Cydra: the Early Years

[the Jester]

Now Begin the Tales of the Pirates

Now begin the tales of the pirates.

We'll not call them our heroes any longer; that appellation we'll save for another group that will coalesce presently.

Now we shall call them the pirates.

Aboard the Sea Hag, sailing back to the Aquan Pyramid, closely pursued- though they knew it not, yet- by Elcruche and his cronies, the pirates' first agenda was to elect a captain.

"Not me," Urick said emphatically. Haart only gurgled.

"I, uh, want to keep a low profile," Rajah muttered.

Not the ship's tail, no way. That left, pretty much, Lyr. So Lyr it was- harpoon in hand, evil grin raked across her bloodstained lips. A fitting captain for a bloodthirsty crew.

"What are we going to do about Dexter?" Chanti demanded.

"Nothing," Lyr answers. "We're going to steer clear of him for now. He's trouble."

"Nothing? But captain-!" Farenth, whose ultimate role has not yet revealed itself, exclaims.

"I SAID WE'RE STEERING CLEAR!!" Captain Lyr shouted. "As Captain, when I make a decision, I expect it to not be questioned!"

"Aye, cap'n," Farenth muttered, cowering back. "I apologize." Black hate burned in the Bleakist's heart.

Back to the Aquan Pyramid, and the pirates ascended again to the entrance atop the structure, leaving most of the hirelings back in the Hag. A new hire, Coric Left, was brought along for extra muscle. Starfish, dried out by the sun, clung to the outside of the massive edifice. The whole had a weird, otherworldly look to it, emphasized by the wet silt and things of the sea lying about the interior.

Down, down the party went, back to the room where they had vanquished the shadows. A single passage led from it ending, some 15’ outside of the room, in a door.

“I got it,” Coric said arrogantly, swinging the door open and triggering a rather amusing trap. The door slammed down on him, pinning him to the ground. “Urk!” he cried, struggling to get free.

Beyond the door, tentacles writhed. There was a violent flurry of motion as what must have been two dozen weapons whip around and then blood was flying everywhere!

“Takos!” cries Rajah as a sword slashed open his arm.

There were four of them- octopus-like, yet clearly capable of surviving outside of the water. Each held seven weapons and reserved a single tentacle to anchor itself. Axes, spears, tridents, daggers, swords, clubs, even a net were brought to bear against the pirates!

The sounds of Urick casting spells were followed by the blossom of a burning hands spell. One of the tentacled monstrosities skittered back for a moment, changing from yellow to red in color, then slithered back at the elven wizard. Rajah helped lever the door from Coric’s body and the half-elf hireling struggled up and drew his sword. He and Rajah leapt into the fray together!

A spear shaft splintered against Haart’s parry, then the jawless gnome sprang in and delivered a lethal blow to one of the takos. Though Urick was laid low by a swing of a club, the other takos fell swiftly as well, and the pirates bandaged the wizard and set his body safely off to the side for the moment.

“I bet the other doors are trapped,” Coric said, still smarting from the door. “Which way are we going?”

Lyr indicated a door on the opposite side of the room; the chamber had several exits. Coric knelt before it, carefully inspected it, and set to work with a grin. In a few moments, he declared it disabled.

“Open it, then,” Lyr commanded.

Through the door was another chamber, carved with bas-reliefs.

“Some kind of island scenery,” commented Rajah.

“Hey, another door,” Coric said. “Come on, I’ll lead.” Lyr frowned in annoyance. Subversive behavior already!

Behind the door was a hallway that led about 15’ before opening up into a chamber holding an eight-foot diameter hot pink anemone.

“Whoa,” breathed Rajah.

Haart gurgled and shook his head in frustration.

The anemone’s tentacles waved lazily in the air for a moment- then reached out to touch Rajah, almost caressingly. He screamed and spasmed, jerking back.

”It wants to steal our minds!” he cried.

The party drew and attacked. The brain anemone never even had a chance; it started to plead for mercy telepathically, but Lyr stabbed it viciously with her harpoon and cut off its mental cries.

”Nobody messes with us,” she snarled savagely.

Another door, another hallway, another room. This time, Coric didn’t find the trap in time, and Lyr fell as a section of the floor twisted sideways. She landed ten feet below on a bed of spikes, giving a pained yelp. “Dammit!” she roared as the others dropped a rope down.

Coric snickered.

