a series of explosives and raids with the remainder of her resources. The alien creatures within the vents, and in the hidden room's tanks, join the fray. The cast successfully fends off the invaders and aliens with salvaged weapons. Snapson is bested, and with a dying breath she raises a Pearl she has high. The kraken, somehow drawn to the Pearl, breaches the station.



Lilith fires up the cannon as the kraken breaches their pod. The slapdash cannon assembly catches the seawater and electrocutes Lilith to death after she fires and kills the kraken.

Free of the kraken, and Snapson's forces, the cast makes a mad dash for the hidden submarine...but Emperor Chatterly has freed himself from his captivity, and he is gas-mad and hungry for revenge.[/spoiler]


Day Seven
[spoiler]Most of Zostera floods, and the areas not full of water are choked with gas from the undersea vents. The cast hallucinates, but mostly keeps their composure. Other beasts - like Snapson's unbound crew, and Chatterly's servants - are completely warped by the gas and become feral, bloodthirsty monsters. The monsters come across the escaping cast, and Zash sacrifices herself so the others may board the escape vessel safely.

Chatterly stands guard by the secret vessel, completely warped by the gas and torture and hungry for revenge. Salazar (the last living mercenary) spends all his energy tearing the robin emperor in half. He's carried into the vessel by Mila Abboton (the historian,) Luummae (the diver,) and the NPCs Archibald and Bertrand.

The remaining three cast members - Salazar, Mila, and Luummae - all think they've made it out safe. But when the first recovery ship comes for their escape sub, it's not a glad tiding. Bertrand reveals he's the head scientist behind the gas and soldier studies, and his institute captures the surviving cast members to make sure they don't report what happened to the public.[/spoiler]


Epilogues
[spoiler]A horror show ensues. The cast is whisked off to Bertrand's private research facility. Salazar and Luummae are subjected to further gas-related tests. Mila is taken on as Bertrand's unwilling research assistant, and she goes along knowing the alternative is death or experimentation. But Archibald, the doomed expedition's feline leader, goes missing in the middle of the night...

Months pass. Sal and Luu are reduced to incoherent vegetables, and Mila is all but catatonic in her service. A raid occurs one night, and Bertrand takes Mila hostage when her two fellow castmates are let free by secret agents raiding the facility.

I kid you not, the big bad is killed by a rat janitor in the facility named Scruffy, who clobbers Bertrand with a giant wrench because he feels bad for Mila. The special forces rescue the three survivors and they're taken to actual safety this time.

Months pass again.

It's revealed that Badger Lord Hiram Rowan funded Bertrand's research and built Zostera as a marine biology station for cover. Lady Vertilia Rowan, who didn't know Hiram's ways, was always suspect of the project, and her suspicions were confirmed once the escaped Archibald begged her assistance. Lady Vertilia calls the raid, outs Hiram to the public, and sees him jailed in combination with the surviving cast's testimony.

Months pass again, and the cast splits ways.

Salazar mostly recovers from the second round of gas experimentation, but Mossflower as a whole still needs work in his eyes. He takes on a security consultation job, reconnects with his ex-wife, and dedicates himself to making sure Zostera never happens again.

Mila's testimony restores honor to her family's name, honor that was lost by her eccentric father who discovered the alien organisms long before Zostera existed. She spends her days rebuilding her historical research and lecturing.

Luummae returns to her gigantic family, as she'd spent most of the voyage clinging to the memories of her mate and children for strength. Though she's still shaken by the ordeal, she's ever the dotting mother and friend.

The story closes with the three separated survivors meeting up in a cafe for the first time since the Lord Hiram trials.[/spoiler]

[Vizon]

Thanks again, Matra, for that most excellent summary of MO2! I have now completed MO1's summary and look forward to beginning MO3's summation soon (lots of art for that one).

[Vizon]

Mossflower Odyssey 3: The Lost Treasure of Captain Blade

CHARACTERS:

[spoiler]Important NPCs:


Lord Atlas - Brain-damaged Badgerlord over Salamandastron who famously stood up to the Pirate King, Captain Blade.


Captain Blade - Legendary Pirate King killed by Lord Atlas who supposedly left behind an immense treasure hoard.


Player Characters:


Captain Ciera Ancora - Pirate captain ferret(maid) trying to stay alive on the waters with her crew aboard "The Silver Maiden." In hot pursuit of Blade's treasure.


Chak Ku'rill - Slave Driver sea otter, overseeing the rowers of the pirate ship "The Silver Maiden."


Vera Silvertooth - Vixen cook onboard "The Silver Maiden." Fleeing from those seeking revenge against her.


Tooley Bostay - Pirate crew member weasel imprisoned as a suspect in the poisoning of the first mate.


Vasily Izhets - Wildcat pretending to be a qualified quartermaster of a pirate vessel when in fact he is just running away from a dangerous situation.


Robert Rosequill - Hedgehog Navigator for the Waverunner ship "The Zephyr" under Lord Atlas.


Crue Sarish - Healer onboard "The Zephyr."


Fildering Dillwithers - Young, gung-ho hare soldier serving under Lord Atlas as the Waverunners seek to destroy surviving pirate scum.


Scully Craws/Gordon Hagglethrump - Young hare cabin boy serving under an alias and secretly obsessed with pirates.


Plink - young rat stowaway hiding aboard the Waverunner ship "The Zephyr."[/spoiler]


Prologues

[spoiler]Lord Atlas the badgerlord of Salamandastron crashes in on one of the last remaining taverns where pirates and former pirates congregate. He sends everyone out except for Leadbone, the former first mate of Captain Blade the Pirate King. He learns from the rat that Blade supposedly stored all of the vast treasure he pillaged on a remote island. Leadbone tells him about the ghost ship that guards it that can sink ships without even touching them and that vanishes into thin air. Atlas forces the rat to tell him where the island is, then lets him go. As he runs out of the tavern door he is impaled by hare soldiers, and we see that all of the tavern's patrons were killed. Atlas burns it to the ground.

Back at Salamandastron, Colonel Frederick Swiftpaw, an old veteran soldier hare, is called in to see Lord Atlas. Atlas wants to find the island to ensure no pirates get a hold of Captain Blade's treasure (he is still fighting a war against piracy). He has commissioned a ship named "The Zephyr" and wants Swiftpaw to find beasts to crew it. Atlas shows signs of mental imbalance. Swiftpaw worries that he might be sending everyone to their deaths.

The pirate ships "The Silver Maiden" and "The Deadwake" skirmish and "The Deadwake" is repelled, but with many casualties in The Silver Maiden's crew. They are both trying to find Captain Blade's treasure.[/spoiler]

WEEK 1
[spoiler]
Robert Rosequill says goodbye to his family. Robert navigates the ship, The Zephyr, and Atlas threatens him to navigate faster if he loves his family. Crue the Healer cries because somebeast keeps stealing her stuff.

Aboard the Silver Maiden, it is established that Vasily was captured off of the Deadwake during the skirmish, First Mate Ginson was poisoned (Captain Ciera was the real target, but secretly switched cups with him at dinner). Vasily is obviously not a pirate and grovels before Captain Ciera. He is full of lies, but seems to get along with the slavedriver sea otter, Chak. He and Vera check the water barrels for poison by drinking samples from each (Vasily uses a double-headed coin to get Vera to taste most of them).


Ciera has decided to celebrate their approach to the island by letting the crew open a cask of grog. Chak drinks and reveals he used to be a slave himself. A drunk stoat says all woodlander types are subordinate and cowardly (including Chak) so he punches him out cold.


Aboard the Zephyr we find Gordon, the cabinbunny, living under an alias (Scully). He secretly sympathizes with pirates and is determined to assassinate Lord Atlas. He has accidentally left his greatest treasure, the dagger of Captain Blade, in the infirmary where he'd been trying to steal some hemlock with which to poison Atlas. He slips back in again and discovers Plink the stowaway rat. Plink is hiding out in the storage area beneath the infirmary. She is biding her time, carving stick figures on barrels.

Scully befriends her and warns her that the soldiers are going to do a thorough search, as they suspect a stowaway.

