The first efforts to backtrack the doomed merchant ship had been enthusiastic, but unsuccessful. There were mere hours of light remaining, the slavers had struck much earlier in the day, and none knew precisely where the coaster had been ambushed in the first place.

They had set back into port with regret, intent on trying again the next day. Overnight, more ships had been gathered and an analysis of the doomed merchant ship's log had narrowed down the likely place of attack to just over ten miles of unremarkable sea and shore on the large island north-east of Brighthold. A raider lurking in the area would need a hiding spot, from which passing merchant ships could be spotted and chosen for pursuit, or passing warships could be safely hidden from. Such operations required a secluded anchorage, or shallow beach with a view of the straits. Even if the slavers were long gone, at least a campsite should remain.

Nine longships owing fealty to Tyde (most of which were the old fashioned square-rig style still in use by Eswynd) were assisting in the search of the myriad coves, rivers, and shallows, any of which could allow a ship to lie in hiding out of common view.  The search had begun at first light and was still underway when the sun was two hours past midday.

Zoey checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 0 higher.

Wash checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 5 higher.

Wash elects to ride along in a ship somewhere in the middle of the flotilla. It means that most likely his ship won't be the first to catch sight of the pirates, but they'll be the quickest to receive flag signals from either direction. Rather than disconcert the captain by looking over his shoulder, Wash takes over the highest perch, the crow's nest if there is one, otherwise mast sitting on the center of the mainmast's head.

Zoey elects to stay on the same ship as Wash, preferring to stay near the front as long as she can remain there without being in the way. she is dressed in her sharkskin and keeps her bow on her back. If they find pirates, she will be ready to do her part.

Rowenova checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 4 higher.

With Sir Floppington by her side, Scout Rowenova is here with the Kennex to hopefully help them with the upcoming mission. No longer hunting whales, the determined team now has slavers to track down, so they can pirate the pirates.

  There is little to see on the heavily forested island; trees grow to within a stone's throw of the sea on this stretch of yellow sand, with marsh reeds and cattails sprouting in the tidal lagoons that are spared direct current.

Leaning sideways, Nova quietly whispers what she can see about the lean to and the person inside. She does not want to simply shout which would tip off that they already know about the sneakrit person there.

Wash leaves his post to confer with the captain. There's no reason to alert the viewer. He reports the sighting and asks the captain: "With respect captain, how long do you think it would take to signal one of the other longships and return to this location?"

Zoey nods when Nova explains what she sees. "We should let Lord Wash know as well. That could be some sort of lookout."

Nova nods back to Zoey then speeds up to Wash and the captain and quietly notes what she recently saw to them both, too.

Meanwhile, Sir Floppington follows along, of course, hither and yon.

The longship captain grimaces and considers at Wash's question. "Mayhap.. a quarter hour, of we signal with horns. To do it quiet? Not for an hour," the older sailor guesses.

"An hour seems reasonable to me. It might bo nothing and the watchman seemed patient." Wash replies. "But as you like captain." Wash dips his head, careful not to pull rank on the captain of the ship. He returns to Zoey and Rowenova's side. "If you could, can you sight a landmark or two so that we can find this spot again?" He asks Rowenova and Zoey. "I think the captain intends to alert the fleet before we return to investigate."

Zoey nods to Wash and scans their surroundings with her eyes for something that will stand out later. "We should each pick something different," she suggests to Nova. "Just to be double sure we're in the same spot."

Nova immediately accepts the new task from Wash and nods forth to Zoey, "Aye! Will do!" Then, she curiously scans for a signficant sight out there. Plus, the good boy (Sir Floppington) softly sniffs the immediate scents, too.

Wash takes a position on the prow again and returns to looking out.

The longship glides on, still using sail to rest the oarsmen in open water, as the Tyde captain waits until rounding an islet to change tack and dip oars to race toward the nearest friendly ship to relay the plan, to circle back around, and return to the little spit and bay where the little lean to and the hidden lookout/shellfish picker/beach comber was ensconced. With the landmarks noted and two more ships in tow, the Tyde ship returns to the spot.

Wash is armed and armored by the time they return. There's no disguising that the return visit means that they will be sending men ashore. Wash expects to be among them.

Zoey follows Wash's example, pausing briefly to press a kiss to her locket before tucking it beneath her sharkskin jacket.