Another door led to an L shaped hallway. Taking the shorter branch, the group found themselves in a room with a strange raised pedestal, about 7’ square, made of marble. Atop it was some sort of skeleton with a long copper spike driven through the sternum.

“Hmm. Nobody touch it,” Lyr commanded.

Bypassing the pedestal, the group opened another door and found themselves looking into a room containing a huge pool of mud at least 30’ long and 10’ wide.

And moving.

Slowly, figures rose from the mud, one after another, hurling chunks of oozing wet earth at the party. Five, ten, fifteen, finally twenty mud creatures pulled themselves out and joined the attack! But Lyr, Rajah, Coric and Haart were not to be underestimated. Harpoon and fist, sword and shield, they stood fast and laid low the stumbling mudlings coming at them. In but a few moments it was over, but by this time the villains were all fairly wounded.

”All right, it’s time to rest,” Lyr declared. “We’ll set watches. Rajah, go grab Urick; I don’t want him in another room while we’re holed up.” The man springs away to go do his captain’s bidding. Soon the group has made a little camp in the cleaner parts of the mud room, and as Haart takes up the first watch the others drift into the realms of sleep.

Meanwhile, outside the Pyramid, the Sea Hag has had a problem, and his name is Elcruche.

“Are they all securely bound?” the half-elf asks. He wears his blonde hair long and loose. He wears a white shirt with long, loose sleeves; a grey vest over it; and a cloak on his back.

“Yes, sir,” Brandon, the expedition’s priest, answered.

“Good. And the target is inside the Pyramid?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s go,” Elcruche said, pulling on his gauntlets.


Next Time: Rajah’s pursuers catch up to the pirates!

 

[Lela]

Hmmmm, new heros?

 

[the Jester]

Elcruche vs. Rajah (round 1)

Moving carefully, Elcruche followed the party’s tracks. They were close. He could almost smell the whelp.

‘Rajah,’ indeed.

The thief Roger returned to the group, stepping from the shadows. They’re resting, he signed to Elcruche in the secret sign language of the WIS.

Elcruche likewise used the sign language to disperse his troops. Then he motioned to the cleric, Brandon, who grinned wickedly and stepped up behind him as the half-elf leader of Rajah’s pursuers stepped out to address the villains who’s story we’ve been following.

“Surrender!” Elcruche called, his voice clear. “And we will treat you well! We only want the one you call Rajah!”


A room away, the pirates stirred and startred into wakefulness. Haart, on watch, grunted and gurgled in distress; he didn’t see anything! But now- now there’s a half-elf in what looks like elfin chain and a human in dark plate and mail, leading a group of soldiers towards them!

“The crew!” Lyr cried. “What have you done to them?”

“They are yet safe,” Elcruche said calmly. “Do not make us slay you. Give us the boy.”

Rajah’s eyes were wide with fear. These were the men who tried to capture him- why, he did not know. Was it because he was raised by tigers? More pertinent- would these pirates hand him over?? His eyes darted to Lyr, calculating the odds that he could take her if she did, then to Haart, wondering if he could count on his aid in this fight.

“Screw you,” said Lyr sharply. “Rajah’s a valuable member of my pirate crew.”

Elcruche’s gauntlets tensed as he pulled forth his blade. “So be it.”

The fight was awkwardly one-sided. The pirates were not rested or prepared; they were short spells and powers. They put up a good fight, but it was immediately obvious that they were outclassed. Elcruche leapt forward to prick Rajah in the leg as his soldiers surged forward. Haart gurgled as he put up his best defense, trying to hew through Elcruche’s elite Wotan Intelligence Service troops. He dropped one, then another, while Rajah backpedaled.

“You won’t escape me again, boy,” Elcruche said coldly, a smile on his lips.

“I’ve learned some new tricks,” Rajah replied, and suddenly a dimension door opened behind him. Before Elcruche could react, Rajah dove back through it! Taking advantage of a momentary confusion on the part of Rajah’s hunters, most of the party followed suit, except for Haart, who gave his life in a last stand to hold off Elcruche and his cronies from the dimdoor.* Then the door closed as Haart died in a hail of blows.


*This may not be exactly how this happened in-game; it's been eleven years, fer goshsakes! Anyway, Haart died either in this fight or by drowning immediately after (you'll see next time ).

Next Time: Where did Rajah take the party??