Meanwhile on the Silver Maiden Captain Ciera Ancora releases Tooley from the brig. She had put him there in the hopes of drawing out any of Ginson's accomplices, but no one surfaced. Tooley is a simple beast. A "blame sponge" as Ciera puts it. Tooley meets up with his friend Daggle, a rat with a lazy eye, who seems suspiciously knowledgeable about the discontent aboard the ship. Tooley is oblivious. Daggle seems to care about Tooley's well-being, but at the same time tells him not to trust even him.


Back on the Zephyr we see Fildering Dillwithers is an enthusiastic young hare who is desperate for a fight and glory. He makes it his business to earn Lord Atlas's praise by finding the stowaway himself. He actually does find Plink and brings her back proudly to Atlas, certain he will be rewarded and at the worst she'll get a few months in the brig. Scully tries to convince him that Atlas is crazy and will kill her, but Fildering does not hear it. Atlas is crazy and announces he is going to kill her. He lifts his sword to do just that when Fildering spots a shape in the fog and rings the ship's bell.


In the fog the two ships collide, scraping against one another and snapping the Silver Maiden's oars along one side. A fire starts in the galley of the Silver Maiden. Atlas orders the Zephyr to circle back and ram them again. Onboard the Silver Maiden it's chaos. Ciera orders Chak to try to disable the rudder of the Zephyr, as he is their best swimmer. She puts Daggle in charge of the galley slaves, ordering them to be locked down so that they do not turn on the pirates in the confusion. Chak reluctantly hands his key over to the rat then dives into the deep. He fails at disabling the massive rudder and the Zephyr rams the Silver Maiden. Atlas and his soldiers board the Silver Maiden and start killing. Fildering attacks Tooley and disarms him when Vera comes up behind him and clobbers him with a crab mallet.


The sails catch fire. Vera realizes the ship is dead in the water and decides to bail. Vera uses Fildering's unconscious body as a shield/hostage while Tooley curls into a ball of guilt over his failure to put out the fire. Scully sees Fildering get clobbered and jumps ships to land on the Silver Maiden along with Plink. After Plink saves him from another pirate rat, she tells him to hide in a covered rowboat until she can explain to the other pirates that he's with them. Scully is in the boat that Vasily and Vera want to take and he makes sure Vera doesn't kill Fildering or leave him to die since he's his friend. Scully, unconscious Fildering, Vera, and Vasily all end up in the lifeboat together.

Lord Atlas is slaying pirates left and right - even those who surrender. Colonel Swiftpaw draws against his own crazed baderlord when Atlas slays an unarmed young wildcat that is basically still a kitten. Atlas throws him across the deck and is about to slay him when the ghost ship of Captain Blade, The Phantom, appears in the fog, approaching the two ships. It draws up beside the ship and Atlas shouts a challenge. It seems to "strike the Silver Maiden with lightning" and Atlas is thrown into the sea. The Silver Maiden begins to sink. In the water Chak escapes his otter captors and climbs back up onto the Silver Maiden to try to save his slaves who are still chained to their benches. Daggle has his key, however, and is nowhere to be found, having already jumped ship. He finds Tooley, but the weasel can't help him.


Chak runs below deck finding most of the slaves drowned or drowning while his favorite slave (dubbed "Minstrel" for his clever songs) and his least favorite slave (dubbed "Scrufftail") are trying to chew their manacles out of the floor.


Chak tears apart his quarters, breaking a leg off his cot to use as a pry bar. He barely jerks the manacles free right as they are all engulfed in a rush of water. He struggles blindly to find the way out, while holding a slave in each arm, finds the hatch opening, then swims with them toward the island.


Tooley, Robert, and Plink all swim to the island, buoyed by pieces of wreckage. Ciera, who was blown off the ship with the first blast clings to a piece of the ship's wall and remembers how Blade himself gave her the Silver Maiden, how she had missed his death and now saying goodbye to her beloved ship. She is determined not to let Atlas add her name to his ever growing list of dead pirate captains. She remembers her child, Rin. She swims after the lifeboat that holds Vasily, Vera, Fildering, and Scully but when she finally reaches it, they discover that they are one beast too many for the little lifeboat. They take turns swimming and when it's Vasily's turn, he gets eaten by a shark. In his last moments we learn that "Vasily Izhets" is not even his real name and he hopes that the others kill his sister for him.

[/spoiler]

WEEK 2
[spoiler]
When daylight breaks on the beach where they've been resting, Chak asks Minstrel to help him write the names of the deceased slaves since he's illiterate (Chak lists off the nicknames he gave them while Minstrel secretly writes their real names). Minstrel sings a sad song. The slaves are still chained to each other. Chak catches Scrufftail hiding some long sharp nails and backhands and kicks him. They find Robert Rosequill reviving a half-drowned Plink. Chak basically tells him to get in line. Plink joins the pirate with enthusiasm, telling him her father was a pirate while Robert trails from further back. Along the way Plink starts to annoy Chak with her insistent questions and lively chatter until he smacks her. Robert consoles her, but she rebuffs him, insisting she's a tough pirate and not a child.

Elsewhere Crue, Tooley, and Daggle are working together. Crue has bandaged Daggle's broken leg, but he complains and insults her. Tooley makes excuses for his friend. They find an altar in the nearby jungle with a food offering (signifying that there are primitives on the island). They eat the fruit, find a freshwater stream, and build a shelter. After a while they sight Chak and his group in the distance, making their way down the beach. When Chak recognizes Daggle, he attacks him in a fury, blaming the rat for the deaths of all his slaves. In spite of Tooley's desperate efforts to save his friend, Chak murders Daggle, drowning him in the ocean surf. He takes his key back and uses it to free the two remaining slaves from their chafing manacles.

Robert comes at Chak, furious at what he's done. Minstrel the mouse stops the hedgehog from bludgeoning Chak. They have an argument about the ethics of self-imposed justice. Robert buries Daggle with help and leads everyone back to the campsite Crue and Tooley had built. Chak is no longer in charge.


On a different part of the beach Vera, Captain Ciera, Fildering, and Scully have also landed. They are accosted by a group of surviving Waverunners. Ciera and Vera surrender and they take Vera's amulet, which is very important to her. When the topic of food comes up, Vera lets them know of her culinary skills, and they let her go look for food with Fildering and his friends as escorts. The friends take food back to the camp while Fildering and Vera keep foraging for more. Vera is attacked by a boa constrictor and nearly dies, but Fildering kills the snake, saving her life. They return to the camp only to find everyone has been dragged off by snakes into the jungle.

Deep in the jungle Scully finds himself and his friends in the clutches of a tribe of snakes. They assume he is a messenger from the "fire god" for some reason and believe that "Lord Badger" has been sent by the earth to avenge them against the mongoose tribe that hunts them. They give him a message of truce to relay to the other tribe's god and allow him to take two beasts with him as escorts. He chooses Captain Ciera and another pirate, Murdin, who had also been captured. The Waverunners see him as the traitor he is now, but they are left behind. Scully takes Vera's amulet also. They return to the camp to find Vera and Fildering hiding in the lifeboat on the water. Fildering realizes too late that Scully has betrayed them and Ciera tests his allegiance by asking him to kill Fildering. He can't do it, but Murdin does.

Back at the other camp night falls and a disturbed Plink sees Tooley hovering over Chak's sleeping body before he takes off into the forest. She follows him, hoping to befriend a pirate that doesn't kill rats.
[/spoiler]

WEEK 3
[spoiler]
Tooley and Plink get caught in a net trap. A creepy parrot pirate named Maurick shows up and takes them back to his tree hut. Tooley seems determined to take revenge on Chak and tries to cut them loose with a dagger while Plink distracts the parrot.

Vera and Scully wake up in the middle of the night and decide to use their only boat as a pyre for Fildering since Ciera has forbidden them from burying him (too much time and effort and they all needed sleep). Ciera is not happy about that. Murdin suggests she teach Vera a lesson, but Ciera says she needs every able-bodied crew member she has left.

