Message In A Bottle - Edition# 8 - Page 10

[Argo]

Argo is still diverting her gaze from wills dinner. A patron in the corner mistakes her glance as some sort of flirtation. He is a pirate, but not your usual pirate hes refined and appears to be well dressed, he keeps raising a glass in Argos direction and smiling. Although she has never met him in person he bears a striking resemblance to a painting she has seen of black sparrow.

He is dining with a few other sailors whom have thier backs to argo. ...... argo cannot break her glance, his smile is charming and haunting at the same time, she feels somewhat enchanted cause she cannot help from staring.

Something just feels odd. The barmaid arrives at argos table with a glass of wine. As will reaches for it the barmaid slaps him in the face. " Its for the lady..." she shouts at will. She looks at Argo.

Its from Sir Sparrow. Will stops stuffing his face for a moment. Some how my dear Argo you have given him the impression your interested" he goes back to shoveling grotesqities into his mouth.
Argo looks at Will, shakes her head and casts a deep #Idontthinksofrown .. Argo sees Wil's l eye start to wobble so she knows the bar maid is approaching again from behind her.

Wills mad eye starts to wobble funny faster and faster the closer the serving wench comes to the table. She wonders is it the barmaid or the drinks his eye be after..


Argo is relieved because the barmaid brings two tankards of ale, but then the barmaid turns and slaps Will hard fair across the face!



Will looks at her in disbelief. She wags a finger at him and leans over him, .. " that's for oogling me with that creepy eye" .
Will winks at the barmaid, and she gets an irritated look on her face and struts off quickly.

Argo collapses in a fit of uncontrollable laughter until she has trouble breathing and starts to cough .. she laughs so hard.

That bar wench told him good and proper!! Altho you wouldnt know it .. Will just keeps eating that mess while that eye continues to follow the barwench. Argo swears for a moment she thought she saw the damn thing smile!

Argo sighs! She grimaces and scans the patrons looking for a familiar face. Finally she spots one.For a moment her heart lifts when she sees DezNutz a
few tables over .. only for her heart to drop just as quickly when she realises DezNutz is also lost in his own world, rocking back and forth on his chair mumbling something ...



She thinks she can make out the word "Soothy" .. among the gibberish but she cant be sure ..
Suddenly, Pulpop enters the pub carrying a pair of finely crafted leather pants. He walks over to sparrow who is in the far corner for some strange reason, (he seems to be trying to hide).Pu[pop drops those fine pants on the table. A conversation ensues that sees BS jump up off his seat spitting a few words back at Pulpop .. and storming off taking the pants with him. He seems to be wearing something on his bottom half that Argo is sure belongs to Lil Lola ..

Zephore who happened to be stalking er walking Pulpop in the pub and losing hisself among the crowd.. ne;er taking his eyes of his old guildmaster and mentor .. He doesnt understand why Pulpop is giving BS those fine pants and leaving him without ... It was the least he expected upon leaving home and heading out on his own .. His resentment begins to build .. What is it Black Sparrow has that I do not? He cries silent tears

Pulpop appears displeased and he calls out to Black Sparrow as he begins to chase him waving an arm in the air ..

Argo notes all the goings on the pub... she thinks to herself ... 'Bloody hell.. what is this place? What is happening .. ?"
She wonders if its the food.... and she wonders where's the SeaHag when you need her..
Argo decides its time to leave the pub for now .. go clean up for the night and have a good sleep ... Try and clear her head .
Maybe she can figure this all out tomorrow ..

Until she realises there is no longer a door to outside.... it was there before right behind her to the left and to the right hand side of the door to the kitchen. Shes not confused, its just not there. She heads for the back door but its gone also....

Just as she gasped she feels herself shrinking .. and shrinking.. uh -oh she says .. and suddenly finds herself holding a turtle ..
the turtle getting bigger all the while .. was the turtle getting bigger or was Argo getting smaller?

What was happening? She wonders if there is any way out of this madness ..She says under her breath " Surely this is some enchantment or voodoohoodoogoogoo or something like that .. That old witch Meliva could sort this all out .. "


Will looks down at her and smiles, he says



“If I had a world of my own,everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be."

He tips his hat forward and bows .


He hands Argo a tiny china plate with 3 tiny pieces of cake. "mange moi " is written in French on the banding of the plate."Perhaps this will help.."


Trusting her old friend she looks up at him as she bites into the cake... She thinks to herself there is something very strange going on here in the hair o the frog.

Argo starts to hope its all a bad dream from which she will awaken shortly.
She barely finishes the tiny morsel of cake before she yawns deeply and instantly falls asleep

[William one eye]

Argo has hazy dreams of the sound of someone sharpening knives, wait its not a dream, but she cant seem to wake herself up everything is hazy, and she can barely move.
The floor below her is slippery and stickey at the same time. Some sort of damp substance. She feels someone trying to drag her by her feet.