 

[Lela]

Hmmm, I'm going with Rajah taking them somewhere near water.

Was Dimension Door more than an Instantanious spell in 2nd edition?

 

[the Jester]

It was psionic... he could hold it open, I think as long as he concentrated on it or something? (Prolly the rest of the party dashed through first or something? Or maybe a rules gaffe on my part...)

Hm, you make me wanna dig out my 2e PsiHB.

 

[the Jester]

Escape from Elcruche!

Elcruche let his lip curl up in a half-smile.

“He got away again,” Brandon said, his penchant for pointing out the obvious once again serving him well.

Elcruche turned away angrily. “Back to the ship! We’ll keep an eye out for their exit. They don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Unless they’ve already gotten back to their boat,” Brandon pointed out.

“You saw how they fight.” Elcruche sneers.

***

Splash!

Rajah was in the sea! Turning, tossing waves were spinning him...

Air! Then: Did the others make it?

Treading water, shaking his long hair from his eyes, Rajah looked around. The boat, over there, had clearly been taken. The ship that his pursuers piloted was near the Sea Hag; it was obvious that the pirate vessel had been boarded and, barring a miracle, taken. His friends were around him in the water- all except Haart...

Oh, no, thought Rajah- His armor! Even if he did make it through the dimension door, he’ll sink like a stone! But there was no time to worry about that right now; the fact that Elcruche would be coming out of the pyramid and after him in just a few minutes was what he had to worry about. What could he do? Could they retake the Sea Hag? Even if they could, they’d get destroyed by Elcruche’s ship. Rajah frowned as he desperately turned over his options.

A dolphin popped its head up above the water.

Lyr cried out, “A good omen!” Then a sleek, greyish-silver skinned humanoid head broke the surface as well- a merellin.

“Hello,” he called, with laughter in his voice. “I am Akakathan Dundian! Who are you folks, and why are you swimming here?”

“I’m Lyr,” cried the captain of the pirates. “Can you help us? Very bad people have taken over our ship and are after us! Can you help us escape?”

“Perhaps,” the merellin replied. “Why are these bad people after you?”

“That’s a very good question.” Lyr looked hard at Rajah.

”I don’t know!” he protested. “They’ve been after me for a while, but I don’t know why! I don’t know anything about how all this stuff works! Sometimes I just want to go back to the jungle with the tigers!” His voice was full of frustration.

One of the dolphins spoke in a high, squealing staccato and Akakathan responded in kind; then the merellin announced, “We will help you.”

***

Elcruche reached the top of the pyramid without incident. He saw no sign of the whelp anywhere. Frowning, he posted four men at the entrance in case ‘Rajah’ was still inside the Aquan Pyramid; then he returned to his ship. The lookout told him that nobody’s emerged from the pyramid other than his team.

“Unfortunate,” Brandon smirked. “The Emperor will not appreciate your failure.”

Elcruche shrugged. “I have not failed, I simply have not succeeded yet.”

“The Emperor may not see it that way. He is not always known for being... forgiving.”

“The Emperor does not forgive disloyalty,” Elcruche says frankly. “My loyalty is absolute and unwavering. He knows this and has absolute confidence on me. The unfortunate thing,” he continues coldly, “would be for him to suspect that someone was not fully supporting my mandated mission. Especially someone who, by law, should be executed for matters of religion alone.” He stares Brandon in the eye. “Do not think you can put me at a disadvantage, Bleakist. I am a trusted officer of Imperial Wotan, while you are a mercenary allowed to serve in exchange for your continued survival. The Emperor is wise enough to know the difference. You are a blunt tool with few uses, for you have no subtlety. I can go anywhere and do anything, given the time and the tools, for I am versatile. Do not overestimate yourself.”

Brandon bites back his reply. “Yes, sir,” he answers with a smirk.

“Now remove yourself from my sight.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

It’s a long journey to Undemin, especially by dolphin, but it’s the closes isle with reasonable amounts of habitation. The party is deposited on smaller islets for rest periods, while their dolphin and merellin escorts fish for them all.

“We are very grateful,” Urick says sincerely.

The dolphins chatter at the group.

“When we get a new ship,” Lyr says, “we’re going to name it after your leader.”

The head dolphin grins. She chortles.

“Her name is Twikwakikikak,” Akakathan tells them.