Nova follows suit, too, doing so with Sir Floppington coming along with her.

Haakon is not with any of the three ships which glide toward the wooded spit of land, the Eswynd is far down coast on another longship, but the trio of vessels are all guided by experienced sailors, who are prepared to ashore swiftly. Sails are drawn in, oars deployed, and aboard our heroes' ship, the warriors on the oars quietly decide which twenty will go ashore first, and which twenty will secure the ship's.

Wash is correct, and not long after the three ships come into sight angled clearly for the shore, whoever had been sitting in the shade near that lean-to gets up and starts to hurry into the trees.

Zoey draws her bow and takes aim. "Wash?" she asks urgently.

Nova does not get her bow but she does look to Sir Flop for his opinion.

"You are welcome to prove that he is within your range if you can Lady Kennex." Wash says, formal mostly because this is an operation.

Sir Flop scratches his ear, in a clear sign that his ear itched.

Nova helps scritch the good boy then looks back to Wash and Zoey.

Zoey checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 60, rolling 13 lower.

"Seems we both underestimated that alaricite bow." Wash says. "Shields!" He shouts, expecting that the runner will bring archers to defend their lookout.

Zoey takes aim, carefully leading her target, but when she looses the arrow embeds itself in a most inconveniently positioned tree limb. She bites her tongue rather than utter the curse that pops into her mind. "Trees in the way."

When Wash speaks the command for shields, Nova grabs one and brings it up into her diamondplate gauntlets cover not only herself but also Sir Flop, too.

The three longships reach the shallows, ship their oars and half the sailors splash into the surf with shields slung on their backs and weapons sheathed, so that their hands are free to grab and run the ship up onto the beach high enough that it won't drift back out. The other half hop over the rails and into the shallows fully armed. The captain of another ship orders brusquely, "Get eyes on him!" and a score of sailors armed with shield, spear, and some with axe or sword trudge hastily for the trees, shields dressed.

No hail of arrows greets their landing, nor does any battle line greet them at the trees...

For whatever reason, Wash neglects to take a shield himself. He trusts his instincts to dodge at long distance. At least until the arrows start to block out the sun. Wash takes command as the crews step off their ships. Last thing he wants is for them to start competing for leadership of the shore crew. "With caution men. Watch your step. There may be traps ahead."

Wash checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 10 higher.

With the newly-acquired shield in her diamondplate-clad grip, Nova hops out and makes haste to dash forth, doing so with Sir Floppington moving along by her. Hopefully, they can track down the escaping fellow.

Rowenova checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 40 higher.

Zoey checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 2 higher.

Not to be left behind, Zoey follows after Rowenova. She does not carry a shield though, knowing she will need both hands to wield her bow.

Through the trees and grasses they advance, most of the sailors keeping a loose shield line as they go. The Tyde men are spread out, deployed less to chase a singular runner and more as though they expect others to try and escape past them. Thus, moving through the trees faster than.. a thing that moves very fast, Rowenova is the first to dash through the scattered trees, to see the small bay on the far side of the spit. Half choked by reeds and rushes, a small Shav'arvani longship had been beached, and it's mast brought down, letting it hide among the cattails. Wholly hidden from the open sea, a camp of twenty Shav warriors is in the process to hastily shoving their vessel toward the water, while others grab bows, spears, and axes to greet their sudden guests. No sooner does Rowenova emerge from the treeline than she is greeted with a howl of, "BLEKKOR."

"Surrender!" Wash shouts. "Any who raises arms against us dies!" Kennex sailors don't have much patience with pirates.

Rowenova checked strength + brawl at difficulty 30, rolling 1 lower.

Elbowed in the face by a Shav 2 inflicted and Rowenova is unharmed.

Jumping out of the tree line, Rowenova reaches out and tries to scoop up the running shav, but she is not used to shield carrying, and so she fumbles with her arms trying to clamshell around the shav but that does not work, and then Rowenova gets elbowed right in the face, elbow scraping down one side of the nose before leaving a bruise under one eye along the cheekbone.

Zoey says in Isles shav, "Surrender! Any who Ras is arms against us dies!"

Zoey repeats Wash's shout in Isles shav, readying her bow to take down those who do not heed.

