HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Tavern

    All three of us sat back down in the tavern, pulling chairs up to the table and sitting like knights used to.
    "So what's your name?"
    She looked up at me, her golden eye looking directly into my soul. As I looked right at her, I noticed that there was a shine that I had seen a lot from the people of Los Angelos. I knew she didn't trust me, at least not yet.
    "Can you buy me some food first?" She asked.
    "Yeah, sure," I said, holding the bag of coins.
    I pulled out the golden coin that I had found, and then, when the girl saw it, her eyes widened.
    "Where did you find that?" She asked.
    "It washed up on the shore."
    "It's a drachma!' She whispered to me. "If it's real."
    "I'm pretty sure it's real."
    I looked at the coin, but it had changed. This time, there was no ship on the back. Instead, there was a screaming face of a woman with long flowing hair.
    "Well, there is a way to check it, but you need to cover your ears." She said.
    "Why?"
    She gave me a weird look.
    "Just do it."
    I did as she said and covered my ears, and she grabbed a candle off the table and then held the coin over the candle.
Immediately, a blue wisp of smoke came from the coin, forming the shape of the screaming woman, and then, it shrieked. The coin screamed so loud that it forced everyone in the tavern, even Big Lady, to cover their ears. I pressed my hands against my ears hard enough that I also could feel myself crushing them, and, as if she had gotten her point across, she pulled the coin away from the flame.
    "What the hell was that?" I yelled over the jeering of the tavern.
    "It's a damned soul, trapped in the coin. If the coin is damaged, the soul screams, and if it's destroyed, like melted, it explodes."
    "Oh, that's nice to know."
    Suddenly, Big Lady came over to us with a pencil and a note in her hand.
    "What do y'all want for food?"
    "Uh, just bread and smoked salmon," I said. "Do you guys have water?"
    "Yeah, we got that, ale, whiskey, and rum."
    "I'll take water," I said.
    I turned to the Storyteller.
    "Just bread. No drink." He said.
    I turned to the girl, and she smiled at Big Lady.
    "I'll take a lamb, a side of bread, and then, a rum and an ale."
    I stared at her incredulously
    "Are you an alcoholic?"
    "A little bit."
    "That's not a little bit." The Storyteller said. "That's gonna kill you."
    I shook off that depressing comment, then looked her in her heterochromatic eyes.
    "So now that I've made sure you're not starving anymore, what's your name?"
    "I'm Senchou." She said. "Captain of the Houshou Pirates. Well, I'm the last of them."
    "Did they all die?"
    "No they're alive, but I was the victim of a vicious mutiny. My second mate, Mr. Rodrick Ackner, led a mutiny against me when another pirate paid them enough money."
    The Storyteller immediately looked up, and Senchou looked over at him, a little bit freaked out.
    "What was the pirate's name?"
    "He didn't tell me." She replied. "He just tied my first mate Jansen and I together and tossed us right off the ship."
    "What happened after that?" I said.
    "Well, we washed up on an island about ten kilometers from here, and we survived until we bought our way onto a merchant ship that had anchored at the island for a bit of hunting. And thankfully, they were nice enough to drop us off here."
    "And what happened to your eye?" The Storyteller asked. "Are they both supposed to be red, or both gold?"
    "Oh, they're supposed to be red, but I got cursed with the Eye of Claritos."
    "Clari-what?"
    "Claritos. It's the curse of the Eye Of Claritos. It's why my eye is golden. I touched some treasure that wasn't meant to be touched, and then I got the curse put on me."
    "Is that why you were thrown in the mud?" The Storyteller asked bluntly.
    "No, I caused a nuisance."
    "So what was the curse? Like, the Eye of whatever."
    "The Eye of Claritos." She corrected. "It's a curse that made my eye disappear right out of the socket and then it replaced it with this one. The good part is that I can seek out treasure easily, but the bad part is that my greed usually gets the best of me."
    "'The best of you'? What does that mean?" I asked.
    "Well, sometimes I get in trouble for grabbing cursed treasure because I just can't help it. The shine is so pretty." She said. "And the smell. The allure of the gold..."
    I noticed that she was staring at the coin pouch on the table, and then, I grabbed it and put it on the seat next to me.
    "Sorry about that." She said. "I just lost myself for a moment there."
    I opened my mouth to say something, but, I was cut off by the Big Lady, as she came over to our table, holding a large tray that had plates with our food on top. She set the tray down, then set dishes right in front of us, and once she was done, I paid her and she left us alone to eat. I took in a large breath, smelling the steaming salmon and garlicky bread, and I have to admit, for a ragtag pirate town, it smelled incredible. I looked at the Storyteller, who was digging into his bread, and so I grabbed a dagger off the table and cut the fish open, and took a bite. The smoked salmon was delicious, and when it was eaten with garlic bread, it made a weirdly amazing combination, and it fueled me to get down to business.
    "We need a ship," I said.
    The comment seemed to catch her off guard.
    "A ship?" She asked. "You're looking at the wrong person. As I said, I was the victim of a vicious mutiny. Mr Ackner sailed right away with my ship, without a second thought."
    "So you have no ship?" I asked.
    "Aye, that's about the gist of it." She said. "Although, with that drachma, YOU can get a nice, big, and beautiful ship."
    "What about a captain? And a crew?" I said.
    "Crews are cheap here. Everyone wants to get out to sea. As for a captain, you're looking at one!"
    "I'm looking at a drunkard." The Storyteller said.
    She gave him a dirty look, but he held the stare, not backing down most slightly. Finally, Senchou backed down, with a scared look on her face.
    "You're friend here is a little scary." She said.
    "Yeah, just pay him no mind. Anyway, where do we find a ship and a crew?"
    "Well, I can show you the place, but it's better to get there in the morning. It's already almost night, and you don't wanna be out there in the dark." Senchou replied.
    "Okay, so where do we find a room?"
    "We can find one here in the tavern. Upstairs, they usually lodge people for a fee. Is that okay?"
    "Sure thing," I replied.
Senchou grabbed the rum and the ale, put both of them to her lips, and took a big long swig from them. We all finished eating and drinking, with me joking around with Senchou and the Storyteller looking at the tavern nervously. Once we were done, and Senchou was THOROUGHLY drunk, she wobbled up from her seat, wiped her beer-soaked lips, and grabbed my arm.
    "Get us a rrrestroom for tonight. We can get everrything in the morrrrning." She slurred.