Undemin finally comes, and Akakathan- moved by the growing camaraderie he’s felt with the group- asks if he might join them for a time. “Sure!” Lyr cries. “We’ll need some replacements for the crew we lost.”

“We need to return to Yafall and let the crew know what happened, too,” Urick points out.

And so they set out to restore their fortunes, which were looking so good but suddenly went so poorly. They learn more of Rajah’s tale- he remembers nothing of his very early youth; only the jungle and the tigers that raised him, and occasionally a glimpse of a mysterious figure, half-elf and half-tiger and incalculably old.

“About two years ago some people found me,” he told the party, “and they tried to take me into civilization. But then that group appeared- they wanted to cage me, I don’t know why. I’ve been on the run from them ever since.”

Lyr scowls. “Sounds like something to put on your ‘need to know’ list.”

“No kidding.”


Next Time: The pirates go to the fabled Isle of Courage!

 

[the Jester]

A New Ship

Our heroes set sail in their new vessel, the Twikwakikikak. They had hired on a skeleton crew, and now they planned to recover whatever remains of their lair and their band of pirates.

I hope we do better this time around, Lyr thought glumly. Our first journey with me as captain and we lose the ship... curse it!

The hideout was still there, and the men were still there as well, in good spirits for the most part. They had done well by themselves over the winter, and Lyr was heartened that they’d kept the faith without word from their captain. The news of Malford and Dexter’s betrayal, Galliger’s death and the subsequent loss of the ship set the whole group to murmuring among themselves, and within the day of the group’s return the half-elf Coric started subtly trying to raise support among the crew for a mutiny. Lyr had already begun plans for a new expedition.

“We’re going to get as far from known waters as we can,” she told Urick privately. “We’re getting away from Rajah’s chasers, from any kind of further attacks from Dexter, from all of it. We’re going to go to Pesh, maybe even further east.”

Urick nodded. “There may be some interesting things to look at along the way,” he said laconically. “The Isle of Courage, perhaps.”

“What’s that?” Lyr cocked her head in interest.

“It’s said that monsters appear out of thin air there,” the elven wizard informed her. “Very mysterious- nobody’s ever figured out how it works. Sometimes they vanish, too. There isn’t much in the way of civilization there; it’s too dangerous to live somewhere where an umber hulk might appear in the kitchen.”

“Hm, might be a good opportunity to kill something, find a little treasure, raise some morale,” Captain Lyr mused. And eat some hearts, she added inwardly.

So it was that the Twikwakikikak sailed for Pesh by way of the Isle of Courage. The Isle, a reasonably large chunk of rock covered with a thin soil that allowed only the hardiest shrubs and grasses to thrive, was caught in a gloomy, think fog that obscured the land beyond about sixty yards. Weak sunlight made the grasses glisten as if covered in dew.

Lyr, Urick and Akakathan went exploring for a few miles. Urick, tired of running out of spells all the time, came loaded with flasks of volatile oil. “I wonder if we’ll see any of these monsters that appear out of nowhere,” the elven mage commented.

They followed a series of ripples in the landscape up to a small plateau. Stubby oaks seemed to be barely surviving on this bitter isle. The fog had closed in a bit, cutting visibility to about a hundred feet. Still, the alert win the battle, and the pirates were certainly on the look out; thus, they noticed the lumbering ogre emerging from the mist before it noticed them, and without speaking they immediately agreed that an attack was in order. While Urick scrambled into the branches of a stunted oak Lyr readied her harpoon and Akakathan prepared his sword.

The ogre first noticed them when Lyr’s harpoon suddenly landed in his meaty pectoral with a chuk. The ogre yelped and roared, swiveling his low-browed head to look at the adventurers, then charging forward. A magic missile zipped in from the tree, blasting the ogre, and Lyr (wielding an axe, now) and the merellin danced around it, slashing and slicing.

The ogre roared, swinging its huge club, and knocked Lyr aside. It turned and roared again, ready to strike Akakathan down, when hot flaming oil splattered all over its face from above. The monster gave out a high screech, batting at the flames, as Lyr and Akakathan scrambled back out of the way. In the branches about ten feet above the ground, Urick lit another flask and determinedly threw it, catching the ogre in the torso and legs! Flames licked hungrily at the bestial creature as it spun comically and patted at itself, trying to extinguish the sticky flames.