Surrender? "YOU surrender!" the largest of the Shav warriors roars back at Wash, in a mediocre display of wit. "Shoot the fuckers!" he adds, in Isles pidgin, which three of the outmatched warriors seek to obey...

With surprise thoroughly gone, one of the Tyde sailors sounds a warhorn in a long, booming blast that echoes back across the bay. Several seconds later, it is answered by three other distant horns.

Wash wields a set of rubicund throwing knives.

Wash checked command + war at difficulty 30, rolling 32 higher.

Zoey checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 40, rolling 52 higher.

Acacia wields scarlet skies reflected on black seas oathlands steel dagger.

Rowenova checked strength + brawl at difficulty 30, rolling 27 higher.

Zoey nocks another arrow, takes a breath, and aims for the foul mouthed leader of the band. She looses it and watches as it smiles though the air, his eye, and the back of his head. As the man falls she calls out in Isles shav again.

Zoey says in Isles shav, "Your chieftain is fallen! Put down your arms, and you need not follow!"

After figuring out how to shield, Nova finally scoops the young lady up and throws her like a sack of potatoes over her shoudlers, holding her by arms around her waistline and also her upper body tilted upside down over back. Spinning around, she dashes back toward where Wash and Zoey are.

Acacia checked dexterity + small wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 17 higher.

Acacia grimaces at the sight of the Shav'arvani seeking to launch their ship, but soon grins at the sound of the horns. With a sharp gaze she tosses her head to a few formidable soldiers and slips off to skirt the fray, not to engage with those defending, but to slow those who are trying to get away.

The leather clad redhead calmly draws her blades as she moves with graceful precision to grab the man's hair closest to her to yank his head back to attempt to unceremoniously slit his throat.

The man shift and turns with a grunt as he catches a dagger in the side and shoves her off. Undeterred, the wild cat returns to meet him again, sporting sporting a flash of fire in her eye a dangerous grin.

Wash leads from the rear, because that's the safest place to ensure that he can see the action. His cobalt blade flashes in his hand dramatically, flailing inexpertly. In the palm of his other hand glints a rubicund edge that is his first resort if one of the enemy gets past the line and targets him specifically. He exhorts from the rear calling: "East Wind, blow them down!"

The chieftain's head recoils as an arrow passes fully through it to lodge deep in the planking of the ship, a bit of viscera dangling off the fletching. Rowenova's captive is in the midst of kicking and thrashing to get loose. "Let me GO-" Then- facing backward- she sees that arrow shot and abruptly stops thrashing. "Uh. Never mind. I uh.. I'll be good. You ain't mad about the elbow, yeah? Just a little hello between friends, right? ...Right?"

Even without a strong advantage in weapons, armor, numbers, and leadership, seeing their chieftain stagger backward, drop his monstrous axe, raise a dazed hand to the hole where his eye used to be, and half turn to look after the arrow before fully realizing how dead he is and falling to the sand would do it. One sad, solitary arrow is fired back, before the ten Shavs who were about to face down the charging Islesmen choose the better part of valor. Half run, scattering up and down the shore, or trying their luck at swimming across the bay. Others just throw down weapons and prostrate themselves on the sand, with only 9 left shoving the shoddy longship through the reeds to begin floating. Six Shavs try to scramble up over the rails and into the ship.

Wash checked strength + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 6 lower.

Zoey checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 30, rolling 29 higher.

Thwacked with an oar! 12 inflicted and Wash is unharmed.

Wash gracelessly lands on the top strake of the longboat. He fends off an oar with one leathern armband before sliding into the water beneath the boat. Cattails shiver to indicate that he is struggling back to his feet, still in the fight.

Nock, aim, loose. Zoey's aim is true and one of the runners falls to the ground, howling in pain. Zoey shouts a message after the rest of them.

Zoey says in Isles shav, "Stop, or the next is a kill!"

Acacia checked strength + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 3 lower.

Thwacked with an oar 6 inflicted and Acacia is unharmed.

With great grace, Nova ultimately relieves the cooperative shav from her upsidedown situation, doing so with what is a bridal carry rather than the firefighter carry before now. After finally moving into a near proximity to where Zoey is now, Nova sets the shav down, placing her upon the sands. Then, Nova jerks her wolf-framed visage, and Sir Floppington wags up and flops down into the shav's lap, doing so with those soulful eyes fixing upon her whilst that long tail lightly wags, dusting up a few grains of the sands here. Then, Nova firmly explains, "Sit here and pet him. If you get up, he will stop you, no matter how much you think he likes you." She lets go and stands straight, pulling around her recurve bow and nocking a new arrow from her back quiver.

