Captain Iggy's Lost 'Cat'

[Shan]

The Pirates Lords of the Haimia

Captain Iggy’s Lost ‘Cat’

Level of Difficulty
Novice (lv.1)

Overview
Captain Iggy has posted a notice, in one of the seedier taverns in Authueil, that he has lost his ‘cat’ and would like it returned to him. Most of those searching for a job would stop reading there in disgust and turn away. The rest of the notice talks about how much this cat meant to Captain Iggy and his crew of scallywags and ruffians, most people who read up to this part would burst out laughing and turn away. The cat was last seen on the outskirts of Authueil and Captain Iggy will pay handsomely for its return.

P.S. The cat is native to the southern islands of the Haimian archipelago and has white fur with black stripes, weighing around 675 pounds, it’s also known as a tiger.

Objectives
1 – Find Captain Iggy’s ‘Cat’
2 – Bring it back alive to Captain Iggy’s ship, preferably without getting mauled!

Requirements
For Levels 1 and 2 Must have a Favor rating of -10 or above with the Pirates Guild

Rewards
10 + Up to 15 Bonus XP Up to 5 Favor Points with the Pirates Guild
A silver coin denoting the favor of the Pirates Guild (Can be used to enter safe houses run by the Pirates Guild or book transport on a pirate vessel)

Conditions
The Tiger must be brought back alive
The mission has a three-month expiration date from its starting post if incomplete, the mission will be reset o if inadequately incomplete, revision of mission may be necessary

[Uruck]

"What's this?"

Kurok, lacking anything else to do, started reading notices in the tavern he was currently dining at. Most had been, to put in other words, uninteresting. But this one definently took the cake. Seriously, this 'pirate' was so worried about his cat he put a notice /here/? No cat was that interesting. He started to turn away from the board, when one final piece of information caught his eye.

'...also known as a tiger.'

He tore the flyer from the wall, looking it over again. A smile slowly grew on his mouth, and his eyes would have shone if they could. Surely a tiger would constitute a large reward. He looked over the note again, sighing as he saw what condition it had to be in. 'That's gonna make this a little harder.' But then again, it wouldn't be fun if it was easy. 'But it would've been fun to take down a tiger.'

He stuffed the notice into his pouch, pushed his way out of the tavern and looked around. 'Now where to begin...' And more importantly, how was he going to take it down? His hand instictevly went to a clear vail with a thick, red liquid in it, but crossed his arms. How was he going to take it down without killing it? He tapped his foot, deep in thought. 'I suppose I could whip up a knock-out potion, but where would I find the ingrediants?'

((Uh, I'm not sure I did this right, so I can rewrite or add more if I need to.))

[Shan]

Bim ran through the streets of Authueil, panting as he neared a small single mast caravel, the flag of a crudely drawn tiger gracing the top of the mast. He ran up the gangplank, passing his fellow sailors who upon recognizing the first mate of the small Pirate ship, jumped out of his way. “Cap’n, Cap’n!” he called while smashing on the door of the Captains’ quarters “Cap’n Iggy! Someone took the paper, thingy, notice, paper… The thing with the cat!”

The door opened slightly as a grizzled human adorned with all matter of jewlerry and a floppy, oversized hat stepped out to stare at the first mate with his beady eyes. The smile that had been on Bim’s face was replaced with a sheepish grin as he scratched the bandana on his head “Heh heh sorry ‘bout that Cap’n, I’m just excited is all”

“Bloody simpleton…” muttered Captain Iggy as he gave Bim a swift backhand, “What the hell are you doing here then you fool? Didn’t I explicitly tell you to FOLLOW whoever takes the notice? Hmm?!”

“Er… Um… Well I didn’t really know what expli-expexit-watchmacallit meant sir, I’ll um… I’ll just head on back if’n that’s okay wit’ you”

“Just follow the person Bim and make sure he doesn’t hurt me cat… I swear one of these days…” Iggy grumbled, reentering his room and slamming the door on Bim’s nose.