:What the he..:... she thinks.

She gets splashed in the face with a glass of ale. It wakes her up a bit more.
Will is kneeling beside her whispering 'Argo ...
Argo.... wake up.. but be quiet."

Will is pale, he is shaking, its the first time she has ever seen him truly terrified..... she now realizeS the wet substance all over the floor is blood. Lots of it , its everywhere...

As she looks to the left side the barkeep appears to be dead, lying on the floor near the kitchen door. As she looks to the right side she sees a pile of dead customers stacked up near the wall the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Will is frantically looking for anything he can use as a weapon...
'Argo, argo, where did shadowood leave that oar....'
Argo peaks over the bar, the chef is butchering the body of a customer on one of the larger tables near the stack of bodies.



She quickly ducks behind the bar.Without taking her eyes off the mad chef she grabs Will's sleeve and tugs on it -
"Will, what the eff...??"
He whispers in her ear "Chef drugged everyone....we need to find that oar."



Argo pulls her pistol from the band on her thigh .. she shoves it at Will..she whispers urgently, "go on.. its loaded - you love shooting.. go kill him.. don;t muck around.. just walk right on up and bam .. in the face.. Hurry up!! I'm sh****** myself "



She thinks for a moment .. 'Uh Will.. does it have to be an oar? Wont my pistol do? I mean is that some sort of Voodoo Paddle or something? What? a Blood stained oar that holds magical powers or something.. ?? Where's Shadowood anyway?

Thank god you found out the chef drugged us .. I was really starting to freak out .. Now I know.. hehe.. it isn't that bad lol"

Will is intense almost growling at her in frustration, " No, doesn't have to be an oar, but hes been stabbed nearly 20 times, punched, kicked, head butted a number of times, cut and beat with rum bottles, smashed by a table .. hit with stools, and ain't nothin' stopped him yet.

The last kitchen knife i was able to find is still stuck in his leg."

Will looks at the gun again, he looks at Argo she nods reassuringly and pats his hand encouragingly , nodding..
He looks at the gun again, his eyebrow raises a bit ..'Argo.."



He doesn't have the heart to tell her...He sighs, "Ok, it's worth a try."

Will approaches the corner of the bar he stays crouched down behind it and waits to make a move.
As the chef is pulling another body body from the pile and loading it on the table, Will thinks the time is right and he creeps up behind the chef.
He is about to shoot when a floor board creeks. The chef turns and raises his cleaver and runs at Will screaming like a banshee.

Will fires the gun just as the cleaver passes in front of the chefs face. The cleaver is knocked out of the chefs hand, it flies a few feet over and sticks into a support post.

The chef smiles and pulls out a boning knife.

Most surprised at this little weapons' power, Will fires again striking the chef in the upper right side of his head.
Blood sprays everywhere. But the chef, just keep looking at Will right in the eye.. or from eye to eye - as he raises the knife menacingly. The gun only held 2 shots, both now used,



Will slowly starts to back away

[Argo]

Argo still crouching behind the bar, her heart thumping closes her eyes and wishes for ruby slippers. She has no idea why she wishes for ruby slippers. She just really wants to go home.

Still WITH her eyes tightly closed taking quick peeks every few seconds .. she cant escape it and she cant ignore it either.

On squeezing her eyes extra tightly this time she hears a loud bang and a ringing sound like one of those large Chinese dinner gongs ..

She opens her eyes to see the bar wench holding an iron pan above the chef who, seemingly stunned, falls face first to the dirty and bloodied floor.

In a somewhat angry tone she tells him her shifts over and shes leaving. He will have to clean up this mess all by himself this time.

It is clear she contemplates hitting him again decides just to do it. Another loud clanging and she knocks him out cold. . One good hit!



As she tosses the iron pan she looks Will up and down over her shoulder as she turns to leave.. 'Big bloody baby he is sometimes"..

Wills eye has become so excited at the sight of all this it actually pops right out of its socket.

He fakes a flamboyant bow to the wench scooping up his eye off the floor and in a smooth move practiced many times and manages to slip that eyeball right back in in one swooping movement as if nothing had happened. Oh so smooth! Argo sighs and rolls her eyes at his efforts to impress.
She stifles a giggle when it is clear the bar wench clearly reaffirms she absolutely has no interest.

[William one eye]

After the barmaid leaves, Will and Argo start looking around to see if anyone else they know survived.

Pulpop, zeph, and Sparrow are not among the corpses. They either got butchered or made a clean escape.
Shadwood is also not there, but Will sees Deznutz under a table in the corner. Argo asks Will what hes looking at.
"Im lookimg at deznutz". He seems to be ok but unconsious. Will says "Argo grab deznutz and lets get out of here" Argo has had enough, " im not touching Deznutz, you go get him".