In the middle of the night Chak's two slaves converse about whether they should kill him in his sleep. The mouse points out that he saved their lives and that Reedox (aka Scrufftail) should not become a murderer. Early in the morning Chak wakes to find Tooley and Plink have deserted them. Robert immediately organizes them all into a search party. Chak recognizes Robert as a natural leader and envies the hedgehog. They head into the jungle but lose the trail of the rat and weasel, and when Minstrel scouts ahead he springs a booby trap that shoots a sharp wooden spike into his throat. Chak is devastated at the loss of his favorite slave and perhaps the only thing close to a friend he had left. At the burial he wonders aloud why Minstrel had to be the one to die instead of Scrufftail. Scrufftail confronts him with the truth that Minstrel had been plotting to kill him all along aboard the ship, that his singing was his way of keeping Chak happy so that he wouldn't beat his friends, and that his name was Nimbleton, not Minstrel. He ends by singing a song called "Chak the Fool" which convinces Chak. He storms off towards the beach, furious at the revelation and convinced that he can no longer be lenient or kind towards those under him (he considers himself both compared to his own experience). Robert catches up to him and talks to him, pointing out that Minstrel was acting of his own free will when he defended Chak earlier and must have changed his mind about wanting Chak dead after he saved his life. He urges Chak to turn over a new leaf.

Captain Ciera splits the group and sends them out to look for evidence of the native mongoose tribe spoken of by the snakes. Scully ends up with Murdin and they find a shrew who tells them that Atlas is on a murdering spree, slaughtering all survivors. Murdin questions him and Scully reluctantly joins in the torture of the shrew who knows nothing of mongooses or a fire god and dies at Murdin's paws. Scully loses himself for a while until he finds a squirrel and tries to kill her with a poisoned arrow. It's Crue, the healer, and he snaps out of it when she addresses him by name and he runs away. His old tutor, Brother Sage, seems to have taught him poems about the island (in addition to idealizing piracy). He finds Ciera, Vera, and Murdin on the beach again.


The sun rises and begins to light Maurick's hut which is lined with treasure - gold he's collected from Blade's treasure stash inside the mountain. It is also lined with bones - both fresh and old. He starts building a cooking fire as he tells of his old assistant Rippear who threw himself out of the tree hut to his (slow) death. Tooley continues to cut at the vines that ensnare them while Plink gets Maurick to tell her a riddle. The riddle turns out to be a sort of coded map - directions (evidently to Blade's treasure trove). Maurick lifts Plink up, intending to add her to his cooking pan first when Tooley falls out of the net, escaping. Plink is thrown and tips over the cooking pan to set the hut on fire. Maurick runs to put out the fires while Tooley and Plink escape, but they are too high and Maurick catches up snatching Plink from the vines. Tooley throws himself on the bird and they spiral into a crash. Plink throws rocks at Maurick to save Tooley and he chases her, biting off the tip of her tail at one point. Plink breaks through the jungle onto the beach and finds Captain Ciera, Murdin, Vera, and Scully. Ciera defends her against Maurick, who she recognizes (the first mate from another ship). He leaves after Plink throws him the necklace she stole from the wall of his hut.

Crue goes on a walk after Reedox (who is angry at being called Scrufftail) lashes out at her. After running into Scully, she is attacked by a mongoose and kills him with Scully's poison-tipped arrow. She warns the others about the stranger who wanted to skin and eat her and then breaks down at having killed another beast. Chak tells her she needs to have a tougher hide if she's going to survive. She is angry at first, but then agrees that she will do what needs to be done to stay alive - so she can continue to help others. They venture back into the jungle again and are attacked by four mongooses. They fight them off and Robert is wounded, then Tooley returns, leading a huge group of mongooses right to them. They are surrounded.

After hearing from Plink that Chak and Tooley are alive elsewhere, Murdin wants to kill Plink and Scully and get back to just pirates again. Ciera calls him short-sighted. Scully wants to learn more about Blade and so Ciera tells him about how Blade was different from other pirates in that he would strip away anything and anyone who wasn't useful to him, rather than clinging to useless treasure. It made him a successful pirate king, but not a good friend. She promises to demonstrate the most important lesson of being a pirate and rises, drawing her cutlass and approaching Vera. She chides her and calls her a fool, holding out her amulet as the useless trinket that might have gotten her and the rest of them killed.


She makes her point that the amulet cannot help or protect her in their current situation, then turns around and kills Murdin. She explains that they all needed to adapt to survive and stop clinging to the old ways that would only get them all killed on this island. Murdin was a threat because he was unwilling to adapt and would probably have killed her off to take charge since he disagreed with her.
[/spoiler]


WEEK 4

[spoiler]Robert, Chak, Crue, Tooley, and Reedox are captured by the mongooses. Chak is knocked unconscious when he stops the mongooses from skewering Reedox. He wakes up in a pit with his paws tied and a triumphant Reedox who has freed himself from his bonds and braided them into a whip. He intends to use it on Chak to return the humiliations the slave driver has inflicted on him the past 3 years. Chak laughs at his efforts, mocking him, until he forcefully strips Chak's shirt off, revealing scars so numerous, most of the fur on his back never grew back. Chak feels embarrassed and Reedox leaves, recognizing that there is more to the otter's past than he realized. Chak remembers when he received the near-death beating as a slave after he went AWOL searching for his mother for hours, and then found her dead (at her own paw).


Chak sulks for a while, then resolves that he was tough enough to survive back then, and he still is, even if he has to start over from the bottom. Only this time he resolves to be the protector rather than the commander (inspired by Robert's earlier talk).

Back at the beach Plink considers Ciera and Vera's advice about creating a life among woodlanders as vermin. She wonders if her pick-pocketing had been the true cause of she and her mother being forced to move from town to town (as opposed to her previous assumption that it was because they were vermin). She realizes that the stream they are following is part of Maurick's treasure map riddle, and confides in Scully about her new-found knowledge after Scully gives her a vial of "fox perfume." They reaffirm their friendship, then they all hear the roar of Lord Atlas.

Ciera sends the others ahead while she tries to hold off Atlas on her own - or at the least, distract him. She uses a couple dirty tricks, throwing dirt in his eye near the end when he slams into her. It might have ended there except the mongooses (mongeese?) attack and overcome the demon badger lord at last. Ciera and the others are also captured. When they enter the mongoose village they find that the mongooses have not only captured the snake tribe's champion (Atlas), but they have slain the snake king himself. They meet "Shuga" the fire god priest, then are thrown into a big ring-shaped pit with the others, Atlas is held at the center in the most secure cage.


Vera tells Scully and Plink that she has no friends, and her last friend, Hylan the merchant, disappeared 8 years ago after leaving on a trip. Crue manages to climb out of the pit, but when she sights some mongoose children with one of Scully's poison arrows, she comes out of hiding to warn them. She convinces the mongooses of the poison (claiming to have seen it in a dream) and tells them she can heal the youth. When he begins to show signs of poisoning, she puts on a show, dancing, chanting, and rattling shells (which goes against her values, but seems necessary in the situation). She saves the young mongoose who turns out to be the son of the "First Atilak" (highest ranking warrior), Dekeft. He speaks to Shuga, asking if he can keep her from being sacrificed. Shuga takes her into his care as a sort of pet.


The captives are hauled out with ropes and lead across a bridge to be given to the fire god. Crue returns Tooley's hat (which works as a memory device for him). Her act of kindness interrupts his attempt to kill Chak. Tooley is reunited with his captain, Ciera, and he feels everything will be okay now that he has her to look up to again. Everything is not okay though, as they are all tied to stone pillars. To spite Robert (who killed some important mongooses) Shuga says he is going to kill Robert's "family" and picks Twilbee, a young hare (and friend to Fildering), to be sacrificed first.
He is burned alive.