Bim scratched his head and hurried back to the Tavern where he had spotted the strange adventurer, almost bowling over a merchants stall in front of the tavern in the process. “Dang’nammit” cried Bim, grabbing his throbbing shin that had collided with a protruding edge which had begun to bleed profusely, "Gah, stoopid merchant stall thingy..."

[Uruck]

Finally deciding that a knock-out would be best, Kurok pulloed out the one thing he turns to in times of need: His recipie pad. He flipped through the notepad, mumbling the poorly-written name of each potion as he wandered around.

"Strengthen bones, remove scars, cure for diarrhea, causing diarrhea," He stifled a nicker as he remembered how many times he had used that one. "Inducing fear, higher voice,..."

Finally, after looking through almost the entire notepad, he tore out one of the sheets, smiling at the title, Knocking out large animals. 'Why do I even have this?' He wondered, then shrugged. 'Guess I'm more prepared than I thought.' He looked at the list of ingrediants, then rummaged through his pack, his arm going in deeper than the bag was. He frowned, pulliing out his arm and staring at his empty palm.

"I think I saw some stalls over this way..." He mumbled, heading back. 'I guess I'm not as prepared as I thought.' He looked from stall to stall as he walked, loking for one that looked like it had what he wanted.

[Shan]

Bim patted at his small wound and glared at the sharp edge of the stall, wishing he could make it explode in a glorious ball of fire. He stood up and was about to pull out his cutlass and teach the stall a lesson when the owner ran out from behind it and started waking him on the back with a small broom.

With a frightened squeak the less than intelligent half-orc jumped and made a dash for the other side of the market. The merchant just shook his head at the muscular bound half-orc who had become known for his cowardice amongst the local populace, “stupid git, that’ll teach that pirate to mess with me”. He puffed his chest out and turned around just in time to spot a group of street urchins stealing the fruit he had on display, “Oi! Damn Kids!”

Bim breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the merchant chase a group of kids away from the stall, turning down the street that would take him back to the tavern where the white haired stranger had taken the notice. It was then that he noticed another person with white hair looking from stall to stall. It took Bim a second to register the connection between the half elf in the tavern and the half elf perusing the stalls but it came to him eventually and he quickly spun around to find a place to find.

He succeeded in spinning around but tripped on his own feet and fell face flat on the street to the amusement of nearby onlookers. His bluish skin took on a pink hue as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes, “why it always gotta be me?”

[Uruck]

"I need these."

Kurok held the recipe list in front of a short, grubby man's face, trying to knock the man out of his reverie. The grumpy man snatched the paper out of Kurok's hand, stared at him, then started putting the items on the counter. And he had been having such a nice daydream, until this wierdo showed up and disrupted it. After all the ingrediants had been layed out on the stall's counter, the man stuck out his hand, frowning.

"Well?"
"Well what?"
"You know very well what."

Kurok stared at the man for a while, pretending to think, then placed some coins in the man's hand, seemingly out of nowhere. Before the man could see it, Kurok had grabbed the ingrediants, stuffed them into his pack, and began walking away. He must really work on his people skills. He really had no right to say that, but he felt he should. And now, to work. He started walking towards the border of the city, planning on mixing the poison once he got there. He didn't have to waste time going to an inn, when he could do it in five minutes.

[Shan]

The tiger paced leaped atop a rocky bluff overlooking the city, it was finally free from the horribly annoying Captain Iggy that had spent a fortune on magical charms that forced the jungle cat to obey the garish captains orders. The image of Iggy’s face being torn off by the tigers claws brought a low growl o satisfaction from the great beast. Leaped off the bluff and down the side of the small cliff to arrive in the forested regions outside of Authueil and began searching for its next meal. That was the one nice thing about living on the ship that had been its prison, the half-orc first mate had been a decent cook and food wasn’t too hard to come by. A sigh came from the tigers jaws as it thought of the cowardly half-orc who amazingly enough was unafraid of the large beast. The scent of a deer passed the tigers nose and all thoughts of its previous life left it as it slunk away into the underbrush, becoming the perfect predator.