Rowenova says, "as for the elbow, all good. Nose ain't broke. It would be bad, though, if it was."

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 4 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 2 lower.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 2 lower.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 6 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 0 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 6 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 2 lower.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 26 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 6 higher.

Haakon GM Roll checked strength(3) + athletics(3) at difficulty 30, rolling 4 lower.

A boot to the belly sends the man reeling and she breaks off the fight to head purposely to the ship. Another arrow flies from Zoey's bow as Wash ends up in the reeds and Rowenova deals withe her prisoner. No fancy form from this one. Acacia moves to stop the Shav's escape, rushing to leap aboard to hinder their escape.

Seeing more scramble in, she turns to out to those with bows to "take out the men on the ship..." and is rewarded with an unexpectedly smack to the shoulder that sends her falling back into the water with a splash and a word that would make some blush.

The erstwhile lookout-turned-captive settles on the sand staring at a dog. "... Who's a good boy?" she asks, grinning nervously. "Who's a good boy?" Tentative petting? Wagging tail.. "Oh, thank fuck, there's a good boy. Yes you are."

The battle for the ship would be comical if it were less desperate. The half dozen Shavs on the ship are faring better with oars than they would have with weapons, thwacking and pushing off many of the warriors and heroes who pursue them. But numbers begin to tell, and before long, six of the Tyde men Wash had incited to charge the ship have gained the deck, howling, "Blow them down!"

A further four surrender after Zoey's shot and shout, leaving a scant two Shavs trying to escape.

Wash struggles back to his feet, palming the throwing dagger and laying a hand on ship. One man can't stop six rowers for long, but he can stall the ship until the rest of the sailors can arrive. He wields his saber over his head threateningly, attempting to parry any attempts to shove him off or strike his hand.

Zoey checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 45, rolling 20 higher.

Rowenova checked dexterity + archery at difficulty 45, rolling 25 higher.

Acacia checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 43 higher.

Zoey stands beside Rowenova and takes aim one more time. "Left is mine," she tells the scout before releasing the arrow toward her target.

Nova up nods. "Right for me, then!" says she as they shoot, side by side, the arrows flying at the same time toward their respective targets with her own being a crimson one with black feathering.

The redhead rises from the water moments later, her eyes burning with a fire not previously seen. Long strong legs launch from the waves and agile hands clamp down onto the edge of the ship as Acacia swiftly pulls her self up and flips herself over the side and onto the deck with a fierce grin. "Permission to come a board, sir," she yells into the shocked face at the man on the tiller and then looks around and shrugs. "Well, fuck me. Looks like it's too late," she admits as she begins to move to remove him. "Stand the FUCK down or I'll gut the lot of ye!" she roars to the crew trying to escape.

The fight is short, sharp, and- once the heroes and their sailing henchfolk have begun to outnumber the desperate oar-swinging Shavs aboard the longship, and an Acacia appears at the stern- decisively over. Those who had tried to swim for their freedom catch arrows on the shoulder and bicep respectively, bringing their flight to a painful end. Crawling back to shore while bleeding in salt water will ruin your whole day.

"Watch them, please," Zoey tells Nova as puts her bow on her back. She walks down to the shore to offer the swimmers help out of the water and tell them something else in Isles shav.

Zoey says in Isles shav, "You are lucky. The men of my house do not give as much opportunity to surrender. Come, we can see to your wounds."

Nova almost slings her recurve bow but then up nods after Zoey's words and continually covers her with a new arrow deftly nocked. Sir Flop stays sat on that captive shav, too.

Wash clangs one last oar off his blade and then lets his sword arm dangle limply at his side, exhausted from holding the weapon over his head. "Half of each crew return to the longships and bring them around to this cove." Wash says. "Meanwhile... Zoey? You can interpret? Nova scare some answers out of them?" His free hand remains possessively on the longship while he regains his breath. Now the Admiral has a ship of his own, if not a crew.

Rowenova checked perception + empathy at difficulty 15, rolling 5 higher.