Then the fire god shows up in a show of flames and theatrics that send the mongooses into a frenzy. He accepts the sacrifices and offerings, then the tribe is dismissed while Shuga stays. The fire god is a real beast wearing a snake skull mask and costuming. He is using the rumors of the treasure to lure in ships, target practice, and recruit able bodies to serve him within the extinct volcano called "Dead Rock." He addresses the prisoners, stopping in front of Lord Atlas to mock him. It is revealed at last that the fire god is Blade himself, who was actually not killed by Atlas at all. He claims Atlas threw some other poor bloke out the window in his brain-addled/blood-wrathy state, thinking he was the pirate king. Atlas refuses to believe it. Captain Blade promises to destroy everything Atlas has worked so hard to build (he has been building up his fleet over the course of ten years), just as Atlas did to him. Then he pulls out his mace and smashes Atlas's remaining eye, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.

Blade releases a disbelieving Captain Ciera who punches him in the face. Twice. He'd kept her in the dark for ten years. After some flashbacking, she decides he left her out as punishment for disobeying his order to end her pregnancy, which took her out of the game when he needed her most. Some (likely hired) beast had bludgeoned her in the stomach when she was pregnant soon after, though it hadn't ended the pregnancy. Blade tells her he wants to show her what he has built and that pirates can be united (something they hadn't believed was possible). He's created a pirate army. She is allowed to pick out her crew members from the prisoners and she chooses Vera, Chak, Plink, and Scully, but intentionally leaves out Tooley (she is still raw from his failure to put out the fire that destroyed her ship).

Dead Rock is basically a city inside a mountain - a pirate hive, riddled with a maze of tunnels. Plink, Scully, Vera and Chak are split up. Pirates march around like soldiers with red sashes.


Chak is sent to drive slaves in the sulfur mine, a horrible place with toxic air and despondent workers who seem to only understand pain. Torin, a tail-less wildcat, shows him the ropes and recognizes the insubordinate attitude that Reedox exhibits towards Chak. He shows Chak how to handle a problem slave by branding the squirrel on the forehead. Chak feels guilty but knows his paws are tied at the moment. He has to play along, but hopes that he can eventually help all the slaves.


Scully finally feels like a genuine pirate. After a while, Blade himself wants to have dinner with him. Scully tells Blade all the secrets of Salamandastron that he's learned over the years. Clues are sowed through the conversation that lead the reader to conclude that Scully's mother has been influenced heavily by Brother Sage (who is utterly loyal to Blade) to the point of naming her firstborn after him (Cyril). Cyril, who was also taught/brainwashed by Brother Sage, has married into an important general's family and writes orders on his behalf. Salamandastron has become lax, its defenses are down, and it is vulnerable to attack - especially since Blade knows its weaknesses. He checks Scully's information against existing knowledge, then kills Scully, since he is a traitor and there's nothing to keep him from similarly betraying Blade.


Vera is put to work helping to make the slaves' gruel. The cooks in charge threaten to have her thrown in with the slaves if she doesn't get with the program. Vera tries to make the gruel taste better. Ciera and Blade test her by offering her the chance to reclaim her belongings, seeing her go for the amulet once again. Vera reveals that it is a family heirloom and a keepsake that her brother died to protect. Blade questions the wisdom of such an act and promises to hang onto it for her until she proves her loyalty. She discovers her old friend Hylan the pine marten is one of the mine slaves, though branded thrice and missing a tail.

Crue continues to serve as Shuga's pet and gains entrance to the mountain, as he meets with Blade. She is sent on an errand by some guards to bring them food and she finds Vera. She asks her to pass a message on to Chak or Robert that she "has a plan." She hopes to win over the villagers by exposing Shuga as a fraud.

Tooley is sent to work at the forge as an assistant to an older weasel named Rindclaw. He gets lost running an errand, enters Blade's office, and literally stumbles into a pit in a backroom where blind Atlas is kept. He is not so threatening now, and seems to be in his right mind. Tooley feels sorry for him. He's pulled out and Blade wonders why he was in his office. Tooley explains how he has to use physical reminders like cloth with holes in them to remember things. Rindclaw comes to Tooley's rescue by lying that he sent him to Blade's office to find a certain rat. Blade seems to accept the explanation but sends Tooley to work in the kitchens rather than the forge because of his stupidity. Tooley is trying to figure out who his friends are.


Plink runs messages for Captain Blade, happy to be an accepted part of something great created by vermin. She delivers a message to Captain Burnet, a wildcat, who was meeting with other captains and tells Captain Blade about it. She listens for dissent and treachery on his behalf. Tooley sounds disillusioned, but she dismisses his words that Dead Rock is a bad place. She asks Blade about Scully since he's been missing and Blade tells her that he sent him on a secret mission back to the mainland. Plink is not sure she believes him. She finds Scully's book of poems. Then she accidentally discovers some hidden tunnels that match up with Maurick's treasure riddle.

Robert Rosequill is in the sulfur mine. He works hard and tries to be encouraging to the other despondent slaves. Colonel Swiftpaw stumbles and falls and the slave driver Torin comes over to finish him off. Robert stands up for him and Chak convinces Torin not to throw out a healthy slave when they've already lost two that day (the sulfur mine takes its toll on beasts' health and the longer they are there, the more likely they are to fall over dead). Hylan, Vera's old friend, communicates Crue's message to Robert. Robert tries to take it to Swiftpaw, but Swiftpaw considers himself a failure and tells Robert he is a better leader and should be the one to try to lead the slaves to freedom.

[/spoiler]

WEEK 5

[spoiler]It's been over a week since they first arrived at Dead Rock. Plink finally finds her way to Captain Blade's treasure. She steals a diamond, then masks her scent with a few drops of Scully's fox scent perfume. Back in Blade's office the next day he speaks of leaving the mountain soon and having her come with him aboard the Zephyr. Plink runs into Captain Ciera who tells her the truth that Blade killed Scully, but Plink refuses to believe it and accuses Ciera of being jealous of Blade. She feels guilty about stealing the diamond then and decides to return it. She finds the tunnel blocked by slaves who are now moving Blade's treasure to his new ship and ends up at the slave cells through a secret tunnel. She finds Robert and drops down to reassure him that she wants to help him and the other abused slaves escape somehow, though this conflicts with her desire to have a home in Dead Rock as one of Blade's followers.

Back in the mongoose village, Crue finally gets away from Shuga by invitation to dinner with First Atilak Dekeft, whose son she had saved earlier. She begins to plant seeds of doubt in their minds about the fire god, and asks Dekeft to show her the way into the hidden mountain harbor.

In the sulfur mine, Robert conspires with Hylan and Vera. They need Crue's distraction, but no beast has heard from her. Robert suggests Vera put something in Torin's food to make him sick and mentions the secret tunnel that Plink showed him that they could all escape through, given the opportunity. He does not want to leave anybeast behind.

Tooley begins work with Vera, replacing her overbearing manager as gruel runner. Crue gets a message through Tooley to Vera reading "Tomorrow," implying things are moving fast. Vera discovers poisonous mushrooms in the storeroom and realizes she can help. She passes Crue's message on to Hylan and drops poisonous mushrooms into the slave drivers' soup.

Tooley pities the slaves up in the sulfur mine, then witnesses Reedox being dragged up on a platform before all the other slaves, having made an escape attempt. Torin speaks of fear being their friend, keeping them alive before sawing off Reedox's tail as punishment for the escape attempt. Tooley tries to run up the platform to defend the familiar squirrel, but Chak stops him. He tells him that attacking the slave driver will not stop Reedox from losing his tail and will only land him in the mine as a slave himself. He tells him (though it seems as much to himself as to Tooley) that he has only once chance to act, and he has to wait for the right moment. "Then ye make 'em pay fer what they done." Tooley is surprised to realize that Chak is agreeing with him. He tells Chak he cannot forgive him for what he did to Daggle. Chak says he won't ask him to. Vera offers him his poisoned lunch but Chak passes, too upset by the day's ordeal to stomach anything.