Then- disaster! With a howl of despair, the ogre reached up and grabbed a mighty handful of Urick’s chest, pulling the elf down and crushing him to its fiery body. Urick’s eyes widened in fear and his last breath hissed out as he realized what was about to happen.

The flasks of oil, strapped all over his body, ignited, and in seconds he was a blazing inferno. Thankfully, he didn’t survive more than a few seconds. Nor did the ogre, of course.

Lyr sank to her knees. Another of her men, gone. Her face was fierce with anger and remorse. Damn it! It’s the price of leadership, feeling like this.

Shortly, she and Akakathan took what remains they could for burial at sea.



Next Time: Vosh the Centaur!

 

[Lela]

YAY VOSH!!!!!!!!!

I realy hope that's a PC.

 

[the Jester]

Enter Vosh the Centaur

Vosh the Centaur, green haired and happy in the sunlight, regarded the strangers as they approached him. Their faces were streaked with grief.

His was full of wonder. He had come to be not so long ago, and... existence! Sunlight! Feeling! It was all new. All his experiences were new and fresh, and he greeted everything with child-like wonder.

The party of pirates made his acquaintance. Vosh the druid. He healed a few wounds for them; which, of course, brought to mind the fact that they didn’t have a healer, really.

The next step was obvious; Vosh was invited to join the crew. Sailing? Traveling somewhere else? He’d never even thought of such a thing before! He was overjoyed at the opportunity. Though it required a few days to build him a cabin- he was larger than a human or elven crew member, after all- the Twikwakikikak soon departed the Isle of Courage, course set for Pesh.

The halfling cook, Bilbo, approached Lyr quietly a few days along the way. Clutching at her arm, Bilbo fearfully took her into her cabin.

“What is it?” Captain Lyr demanded.

“It’s Farenth,” the cook whispered. “He wanted me to poison you!”

Grimly, Lyr gathered Rajah, Coric and Vosh. Then he sent Urlah, one of their pirates, to get Farenth. When he arrived, he started at the wall of hostile faces before him.

“Yes, captain?” he asked.

“You tried to persuade Bilbo to poison me,” she said without preamble.

Farenth hesitated. She’s going to kill me, he thought. Bitch. Well, we’ll just have to see if I can talk my way out of this- I certainly can’t fight my way out. And there’s no point in lying- clearly I was wrong when I thought I had that little halfling worm intimidated. Well, well. Another score to settle. Now, what can I say to keep her from killing me? He nodded in answer to Lyr’s statement. “For the good of the ship.”

Lyr looked at him in surprise. “The good of the ship! You don’t poison the captain for the good of the ship! Explain yourself!”

The fool’s going to let me off alive, Farenth realized immediately, if only I can give her a good enough reason. Her faith is weak. She should kill me and eat my heart. Well, well- maybe I’ll have the chance to kill her and eat hers instead! Aloud, he said, “Surely you agree that the circumstances surrounding the death of Galiger, if not Malford as well, were very suspicious. We should have tracked down Dexter and killed him, and found out what happened. Failing that- well. There’s an old Peshan saying: to find the killer of the king, see who inherits the crown.” He frowned. “If I was wrong, I apologize. I-“

“Oh, what a crock!” Coric scoffed. “We should kill him right now.” He drew his sword with a hissing sound.

“No,” Lyr commanded. “We’ll put him off at the next island we stop on, but we’re not going to kill him. He was trying to work for the good of the ship, even if he was misguided. I can’t kill him for trying to look out for the ship.”

Coric snarled and slammed his sword back into its scabbard. He stalked out without another word.

“As for you,” Lyr said to Farenth, “get to your cabin. Stay there. I’ll tell you when you can come out.”

With a nod, Farenth turned and left. Fool! he exulted. I will see you all dead!

If only he knew how close to right he was.

They reached Pesh after a few weeks and set to a variety of tasks. The first was pushing Farenth off the boat almost but not quite violently. He nearly ran down the gangplank.

Coric Left purchased a supply of yaksha wood, strong and supple, for construction into a bow built to his strength. Vosh purchased some golden clippers. Lyr got the magic skull fully identified at last, learning its charges. The group set aside a few days to wander into the Spicewoods in the hopes of finding something interesting going on, and though they saw a panoply of spices, herbs, flowers and trees, they saw no trouble on the first two days of the trip. The heady smell of the Spicewoods hung in the air like a mix of nutmeg, honey and cinnamon.