In short order, the eighteen Shav prisoners are rounded up on the beach, sitting in a huddle, with a ring of Tyde spearmen keeping eyes on them, while the rest of the Arvani sailors ransack the camp, coming up with some basic good and drink: jugs of beer, dried fish and an iron cooking pot. The weapons are of poor enough quality that they hack off the spear and axe heads, only keep the iron.

"Yes, Admiral," Zoey replies when Wash asks her to interpret.

After making sure that Zoey is safe, Nova slings her bow back before then hauling up her own captive shav which is soon added to the sitting circle. Meanwhile, Sir Floppington comes along with Nova who tosses aside the shield before then punching one diamondplate gauntlet into the leather glove inside the opposing gauntlet whilst intently eyeing them with cobalt-blue eyes apparently rimmed in dark kohl for increased intensity. There is Sir Flop, too, who lowly growls.

Acacia grins softly as she wipes a bit of blood off her chin and gives her shoulder a little roll. The prisoners now secured, she seems almost jovial as she tosses Wash a wink as they inspect the ship. Not much is found save some shoddy arrows, some rope, an anchor and a deep, well used rowing drum, that acacia tips to peek under just in case. You never know what one might find.

Nothing fantastic found, Acacia turns back to Wash. "Well, that was fun," she grins up at him. "What next?" she asks glancing to the others and back.

Wash doesn't have the skills, stomach for or interest in interrogation. "All we really need to know is how they signal the other ships." He suggests to those who have what he lacks. He asks Acacia. "You want to search their leader" Wash eyes the ship aggressively. If it were a goat and he were from the Oathlands, the ship would have every reason to be nervous.

The Shav woman who'd been the initial lookout has chosen to remain on Flopington duty. "Aww, who's a big scary ferocious boy? Is it you? Yes, *you're* big scary ferocious boy, yes you are!" Pet, pet, ear scritch.

"Aye, aye, Admiral. I can," the redhead nods with an irreverent grin as she moves to disembark. Landing lightly on the shore with a splash, Acacia strolls over to look over and search the body of Shav's now deceased leader, unless interrupted by one of the party. "Silly buggerr. Too bad he caught an arrow," she muses to herself.

"They all had opportunity to lay down arms," Zoey says plainly. "Thankfully the others had better sense."

Sir Floppington loves the pets and attention for as long as the shav gives it, and he flops his tail in a wag. Meanwhile, Nova is a scary lady, awaiting the questioning by those who know how to speak while she pretends to be scary. Except, maybe she is not pretending. Maybe she would bust them up.

While the others are busy asking their questions, Acacia subtly inspects the coins before moving to Wash's side again. "Nay much. Battle axe, sword and such. Hauberk is crap. The man's not in the money. His jewelry is not worth much. Likely sentimental," the redhead reports as she slips the purse and coins into Wash's hand silently so he can inspect them as well.

Wash looks at the coins to see if they are familiar at all. His suspicion is that the pirates were bribed by the passing Eurus fleet. It's also possible that Reveka Tyde has started minting her own coind of course.

The redhead remains quiet now, hand loosely resting on one of the wicked looking blades slung low of the curve of her hip as she looks over to study the prisoners quietly. Acacia frowns slightly.

Zoey takes the coins in her hands, turning them over and reading them carefully. Her brow furrows and she tells Wash, "These coins are Eurusi. Minted in the reign of Prince Temir."

Acacia checked charm + streetwise at difficulty 30, rolling 11 higher.

"Alright." Wash confirms. "Acacia? Ask them how they signal the other pirates." He scans over the prisoners. "We know you're not acting alone." He projects. "And if you make any attempt to conceal your friends, you'll be executed instead of freed when we are done. Thrax takes no thralls, and we can afford no prisoners either. You either die, or you are set free. Now is your chance to convince me you want the latter."

A few sharp questions, and the Tyde captain steps over toward Wash. "Admiral. Seems this ring is a gathering of Shav clans. They take turns at the camp, waylay any small ship in passing. Carry off the lives, and what cargo they can, and let the maelstrom swallow the hulks. They don't signal the others, they meet back up at an islet to the South east of here. Five ships, in all. Once they get up a goodly number of bodies, they run them for sale into the Saffron." A slowly drawn breath. "Someone called Haarfar leads the ship that likely hit your merchant."