Chak goes for a swim in the harbor to clear his mind and fur. Plink chucks a rock at him upon his return, angry at him for being a slave driver now that she's finally seen the state of the slaves for herself. Chak confides that although he might be bigger than her, he still can't win in a fight against Blade's army. He has to bide his time and wait for the best opportunity to help the slaves because he will only get one shot. A messenger arrives with news that Torin is sick and Chak is going to have to take his shift. Chak returns to the mine only to find all the slaves dragging their feet and being unproductive, as they know he's not like Torin and has never dolled out a thrashing let alone a branding. Chak realizes he's going to have to make an example out of someone if he is to hold onto any sort of authority, but when he chases a mouse sitting down on the job, he finds it's an ambush. Hylan jumps him from behind, strangling him with his wooden pole while Reedox watches him suffer. Before he loses consciousness, however, Robert comes to his defense, forcing the pine marten to lose his grip. Chak turns around and beats Hylan. Hylan is convinced Chak is going to burn out his eye (the next penalty in store for him according to Torin's methods) and begs him not to do it. Chak is taken aback and calms down, arguing with Robert about how to be a convincing slave driver without actually beating the slaves. Hylan slowly comes to realize Chak is on their side and he and Robert talk the other slaves into working extra hard and feigning fear towards Chak when a pale Torin returns at the end of the day. Torin is impressed and invites Chak to his quarters for a drink after his shift.

In Torin's quarters it is revealed that Torin preserves the tails he cuts from the slaves and keeps a collection on his wall. We also learn that he used to be a captain before he was a slave driver, and that he knew Captain Burnet (Izhets) before she stole his captaincy. Chak realizes Burnet is Vasily's sister, and that "Vasily" was originally her husband's name. His tail actually hangs on Torin's wall as one of his first trophies. Chak excuses himself after watching Torin extract the bones and meat from Reedox's tail and vomits after turning a corner.

Tooley wanders around after washing dishes, wondering what he can do to put a stop to all the awfulness. In his lurking, he spots Captain Ciera sneaking through the darkness to the harbor.

Crue and Dekeft row stealthily into the mountain harbor and sneak aboard the Phantom, revealing the mechanisms that help the ghost ship to glow blue (burning sulfur) and vanish (lanterns with covers that drop). They find metal cylinders on wheels (cannons) and barrels of black powder that Dekeft recognizes as the "fiyah powah" the fire god gives Shuga to use for setting sacrifices alight with a "boom." Captain Ciera finds Crue on the ship but does not seem eager to blow any whistles. The ferret captain pulls her sword on the healer when she threatens to alert the guards herself, but then Tooley rushes out of nowhere and tackles her, telling Crue to run. Crue escapes with her mongoose ally while Tooley gets dragged away by a patrol that hears the commotion. Ciera remains and tells Crue she should go. Crue is upset that something bad will likely happen to Tooley, but Ciera seems unmoved. She says she must do "something necessary."

Crue and Dekeft return to the village only to find Shuga waiting for them with accusations of betrayal and blaspheme (knowing they entered the sacred mountain home of the fire god). He promises there will be sacrifice in the morning.

Back in the mountain Tooley is being lead up through the tunnels to find out what awful fate lies in store for him (Ciera claimed he was stealing treasure and trying to stow away on a ship). They pass the forge in their treck and Rindclaw recognizes Tooley and steps out, holding a bowl of hot soup. Tooley kicks Rindclaw's soup which causes his captors to dodge the hot mess, giving him the opportunity he needs to fight and escape. In the scuffle he loses his hat and Rindclaw seems startled by the revealed dent in his head. Tooley takes off, determined to find and kill Captain Blade.

Ciera chooses a small boat and sails off, having rejected Blade's power-hungry warlording. What he is doing now is not fighting for piracy - it's conquest. She believes he has abandoned true piracy, and is forging a path that will ultimately end in destruction. She has no reason to remain loyal to him.
[/spoiler]


WEEK 6

[spoiler]Plink had watched the confrontation between Crue, Tooley, and Captain Ciera from her hiding place in the tunnel system. She decides she needs to finally tell Blade about Crue's "plan" if she's to save her new home. Before she does this, however, she spots a mutiny taking place as one of the captains, Greyjaw, moves with his crew to steal and sail off with the Zephyr. She runs and alerts Captain Burnet, who forces Plink to accompany her. The ship has already set sail, but Burnet pulls a big lever that raises an enormous chain across the mouth of the harbor. Greyjaw's crew row over to try to lower the chain but must confront Captain Burnet one at a time on the narrow rock ledge. She uses Plink as a living shield to gain a sword from the first attacker who stabs the little rat. Plink is not seriously injured as it turns out the diamond she had pocketed from Blade's treasure diverted the blade. After slaying the attackers, Burnet finds the diamond and uses it to blackmail the young rat into her services. Plink runs to tell Captain Blade what's happened and finds Tooley fighting his guards. She tells Blade that the guards grabbed the wrong beast (Tooley) and that he'd been trying to stop Ciera from escaping with a small ship. She tells him about Greyjaw's attempted theft and how Captain Burnet and Captain Zorba were in the process of stopping him. She also tells him of Crue and the Mongooses plotting something. Blade tells her that it's already being taken care of and that Crue is going to be burned as a sacrifice in the morning. He leaves and Tooley is furious with Plink for betraying Crue. Plink wants to defend her new family and home, but Tooley points out that it is a terrible place that cannot be redeemed and she is just a tool to Blade. Plink says mean things that hurt Tooley and storms away, feeling guilty. Plink decides after an internal struggle to try to help the slaves escape and to find "the most distracting force she could think of" (Maurick).

Left behind in Blade's office, Tooley determines to do something rash involving Blade's Fire god costume. "Anyone could become the Fire God. Even an idiot." He is putting the costume on when Rindclaw bursts in, holding Tooley's missing hat in his paws. He demands to know who Tooley's mother was.

They figure out that Rindclaw is his father. Rindclaw finally notices the Fire god getup and asks what Tooley is up to. Tooley is determined to be brave as well as stupid, and save his friend. Rindclaw tries to talk him out of it, afraid of losing his son now that he's found him. Tooley remains determined saying there are some things he simply can't forget and that maybe if he stands up for the helpless, maybe they will have courage to stand up for themselves. Rindclaw gives him his hat and says he will help him get past the guards. As they exit Blade's office, the guards recognize that Tooley is a fraud and Rindclaw attacks them, telling Tooley to run. Tooley grabs Ciera's blade from one of the guards and runs.

Tooley makes it all the way to the sacrificial grounds when he spots the priest Shugah sprinkling Crue with the dangerous gunpowder in preparation. Shugah is surprised, announcing the arrival of the Fire god. Tooley shouts and stops them. Shugah realizes he is an impostor, but cannot explain to the tribe that the Fire god is a costume. Tooley declares Shugah will have to go through him to get to Crue. Shugah demands he prove he is the Fire god by a fire display. Tooley makes "invisible fire" and stabs Shugah in the footpaw with the blade, making him yelp and hop around. The crowd is convinced, but Shugah comes up behind Tooley when his back is turned and stabs him with a dagger. The mongooses turn on Shugah and Crue is set free, but Tooley is dying. Crue tries to help, but he's been stabbed in the chest. He tells her they've done it. The Fire god is dead. He gives her his hat and asks her to remember. Remember what Captain Blade did, remember the slaves, and remember him.

It's morning in the Dead Rock and Vera gets to work lacing large amounts of scones with the poisonous mushrooms, as this is the day Crue said her plan would be set in motion. As she prepares the food that would be feeding the pirate hoards, a messenger arrives demanding she be brought before Blade. The fox scent that Plink had sprayed in the treasure room has led Blade to round up all foxes for questioning. He is highly suspicious of Vera because she was part of Ciera's crew. He demands to know of Ciera's plans, but Vera has no idea what he's talking about. He tempts her with her amulet for any information about uprisings or mutiny and she nearly caves, but then clams up with resolve. She won't turn in her friends. He sends for Torin to take her away for a torture session. Vera, waiting in his office, searches for a key or a means of escape. She finds a "recipe" for gunpowder, but then runs out of time. Torin takes her to his personal torture chamber and discovers some of the poisonous mushrooms in her apron. He starts cutting into her claws, into the quick until she confesses to poisoning his soup and having friends among the slaves. He is just getting started, but a knock at his door forces him to step away, leaving Vera with the idea that he's "looking forward to taking that pretty tail for [his] collection."