The third day, as they crossed a small glen surrounded by cinnamon trees, they stumbled into a trio of weird snake-men. A quick and lethal battle ensued, with Coric, Vosh and Lyr triumphing quickly and efficiently. They profited from the fight, and using the money the yuan ti had they were able to finish outfitting and resupplying the ship as well as pay handsome bonuses to the men.

Lyr was determined to travel far to the east. “Strogass,” she said. “Ultimately. It will take us a while to get there, though. But I’ve managed to purchase maps here that show the way. There’s a big reach of empty territory, but there are also a lot of satellite islands around Strogass.” She pointed her finger at an island on the map. “That’s our next stop. Apolex. We’ll leave in three more days, once the final supplies arrive and are lashed in to the hold.”

Coric is the last one with any Peshan business; he does a job for the guildmaster thief of Pesh City, retrieving an onyx egg from a safe. Then the ship sets sail for Apolex.


Next Time: Piracy!

 

[the Jester]

Piracy and Disaster!

En route to Apolex the pirates performed their first act of blatant, out and out piracy. They attacked a merchant vessel in cold blood and overwhelmed it in short order, helping themselves to a sizable heap of booty in trade goods and coin. Unfortunately, their attack so damaged the vessel that they could not successfully steal that as well. Most of her crew they put to death (and in several instances, Lyr ate some hearts). However, one of the crewmen, named Paynim, elected to join the pirates in return for his life.

Which was just as well; they needed all the hands they could get aboard to stave off the attack that came a few days later.

Perhaps they were drawn by the blood clinging to the Twikwakikikak’s hull; perhaps they’d been following for quite some time. Either way, as dusk descended on the ship the sharks started to be in evidence; and just before midnight the devil men of the deep started clambering stealthily aboard the ship.

Sahuagin, scourge of the sea; enemies of the Sea Queen, followers of Sekolah, the Great Shark; the single greatest danger to land-dwellers who ventured away from the safety of their isles and continents.

The battle erupted suddenly, when Vosh spotted one of the sea devils hauling itself over the rail and onto the deck. The centaur shouted an alarm and lunged forward, his hooves smashing the sahuagin back and over the side. The men came to a state of alertness with the uncanny speed of sailors, staggering out on deck shaking the sleep from their eyes.

What ensued was a terrible bloodbath. Chanticleer hewed about her with her sword, dark blood coating her from head to foot, a growing pile of sahuagin around her and several of the crew guarding her back. Akakathan and Lyr stood back to back as well, jabbing with their harpoons. The crew fought in knots, trying to force the devil men of the deep back over the side, but it was too late to keep the deck free of them, and there were too many!

The deck grew slippery with blood as elf, human and sahuagin alike fell into death’s clutches. Finally, the last sahuagin was slain, and Lyr looked around at what remained of her crew.

Not much, truly.

Only a few had survived. Barely a skeleton crew.

In her cabin, Lyr poured over what maps of the region she had. “There,” she murmured, “we’ll stop in Dyshim.” She frowned. If only I had any idea of what it’s like! But in any event, we need crew badly, now- another attack like that could destroy us.

Meanwhile, on deck, Coric Left thought, This is just perfect! After this debacle, the crew’s bound to be ready to get rid of Captain Lyr! And it’s my perfect opportunity to step in and take over! His gaze lingered on the villainous Chanticleer, wondering if she could be counted on for aid.

Chanti was singing her newest composition:

”I fight in the service of the bold priests of Bleak
To purge all the light from the land
From the nethermost desert to the snow-covered peaks
In the name of the Dark One I’ll stand!!

Bleak! Bleak! Bleak! Bleak!
The meek shall shriek when they hear him speak!
The weak are freaked by his mystique!
Yea, he’s dark and he’s wicked, he’s evil and mean,
He’s one hell of a devilish and cold-blooded fiend!

The name of my Master will cover the earth
And enslave everyone he can find
He’ll rid the dimension of laughter and mirth
And rape your soul and you heart and your mind!!

Bleak! Bleak! Bleak! Bleak!
The meek shall shriek when they hear him speak!
The weak are freaked by his mystique!
Yea, he’s dark and he’s wicked, he’s evil and mean,
He’s one hell of a devilish and cold-blooded fiend!”

Then she sighed, missing Galiger terribly.


Next Time: Mutiny!!