Will collects Deznutz from the corner and says
"Lets go find Shadowood"

As they walk out the door Will says to Argo,
"I do believe we are going to have to do the MIAB interview elsewhere this place is wrecked."

Argo starts to remind Will shes already done the interview with him, but then decides to leave this converstaion for another time

[Meliva]

Nearby the old seahag Meliva hears their conversation and quickly walks up to them

"Ahoy Will, long time no see, hello Argo how are you doing? If you are looking for shadowood I think I saw him heading to the docks. Probably on his way to steal a MoW if I had to guess." The old seahag laughs.

"I'd go with you, but I'm going into the tavern. Heard there's some folks knocked out in there, perfect workers for my plantation I say!"

[Argo]

Argo stands there in disbelief! Staring at the seahag... She blinks a couple of times and quickly looks her up and down looking for a hint of ruby slippers 'Which hag ye be?? Did you bring the slippers?
There is only one hag I trust - I know you lot can change form... But.. if ye be ye we know as ye and ye ain't some other ye, help yeself if thats' what you want.. I was hoping you may have some idea how to rid Tzogos of this dreadful enchantment ... I mean.. the place is mad .. asylum mad .. bonkers, looney, abnormal , off its rocker, outta pennies up top... a roo or too short in the top paddock .. a ... "
Argo feels a sharp bony jab in her back... a signal from Will to stfu ... he has done it before - it is unmistakable. Argo realises she is babbling probably from the recent trauma .. Will gently grabs her elbow and steers her passed the seahag nodding to her as he does so ..

He whispers firmly to Argo .. 'Now, weve been through enough here.. dont upset that hag ... you never know her moods or what she is capable of.."

Argo allows herself to be moved by Wills grip but looks back at the hag and says .." Curiously, what brought you here to Tzorgos?" Will jabs her again ..

"Now you sound suspicious .. stop it .. we have to find Shadowood. that's all I'm concerned about right now and upsetting that hag could cause complications I am not in a mood to deal with .. Let's go .."

Argo looks back for Dez.. he isnt there

[Meliva]

The old seahag parts her hair a wee bit to show her ear is red and points to Argo

"My ears were burning, which means someone was saying me name out loud. Took a look into me crystal ball and found out it was coming from you. So I headed on over to here, see if ye needed help. But came a wee bit late. But since I already came here gonna help myself to the lads in there. As for taking other forms, tis proper rude and disrespectful for one hag to take another hag's form without permission. If someone did that to me they'd be getting a visit from me shortly after. Not a pleasant one either. "

The old seahag then smiles and gestures around the port sniffing a little as she waves a hand around gathering the air into a small ball before squeezing it into a small bit of yellow dust. She shows it to Argo in her hand.

"Place is reeking of madness lately, it's something in the air. Spores of some kind I think. Stay too long and it starts to mess with your head. Going to see the source of this junk and take it for me garden. Help keep the locals away. Ye got any other questions to ask before we part ways?

[Argo]

Argo stops still for moment. Something odd has caught her eye...
She pulls herself up to her full height .. her green eyes searching across the view of the harbour ..

" Wait... the bay is bare! There are no ships! I may only be 5ft2 but even blind Freddy can see the harbour is completely devoid of fleets! Not one ship can I see? What the..."

She senses Will's reaction and hears the gasping of his breath...

Argo turns to the seahag..

" Well, answer me this....??"

Some rotten scallywag stolen all the fleets! How are we supposed to return to Vaasburg now?"

[Meliva]

Meliva shrugs and quickly jokes

"I hear swimming is good exercise apparently. Maybe you could try swimming to another port?"

The old seahag thinks for a moment before pointing north-east.

"I remember there should be some old docks northeast of Tzogos. Plans to build a marina there to house unused ships. Mostly forgotten save for smugglers. I barely remembered it. Could try your luck there. I'm sure there's a few ships there. Or you could take a door off it's hinges and make a raft and sail north to Tortuga. Only would take an hour or so to paddle your way there. "

[Argo]

Argo's lips purse and tension rushes through her body .. ".. paddle a door to? ... " Her eyes cold upon the hag.

Argo begins to seethe.

Another hard, bony jab from Will to her back. She takes a breath. She takes another one. And yet another ..

Instead of calming her, it seems to be making things worse and she can barely contain her snorting which continues to intensify.

She looks pleadingly up at Will, snorting all the while, until its uncontrollable and wracks her body.. She is jumping and leaping around, snorting loudly flapping her arms up and down furiously as if in some kind of chicken voodoo trance .. Her mind races - " It must be voodoo... it must be .

The expression in Argo's eyes show she is somewhat out of her depth with all this ..
Will and the sea hag lock eyes .. and luckily for Argo, they know what it is and what to do ..