Down where the prisoners are kept locked up, Chak realizes that Vera is missing when the gruel is brought. Her replacements tell him she is being questioned by Captain Blade. Robert is concerned since she was their connection to Crue and Hylan wants to immediately go rescue her. Robert and Chak talk him down since they don't know what is going on and don't want Crue's plan spoiled. Reedox is depressed and won't leave the cell. He just wants to die. They leave him locked in the cell and go up to work the sulfur mine. Chak lets the slaves who are suffering the most rest, feeling there's no need to work them to death if they are all going to escape today. He goes down into the pit himself to work, making up for the missing workers. He gives his own kerchief to a rat who had his stolen, and feels good about finally doing what's right.

Torin arrives and Chak quickly switches gears back to his "fearsome slave driver" role. Torin informs him that the mountain is under attack by crazed mongooses and they have to get the slaves locked up quickly. They gather at the stone platform and Torin announces that the mine has been shut down and they are all to be reassigned to other (easier) duties. Hylan and Robert make their moves and Torin pulls out his cudgel, thinking Chak has his back when in fact Chak clobbers him from behind and they disarm the wildcat together. Torin is clearly upset at the betrayal, but Chak leaves him to the crowd's justice. The slaves stone him to death with sulfur, then cover the body with a pile of sulfur from the wagon. Chak uses the now empty wagon to hold slaves who cannot keep up or fight. He pulls it himself as Robert, Hylan, and others grab whatever weapons they can as they head back down into the mountain.

The mongoose tribe now recognize that the Fire god is a fraud and Shuga has deceived them for a decade. They agree to help Crue fight the pirates in the mountain and rescue her friends. They are instructed to spare those who do not wear the red pirate sash, but to kill those who do unless they surrender. The mongooses flood into the mountain, and are speedy and efficient killers. Crue leads Dekeft and 20 other warriors into the heart of the mountain. Many of the pirates are sick from Vera's poisoned breakfast and are easy to dispatch. They follow the smell of sulfur and come upon the slaves led by Chak and Robert. They join forces. Crue tells them of Tooley's death being key to the mongoose revolt.

Robert takes charge, sending the slaves who cannot fight to escape through Plink's secret tunnel in the latrines. He asks Chak and Hylan to free the iron mine slaves after, then takes off with the mogooses to help them fight and find Blade. Crue leads them to Blade's office and they kill a bunch of pirates on the way, but find the office empty. Blade has made his escape. They go for the harbor.

Hylan and the slaves quickly overwhelm the iron mine slave drivers when they reach the slave cells and free the iron miners. A frenzy comes over the slaves who proceed to vandalize the bodies of their former captors with glee, then they notice Chak and turn on him. Hylan shouts that Chak is an ally, but the crowd is not listening. Chak is fighting for his life when the sulfur mine slaves step in and defend him. Hylan finally gets through to the mob that Chak is on their side and they stop attacking, but leave him weaponless. Chak opens the sulfur miners' cell door and they quickly locate the hidden tunnel with help from Hylan. They build a ladder and follow the scribbled directions Plink left for them, Reedox guiding the long line of slaves along the right path. Once the last slaves are through, Chak and Hylan double check the cells to be sure no one has been left behind. Hylan discovers a bloody apron in the wagon that Torin had been wearing and recognizes Vera's scent. He and Chak decide to go to Torin's quarters to look for her. They hear her moaning faintly and discover a hidden staircase leading down into a dark basement. Chak finds an axe, and then they find Vera.

Vera remembers her brother making her hide in a woodbox while he distracted the beasts who invaded their home and ended up getting killed. She comes back to reality in the torture chamber and finds Hylan there telling her it's okay. She finds out Chak is on their side and Hylan washes and bandages her bloodied paw. Vera feels guilty about giving up his name under torture. They take her to the secret tunnel and break down the ladder. Vera doesn't want Hylan to leave her alone, but he insists he is going after Blade. He figures out that she got herself in trouble by breaking her promise to him (not to try to get her amulet back). He is angry and calls her selfish. He tells her that the stupid amulet is not worth dying for. She says her brother died protecting it, but Hylan scoffs, telling her deep down she must know that it wasn't the necklace he was protecting. He and Chak leave and Vera remembers how her brother had snatched up the amulet and ran with it when the thugs had gotten too close to Vera's hiding place in the woodbox. They had killed him then. Vera decides to do what she can to help the slaves escape, and moves down the tunnel toward the sound of fighting.
[/spoiler]


WEEK 7

[spoiler]Plink remembers a conversation with her mother about her pirate father as she makes her way through the jungle. She finds Maurick's tree and climbs up into his nest to steal Tooley's coin bag only to be caught in the act. She stabs Maurick in the eye and makes a run for it with the macaw in hot pursuit. She makes it to the tunnel system but gets lost, she taunts Maurick with the truth that Blade is taking all the treasure away. They end up in the treasure cavern where Maurick finds Vera with a torch. Plink clobbers him from behind with a candelabra while Vera sets his wing feathers on fire and they both run. Plink knows her way from here and leads the infuriated bird toward Blade's quarters.

Vera updates Plink on the slaves escape and tries to convince her to join them as they leave Dead Rock behind, but Plink stubbornly clings to the place as her only real home. They split up when Maurick breaks through the blocked door and flee in separate directions with Maurick chasing after Plink. Vera makes it to the harbor in time to see the slaves aboard Blade's old ship, the Phantom, preparing it for departure. A large crowd of pirates storm towards the vessel, intent on taking it for themselves as Chak dives into the water, also swimming for the ship. She spots Hylan, putting on a pirate's clothes as a disguise. He's not a fighter, but he is going to try to help Chak protect the ship of slaves. Vera wants to help but Hylan wants her to stay safe. She decides to find more help for her friends and runs off to find Robert or Mongooses or anybody. She finds Maurick with Plink trapped in a crevice of rock and taunts him into chasing after her instead.

Having escaped Maurick, Plink runs back up through the tunnels of Dead Rock when Robert spots her and goes after her. He wants her to stay out of the fighting, come with them, and be safe. Plink insists that this is her home and she has no where else to go. Robert offers her a home at his own cottage with his family and Plink is taken aback. He sends her to join up with the rest of his group when he spots a ferret sneaking around. It's Captain Blade! He confronts the Pirate King and finds the ferret is not as talented with his sword as he is with his mind. Abruptly Blade surrenders, gambling that a goodbeast will not kill an unarmed opponent, then runs. Robert, thrown off by the trick and the realization that he cannot bring himself to be an executioner, chases Blade too late and the pirate reaches his vessel before Robert, setting sail immediately. He taunts him over the railing that this is why beasts like Robert can never win against him and his like. Robert is devastated.

Chak and Reedox hold the pirates off on the gangplank of the Phantom, fighting as a team. As new pirates replace those slain or thrown off, the pair begin to tire while the fighting slaves around them start dropping in their exhaustion. They are driven all the way back to the ship itself.

Vera leads Maurick straight to the battle between pirates and slaves, pleading for the lead pirate fox to save her from the crazy bird. Maurick recognizes the fox, Dremlak, and challenges his captaincy, knowing him for what he is – a slaver not a leader. Maurick clearly wishes to sail after Blade himself (who is also sailing away with his treasure), and paints himself as a more experienced and competent captain. The pirates divide and in the confusion someone grabs Vera from behind and she fights back, elbowing the pirate and knocking away his hat to expose her friend Hylan. Dremlak, his former master, recognizes him and comes for him. Hylan trips and Dremlak is about to end him when Vera uses her homemade necklace to strangle him from behind. Hylan leaps to her aid.