[Uruck]

By the time Kurok had reached the citie's border he was already near done. In the small vail he held before him was a thick, blue liquid that smelled strongly of mushrooms. He constantly fed the substance a powdered flower, and he was watching the liquid closely, waiiting for it to change. Almost there... He swirled the vail gently, helping the powder mix. Almost... He stared at the vail, smirking as he watched the liquid turn a thick, disgusting shade of green. Done. He swirled the vail once more, then withdrew a dart from his pack. He sat cross-legged on the ground, next to a high bush, and poured the substance into the dart. He placed the now full dart on the ground in front of him and screwed a cork tightly into the vail, clasping that to his belt.

Now that he was ready, he withdrew from his pack a long cedar blow dart tube, jamming the dart inside it and standing up. He looked around quickly, then started to walk, eyes shifting from side to side as he looked fro some sign of the tiger. He caught a flicker of movement and automaticly crouched down, blow dart pressed against his mouth as he aimed at a young buck, not lowering it even when he learned what it was. The tiger'll go for that deer, no mistake. He sat in silence, waiting for his deadly target to show.

[Shan]

The graceful feline crouched in beside a small bush, eyeing the juicy deer that had stumbled in its path. It was still unused to hunting having been chained to the deck of a ship for the last few years, but it was remembering the thrill of the hunt. With a growl of primal fury it shot out of the underbrush and landed on top of the deer, startling the creature and causing its eyes to roll madly as it sought to fight off the predator. The tiger snapped the deers neck with a swat of its giant paw and stretched its back, proud of its first kill in years, asides from the occasional pirate or prisoner that was thrown its way. It was good to be free!

[Uruck]

"Gotche."

In a flash, he had shot, aiming at the tiger's thick neck. Just as the dart left the shooter, a thought flashed through his mind. I wonder if it was too strong.... He spent half a second worrying, the forgot about it. It wasn't like it was lethal. It's a tiger. A drop or two too much isn't going to kill it or anything. It might just stay out for a while, or stay groggy longer. Or lose a few brain cells... But did it really matter? Personally, Kurok would prefer being stupid than being totally aware of being some pirate's kitty. Oh well, they'd know once it woke up.

[Shan]

The TIger felt a sting on its coat and swatted lazily at the offending bug lazily as it gazed down at its prize, it had been so long since it had fresh meat! Suddenly there where two deer carcasses underneath him, confusion raced through the tigers mind as it stared at the two deer that became four. it blinked twice, yawned and fell over sideways into a deep sleep.

Bim stumbled out of the bushes into the area, seeing the strange alchemist and the comatose feline. He gave a cry of anguish and leapt on top of the tiger, crying "You killed Mr. Kitty!! Why would you be doing something like dis!"

The tiger stretched lazily in its sleep and swatted the big half orc in the face, causing Bim to burst into tears of joy (and a little from the pain), "He be alive!! Ouch... that kinda hurt..." He stood up and smiled at the human before casting about for branches in order to construct a litter to take the tiger back to the ship and complete his mission, "thanks human, when you think Mr. Kitty is gonna be up'n'about again?"

[Uruck]

Kurok had to stifle a chuckle that would have quickly became a full, taunting laughter if he didn't, stowing the blow dart in his pack.

"Mr. Kitty," He said the beast's name in a slight mocking tone, trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it "should wake in a matter of five or six hours, give'er take a few if I gave it too much."

He walked to the tiger, completely ignoring the deer right next to it, and poked the beast, smirking. dangerous, hah! He pitied the poor feline, he would have ran away too if he were holed up in some ship. Oh well, not my problem. Now all that was left was to haul the beast back and claim his reward.