"May I?" she asks as she saunters over to where the prisoners set. She looks them over for a moment before speaking. "You've called yield, you're at the mercy of these silks. You ken how that will go, aye?" she fixes each with a honey-brown eye. "You know as well as I how this could go for you... So, I'd advise you to consider speaking to these fine folk here," she nods to Wash, Zoey and Rowenova. "Or we can move to the harder asks. Up to you."

After Acacia's words, Nova up nods as if to totally wing what is being said, because she definitely has hard gauntlets, right here.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Zoey before departing.

"Haarfar. Fair hair," Zoey interprets. "Sounds like their leader is blond."

"Harfaar." Wash says. "Is he a shav?" Wash asks, following up on the question by holding up the coin. "Or was he just paid in silver to attack Compact ships?" He sounds proper disgusted by the revelation that they are not just pirates but slavers too. He looks to the captain. "Five ships is doable with our current force. I say we strand these slavers on a nearby island and pick them up when we return. Give them a choice, swim for it, or wait for transport home."

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Zoey before departing.

In between keeping the dog's tail happily wagging, Wash is answered, "A Shav, aye. All the ships are. Blekkors, Haarfars, Bledswerts.. Haven't been to the Saffron yet, but the chief had. Always a buyer in the Saffron. Always."

The Tyde captain nods once to Wash. "If Lord Eswynd agrees, and I doubt he'll object. We take one or two of these-" a thumb toward the prisoners, "Who can lead us back to this.. islet base of theirs. We move quick, before they know this band has gone missing." He doesn't speak to the notion of stranding them.

When people start yapping, Nova calms down on the gauntlet punching into the gloved underside of her opposing hand. She strides forth and picks up the thrown shield which she shakes out, getting off the sand grains.

"Bledswerts, Bloody swords," Zoey quietly tells Wash. She is a linguist, and she is going to put that skill to work!

Acacia stands back as the prisoners start talking. A quiet presence, but very present should anything start going amiss. A little glance to Rowenova is offered and a look of approval before going back to quietly listening in as Zoey and Wash see to getting the information they need.

"That'll do." Wash agrees. "And I'll take command of this ship. It's seaworthy enough. I expect they were sailors as of a month ago. Their weapons are hodge podge compared to their ship. Can each of you spare me four hands to pull an oar?" There is an electric eagerness in Wash's anticipation of once again being in command of his own ship, even a simple longboat. "Don't leave any of their helms or shields here. I have a feeling they could come in handy."

Nova steps back and to the side until she is standing adjacent to Acacia, at least until what Wash says, before she moves to help with taking all the gear which they can load up onto the ship. She seems to be an efficient server, so deftly ferries the equipment into the boat.

A short nod and grunt answer Wash. "Aye, my Lord."

"It's too bad we couldn't think of a way to get a little close to the next ones," Acacia muses looking to the ship and back. The curvy Culler looks thoughtfully at the shop. Moving to Wash she speaks quietly. "If we're looking to get in nice and close next time, how would you feel about a bit of a disguise?" she speaks ever so soflty. "I have an idea."

After all the equipment from the shavs has been set aboard, then Nova goes and picks up Sir Flop, letting the shav pet him one last time before hauling him onto the ship as well then stepping in, herself, and taking up one oar to row when the time for doing so commences.

Rowenova says, "What is your idea, Goodwoman?"

The redhead grins to Nova a little more. "Come with me," she winks and begins to speak softly to the woman.

Nova ultimately relocates herself and Sir Floppington to move with the Culler, doing so with keen interest in what her future plan is.

Wash nods to Acacia. "How do you feel about wearing a dead man's helmet?" He responds suggestively. He is clearly thinking along the same lines.

Acaica speaks so that the prisoners cannot hear, happy to share the idea with Wash and Zoey if they draw close enough.

"A little trick sometimes used. Take their ship and their clothing and armor. Half our crew gets to dress up, the other half poses and prisoners. At a distance they may not realize who we are, and once we get closer, it may be too late. There's things to figure in this, and it might not work for every situation, but worth it to consider. Nothing worse than realizing all yer prisoners are armored under those rags with weapons to bring to bear," she flashes a roguish grin Rowenova's way.

Acacia pauses to reply to Wash, "I've' worn worse," she winks back. "What's your thought?"