Robert has rejoined his crew of fighters – a mix of Waverunners, former slaves and mongooses. The cry "Eulalia!" carries across the harbor, sending the remaining pirates scrambling as they slam into their flank. The pirates are overtaken and though some slaves urge Chak to throw the gang plank and set sail while they can, he refuses, pointing out that they are winning the battle, and he does not intend to leave anyone behind. Other slaves reveal that the fox captain who had been leading the attacking pirate crew was none other than Dremlak, their former slave master before Torin, and that he might know where the remaining slaves are since he was overseer. Chak finds Robert who confides his failure to the sea otter, blaming himself for the imminent destruction of Salamandastron, as he did not stop Blade. Chak shrugs it off saying they can't really do anything about it - pirates will be pirates and their focus should be on freeing the slaves and reuniting them with their families. Robert is upset that Chak is not willing to pursue Blade, but Chak points out that they don't stand a chance fighting the pirate king with his cannons and surrounding fleet. They have but one ship crewed by inexperienced fighters. Robert still thinks they should try. Chak walks away to see if he can find the missing slaves (Blade had recruited many to work outside the mines). Dremlak recovers from Vera's strangulation only to be confronted by Chak who threatens to kill him either slowly or quickly, depending on whether he cooperates. Dremlak agrees to show them to the remaining slaves, and while Chak expects some sort of trickery, he does not expect to find the mass grave the fox leads them to.

Chak realizes at last that Blade is not your typical pirate, and the woodlanders he conquered would not simply be enslaved. They would be eradicated. He recognizes that Robert is right and they really did need to stop the pirate king if possible. Otherwise there would be no homes left for the rescued slaves to return to.

Meanwhile Plink feels guilty about leading Maurick to Dead Rock since it hadn't seemed to help and it was Crue's idea that had done the most to help the slaves. She then learns of Crue's survival, Tooley's death, and Vera's torture being her fault. She feels lower and lower, recognizing her multitude of betrayals against her friends, and decides she doesn't deserve to stay with them and would  similarly bring harm to Robert's family if she stayed with them. In a final show of loyalty, she raises the harbor chain once Captain Burnet's ship, The Deathblow is through so that the Waverunners and slaves cannot easily pursue the pirates. She jumps into the water and swims to Captain Burnet's waiting ship where the captain informs her that she intends to send her back to Blade and use her as an informant.

In the pit of dead Chak and Reedox spot a single living beast, crawling among the bodies. Chak is lowered into the mass of rotting bodies to pull the weasel, Rinclaw, out. His legs do not work and he has a broken arm and ribs, having been beaten to near-death. They bring him back to Crue and a reeking Chak takes a much-needed bath in the sea. When he returns he talks to Robert about the need to execute Dremlak for his crimes. Robert argues with him, but then agrees at last. Several slaves hold Dremlak down as Chak lifts his axe. The sea otter admits the only real difference between himself and the fox is remorse, then chops off his head.

Vera regrets her harsh words to Plink as the rat swims off after the pirates. Hylan finds her and brings her to Robert who wanted to speak with her. She walks in mid-conversation as Chak, Rob, Crue and Rindclaw discuss weapons to use against Blade. Rindclaw admits there are some cannons they could bring onto the ship, but that they are useless without Blade's black powder, which he was sure to clear out before he left. Hylan knows the slaves have been mining the ingredients for years and wonders why they can't make more. Rindclaw admits that only Blade knew the recipe. At this Vera perks up, realizing that she knows the secret combination from the strange recipe she had found in Blade's office earlier. Everyone seems bolstered by this good news and they hurry to gather the ingredients while Vera goes to prepare a last meal for everyone before they set sail. Several slaves help her prep the meal and Hylan comes to visit, moving the vixen to tears with his familiar song and antics. They remember bygone days when she would throw a wooden spoon at him whenever he returned from a journey (for stealing her cookies). Everyone is happy about eating good food - the first real meal most of them have had in ages.

Crue prepares notes to accompany the medicines and herbs she has packed for the voyage, then informs Robert that she is not going with them. He argues, but Crue has made her decision. She rejoins the mongooses and confides in them that she has never felt more at home than here, and also that she cannot watch more friends die. She plans to organize what's left on the island and hopes that one day her friends will return, and she will see them again.
[/spoiler]

FINAL WEEK

[spoiler]Chak and Reedox talk about slavery and freedom, and clear the air between them a bit. They are catching up to the pirates slowly but surly. Vera has a successful gun powder test. Chak hopes they have a good plan for when they do catch up to Blade. Reedox silently affirms he will fight beside his old slave master.

Plink is transferred between ships via an unsteady rope ladder to deliver a message to Captain Blade from Captain Burnet, and become her informant. The pirates all seem to despise and mock her, knowing her for the telltale Captain's pet she is. She delivers the message about the other ships getting too far behind at the pace Blade is sailing, but he doesn't seem to care. He has spotted The Phantom tailing them and seems unnerved while Plink is alarmed. She thought Robert and the slaves would just go home, not chase Blade, which is suicide. Blade sends her below to change into better clothes and fetch him wine. There she discovers what remains of Lord Atlas, wasted and sickly, dehydrated and starving. She is moved by pity to bring him water and some hard tack, and he talks about the ability to feel remorse. With his head finally clear of the bloodwrath, he has many regrets, including almost killing Plink. Plink has her own regrets and considers his words. She brings wine to Blade who sends her to his office for a sash and his goblet to drink the wine from. While rifling through desk drawers, she discovers Scully's blade and realizes Captain Ciera had probably been telling the truth about Blade killing Scully. She thinks on all the horrible things that have come from Blade and realizes she is going to have to decide soon where her true loyalties lie.

Back aboard the Phantom, Robert and crew discover that Blade's ship has stopped as a Waverunner vessel approaches. Robert celebrates this as their chance to get in close while Blade is distracted by the other ship. He leaves Chak in charge and chooses a small strike force to accompany him on his mission.
They utilize the morning fog and the stealth of the Phantom to slip in close enough to launch a lifeboat, sneaking the small group aboard the Zephyr to assassinate Blade - an attempt to "cut the head off before the snake can strike" as Robert puts it.

Chak waits nervously for Rob's signal while Vera drinks tea and talks with Rindclaw about the risks of using untested cannons with half-trained crews (one cannon was even assembled as they sailed). Rindclaw feels responsible, as the beast that helped design and make the cannons, should something go wrong. They are as ready as they're able to be, however, and Vera and the weasel have trained a crew of 5 beasts per cannon on how to prep and load the weapons. A pirate ship finds them and Vera gets to try out the first cannon, which hits the other ship. They fire two shots before it retreats.

More and more ships find them as morning approaches and they drive them away with the cannons, though several misfire and most times they miss, proving the first shots as lucky. The pirate ships stay back when they learn their enemy has cannons. Blade's ship and theirs are the only ones with the formidable weapons, yet they will surly lose if the Zephyr engages them in battle. Vera reports to Chak that they have used up over half of their two barrels of powder, then another ship finds them in the dark, having approached with no lanterns lit. Vera shoots a cannon but it misfires, and the ship is upon them before they can reload. Grappling hooks are thrown and Vera realizes they are out of time when boarding planks are thrown across the gap between ships. She orders the cannon crews to retreat.

Aboard the Zephyr, Robert and his group encounter few pirates on deck. They split up and Robert leads a group below deck. They kill some pirates then find Plink, carrying a bundle. She is surprised and tells them they're on a suicide mission if they go on the way they are. She hides them in the unoccupied kitchen. Vera's cannon is heard firing and a mass of pirates scramble out to the top deck. Plink comes again and tells them this is their chance if they are to try to get at Blade. Robert knows the ship well and figures Blade will be in Atlas's office. They find little resistance as most of the pirates are above, and soon Robert spots Blade. The ferret leads them on a chase down into the hold, mocking and taunting Robert. Robert announces he is their prisoner and has nowhere to run. He might not be an executioner, but he can capture Blade and hold him prisoner until the Waverunners arrive. Blade ducks into a closet. Robert follows only to find Blade with a cannon, which he fires.

