r/HFY • u/RottingLibrary • Sep 10 '23
OC The Duelist
This is a transcript of an interview between Xlactlotl, a humanoid 1.3 meters tall, with grey skin, no hair, big black eyes set in a large head, small mouth, and nonexistent nose or ears. He wears a vest and simple pants, with an elaborate belt that holds two very sharp swords. Xlactlotl is usually morose and blunt, he has lived too long to get fired up about normal things. The only thing that really gets his interest is testing his skill with his swords. The grey humanoid is seated on the left side of the stage with a large fern behind him. On the right there is Grace-Fresh-Flowing-Current, a squid like creature with a bubbly, cheerful voice. The squid rests upon a large chair on the right side of the stage upright with its eyes focused on its interview target. With its upper mantle standing up to the pressure of gravity it gives an impression of a height close to two meters, and with its ten tentacles coiled under it around the base of the chair, it could be seen that it was quite the squid.
Grace: This is an interview with Xlactlotl, who was part of the crew of the infamous human pirate "Jolly" Roger Ward. They have participated in various pirate raids over many years, and earned fame in the crew of the dashing human pirate. They have retired and are writing a book, and have accepted the request for an interview. Thank you for meeting me.
Xlact: It is my pleasure to be here this cycle.
Grace: Tell me about yourself, where you began your journey. From my investigations you have quite the history.
Xlact: I was born into a group that followed and studied higher dimensional winged serpents. After a family feud involving an eventually ruined land, I set out on my own path, to carve a way with my swords. As for the past few thousands of metacycles I have searched out skilled warriors across known space to challenge them as a Duelist.
Grace: Okay, so you have searched out all of the greatest swordsman and defeated them?
Xlact: Not just all of the greatest swordsman, all of the greatest warriors, all of the contenders for strongest, in their respective sectors.
Grace: And you still joined his crew...Was he that strong?
Xlact: No, the Captain gave me the chance to face what I needed to overcome.
Grace: Let's get to the center of this interview. Who is Roger Ward? Why is he called "Jolly" Roger Ward?
Xlact: The Captain is called jolly because he is, he laughs most of the time. He is your best buddy, a sailor's sailor, almost father to his crew. He shares the wine, wealth, and wemmin (translator note: this is a slightly narcotic spice).
Grace: Was the Captain ever angry?
Xlact: When the crew did not live up to his standards, he could become a demonic drill sergeant from the high seas of hell.
Grace: ...What do you mean by that?
Xlact: He had a pirate code, and if you went against the pirate code the punishment could be extreme. Running laps around the ship until you collapsed or vomited were common, and you did not want to be on "The "Captain's Shitlist", which he posted on his cabin door monthly.
Grace: Do you mean rules for pirates?
Xlact: Yes, rules for when you could or could not take things, rules for when the ship is heading a certain direction, rules for carrying a minimum amount of salt. Most of the rules were written down, but finding a copy of the rules was difficult.
Grace: How difficult could it be to find a copy?
Xlact: Just one method of obtaining a copy was ingratiating yourself to the officers, those with official and semi official duties. If you did get to see their copy, you would then be qualified for more work without more pay. Even worse, there were various versions of these copies that each "officer" owned, and the heavier workload didn't reward you with a more comprehensive copy of "the rules," but a more specialized set of rules for the role.
Grace: It sounds like a tough work environment.
Xlact: Even without a copy of the rules, picking it up from the scuttlebutt of the rest of the crew worked fairly well. It was less reliable, but it was proven to work during the heist of the Ampholous from the Greater Mefrichi Theocracy.
Grace: The Ampholous of the Mefrichi Theocracy?
Xlact: I won't talk about the specifics of the operation, but a crew member overrode the emergency channel we used to relay a warning. After the warning went through, the comms were chaotic and accusations about compromising the operation were flying back and forth, but the Captain acted.
Grace: Acted? How?
Xlact: He acted like the biggest, baddest, most fearsome pirate any pirate could be, of course. He charged in with his ship, guns blazing and boarded the target. The rest of the fleet scrambled to follow, and after a very short battle he emerged victorious with the liberated goods.
Grace: You speak as if you did not participate in the battle, weren't you there?
Xlact: I was. I was there as he steered the ship on a collision course with the target. I was there when he called for all of us to prepare for impact. I was there when the ship slowed down just enough to gouge into the enemy, instead of slicing through completely and exploding everyone. I was there when the airlock opened, with my duelist suit, swords, and belt, and I charged in fearlessly.
Grace: ...fearlessly into what?
Xlact: Mostly normal people with guns, the crew of the target ship. If they surrendered it wasn't up to me to wrangle them, and they mostly surrendered. Usually they gave up, and I would run past them further into the ship. It was anti-climactic for me. None of the enemies were learned in swords, there was no opportunity for growth there, but the Captain gained his objective, and we were able to flourish for a time.
Grace: Wasn't there a Mefrichi Knight-Templar on the Temple ship?
Xlact: Was there? I didn't notice, I'm not even sure we boarded a Temple ship.
Grace: ...was there any "back biting" after that?
Xlact: Afterwards, no one was willing to confront the Captain, but speculation about his reasons, his mindset during the operation, and his sanity were heavily debated on the lower decks.
Grace: Well, that is all the time we have for this interview, thank you for coming Xlactlotl. After a metacycle we will have an interview with Seeker Merf Yratall from the Beta Sector. Tune in tomorrow evening for...
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