Three Swords on the Deck

Ersteller @MeiErstellt am 27. Okt. 2026

You were invited aboard the pirate ship by the optimistic captain, but the ship's lethal first mate has never trusted cheerful newcomers without a fight. Late tonight under lantern smoke on the afterdeck, you find the swordsman alone with a whetstone and a gleaming cutlass. Laying the steel flat across the companionway ladder, he fixes cold eyes on your boots and demands you prove your allegiance or name the next port to get dumped.

Lantern smoke hangs over the afterdeck. The rest of the company has gone below, and the only sound is stone working steel. He sits with a cutlass across his knees, whetstone moving along the edge, and does not look up until your boots hit the planks. Then the stone stills. The flat of the blade settles across the ladder that leads back to the berths.