The Phantom is boarded by Waverunners rather than pirates, who recognize that this ship is not manned by pirates either. The hare in command, Colonel Rutheshire, asks for the beast in charge when Killian Wrightbones (the Waverunner hare that Atlas had once replaced Colonel Frederick Swiftpaw with) steps up with a smart salute, claiming authority. Chak informs the Colonel that Killian is "full of mischief" and that he was in fact left in charge by Robert and Colonel Swiftpaw. With an army of Waverunners beside him, Killian seems to have grown a spine since his time as a whiney slave and claims he should have the title of captain since Atlas himself promoted him. He accuses Chak of bludgeoning his way to the top and being an unfit leader as a former pirate and slaver. Colonel Rutheshire realizes this is not a good time for such a debate, and asks the crew who they want to be their captain, as they control the ship. A former slave otter speaks up against Chak, rousing other former slavebeasts to agree and suddenly Killian Wrightbones is in charge. A fool to the extreme, Killian announces his intention to attack the Zephyr. Vera refuses to help him do so and he throws her in the brig along with Hylan and Rindclaw, and soon all the other vermin (in spite of protests). The Zephyr is engaging other Waverunner ships and has already sunk one. Killian recognizes the danger and decides to try double the gunpowder to shoot farther, which will explode the cannon and possibly destroy the ship. Chak relays this information from Rindclaw, but the proud new captain will not back down. Reedox stands up for Chak, pointing out that he was a slave too, and has saved his life twice. The cannon crews defy Killian in light of Rindclaw's warning, since he is the one who taught them and understands how the cannons work. Killian loses his temper and ends up dropping the lindstock which lights a trail of gunpowder leading up to the last barrel. Right before it explodes, Chak throws himself into the mouse standing nearest the blast to protect him and ends up bloodied with bits of wooden shrapnel across his back and arms. He tears off his shirt, which is on fire, and soon the crew can see for themselves the awful scars across his back from his slave days. Ultimately the crew decides to follow Chak, but it may be too late as Blade's ship is now firing at them, spraying the Phantom with sea water with near-hits. The crew is moving too slow as they are missing many members (vermin Killian threw in the brink), and Chak thinks they are doomed as a cannonball takes out some rigging and sails. He sends Reedox below to release the prisoners, then the sound of a huge explosion draws their attention to the Zephyr, which is now crippled and smoking. Chak credits Robert for coming through for them.

On the Zephyr, Plink finds Robert after witnessing the explosion. He is alive, but she has to tourniquet what's left of his leg. She helps him up the damaged stairs, turns away some nosey pirates who heard the noise below, and pulls Robert over to a lifeboat. After lowering the boat down, Plink says she has to do one last thing and climbs back up the rope to the deck again. She runs down to the brig and frees blind Atlas, who she enlists to help her move the heavy "dummy runners" she's created by filling old Waverunner uniforms with gunpowder. They drag them up into the infirmary where Plink's old trapdoor was concealed. Plink shoves the explosive "dolls" against a post that has been installed to support one of the cannons above deck. Blade shows up then, furious at her betrayal. He had seen her help Robert, and now this. He accuses her of being in cahoots with that fox (Vera). Plink denies it and admits she was the one who got into his treasure and covered it up with fox scent. She tells Blade that she turned against him because he's not what she thought - that he's not looking out for vermin and pirates, but only for himself. She asks him why he killed Scully and Blade tells her that Hagglethrump (Scully's real name) was as much a traitor as she turned out to be, then tries to kill Plink. Plink throws down an oil lamp between them and dives for the hole in the floor. Atlas catches her and starts to run, but doesn't get far when the dummies explode. A giant hole is blasted in the ship and it begins to take on water. Plink urges Atlas to escape with her but Atlas will not leave without knowing Blade is definitely dead. He tells Plink to flee while she can - he has his own destiny.  Plink fights her way through the crowed of panicking pirates to Robert's lifeboat. Pirates are climbing down to it and some are already there where Robert is barely holding them off. Plink helps by clocking one in the head with an oar. Robert tells the remaining pirates to surrender, as their captains have abandoned them and they have no where to go. They look around and see that the Waverunner fleet outnumbers the remaining pirate ships and Burnet and a handful of other pirate vessels have fled the scene, abandoning the rest to their fates. The pirates surrender and they make them row them back to the Phantom.

Atlas finds Blade and Blade says he left Atlas alive so that he could suffer, seeing his world taken from him as Atlas had taken his. He had to watch from afar as Atlas, overtaken by the bloodwrath,  slaughtered just about everyone he knew without mercy. Atlas scoffs at the idea that Blade ever cared about the pirates that he had killed, and Blade laughs and admits they were indeed tools, but wonders how Atlas has overcome his bloodwrath. Atlas admits that it's still there in his head, but being blinded took away the visions that incited the wrath. He asks Blade to surrender. Blade seems to consider it, then bashes Atlas in the head with his mace again. He strikes blow after blow, screaming about how he would never let Atlas take everything from him again. Atlas calls him a coward. Blade engages him in conversation again so as to bide his time, then sneaks up to strike him again when Frederick shows up, shouting a warning. Atlas catches the mace and uses it on Blade. Blade surrenders, but Atlas finishes him off. Frederick wants to help Atlas escape, but Atlas is far too weak and wounded from the encounter with Blade. He says he will go down with the ship. He leaves Frederick in charge of the Waverunners, then dies as the sun rises.

The crew of the Phantom helps the beasts floundering around in the sea, feeding them once they're aboard and putting the pirates in the brig.  Robert is lifted onto the Phantom via a hammock and Plink meets Vera on deck where they both apologize to one another and Plink gives Vera the amulet she'd grabbed from Blade. Vera tells Plink if she ever needs a friend or a place to stay, they will always be friends. Hylan comes over and hugs Vera, excited about victory and freedom. The slaves are truly free now with the threat of Blade and his pirates ended. Vera asks about going home and he reflects on that idea, wondering how he can go back the way he is. He is a different beast now.

Vera reassures him that everyone back home will be overjoyed to see him again, no matter what he looks like, and she will go with him.
Colonel Frederick Swiftpaw comes aboard and informs them all that Blade is dead with certainty, as is Atlas.

At the end of the day Vera, Plink, Chak, Reedox, Rindclaw, Hylan, and Colonel Swiftpaw all sit around in the main cabin of the Phantom, discussing what might be done next. They all agree that the cannons are too dangerous and should be sunk so no beast else can use them again. Chak wants to dive down to the sunken Zephyr to retrieve some of Blade's treasure, as it would help them all start their new lives. Everyone agrees, each considering the new future before them.

THE END

[/spoiler]

Epilogues

Dropping Anchor (Robert)
[spoiler]Things are chaotic and rumors abound in the aftermath of the battle. Colonel - now Admiral - Swiftpaw closes the gates of Salamandastron to outsiders until things calm down. Robert recovers over the course of several weeks, learning to use his new peg leg. Chak and Plink drop by frequently to bring him meals and eat together. Chak says he intends to sail back to the island aboard some Waverunner vessels who are heading up a mission to remove any remaining treasure that might attract pirates. He wants to use the additional funds to compensate the families of the dead slaves he used to oversee. Robert agrees it is a worthwhile endeavor. Once it is determined that he's able to walk well enough with the false leg, Robert heads out with Chak and Plink trailing him. His daughter, Maribel, answers the door and Robert is moved to tears upon sight of his family. They hug and make a fuss and Robert introduces Chak and Plink, telling his wife, Violet, that he has invited Plink to live with them. Maribel sings him her song which is about missing him and looking forward to his return.
Later, Robert is hanging out with his old friend Harold on a boat with Plink in the rigging. They talk about how Robert has quit the Waverunners, but plans to continue life on the water as a fisherbeast. We learn that his pregnant wife has given birth and the new baby is named Berta. As the sun sets, Robert insists they head back to port. They don't want to be late for dinner, and Robert never wants to keep his family waiting again.[/spoiler]

The Calm Before The Storm (Airan)
Come to Me (Crue)
The Road Goes ever On (Vera)
The Half Rat (Plink)
Restitution (Chak)
Reedox Redux (Chak)
The Cottage (Chak)
Toy Soldier (Airan)

[Sebias of Redwall]

Oooooooooooh! I like it! The pictures are all stunningly good!
The Lost Treasure of Captain Blade was one (If not my most) favorite contests to read. I can't wait to see more of it as well!