Master Gunner Flintlock Jack

Flintlock Jack / Hotaru Arai
Master Gunner
Ninja

Carousin': 3
Plunderin': 2
Swashbucklin': 5
Wenchin': 2

Background

Raise a glass, me jolly lads, to the greatest crew what sailed the Seven Seas! Led by Captain "Red" Ned Morris, th' rouges and scallywags manning the Jolly Rancher are the finest, the fiercest, and the most shipshape crew in all of creation. Yer exploits are known th' world over, bringing the crew fame an' enough gold to keep you well for a bunch of scurvy seahands. And now you're nearly at th' end of your quest for the Blood Jewel, ye can feel it! Worth thousands of dubloons, ye think it would keep the crew for at least ten years. In celebration of yer continued good fortune, Capt'n Morris has declared tonight a revel, an' while work t' find the Jewel is welcome, this is a night for rum and tobacco. The Capt'n has left the plannin' to his First Mate Nathaniel Teach for the night. So here's t' the Jolly Rancher and her crew; any landlubber or bilge rat what doesn't give you quarter will end up prayin' they be given th' chance t' walk the plank rather than cross ye!

. . . all right, that's enough. Whew! If you can keep that up, no one will be the wiser.

You are Hotaru Arai, the last remaining member of the Fox Clan. Your clan is the passionate clan, most known for its exceptional power, strength and motivation. Sadly, the Foxes were wiped out a decade ago in the Clan Wars. There are rumors that your clan's destruction was due to the Tortoise Clan, but rumors are only that.

In fact, it is possible that you are the only ninja now left alive.

After the Clan Wars you decided to put your skills to other uses. You joined the Jolly Rancher fairly early as their Master Gunman despite not being especially well-trained in firearms of any sort; you were hoping to compliment your previous martial training with something that would help you forget your past for a time. They promised you food, board and training, and you promised them your services. It was just that simple.

Since then, things have gone well. The proud words your captain uses to fire up your crew aren't far from the truth. The crew is first rate, and they live and eat well because of it. The ship is in tip-top shape. Your hearties get along as well as any pirate crew, and work as smartly as a well-oiled machine. Other crews you've run across have either given you quarter or been no real trouble, increasing your bounty and occasionally your crew through recruit, like Tully and Siofra.

Tully . . .

Tully and Siofra were recruited around three years ago after a run-in with the Sky Devil, one of the only ships to challenge yours. In truth the challenge was barely intentional; Captain Morris decided to seek the King's Coffer, the single biggest chest of gold and gems in the East Caribbean. Why the captain decided to go after something so mundane is beyond you. The crew was well-off enough to choose curios and items of interest over riches most of the time. Parley with the Sky Devil was interrupted by a French naval vessel, sparking a conflict that ended with their ship destroyed and the crew thrown overboard. Captain saved Tully and Siofra and brought them on as Lookout and Cooper. (He also picked up a cat around that time, Calico, but that's neither here nor there.)

Tully impresses you a great deal. She is consummately skilled as a lookout and, from what little you have seen of her training, as a fighter. Even in preparation for battle, there is something remarkably composed about her. Pure, almost. She is also quite beautiful, though you have not had the chance to tell her. You have spoken with her a few times about odds and ends during her lookout shifts if you have had nothing else to do. You think, if you had enough time to speak with her, you might have a chance of proving yourself to her.

. . . which is why you are incredibly concerned about her finding out about your dalliance with Siofra.

Yes, it was little other than a mutually enjoyable evening, but you cannot be sure how Tully would react to hearing that you shared a bed with Siofra last night. A liberal amount of grog and Siofra's naturally flirtatious nature made it easy. As romantic as you are, you have never had an easy time with the fairer sex. And if you think that would go over poorly, you can't imagine how she would respond to finding out you stole something from Siofra as well.

It was a trinket, really, nothing of any value. Although something about it seems faintly familiar to you . . . at any rate, you don't know why Edward Blackfellow would want such a thing, and you don't especially care. He had some across a clan heirloom of yours, and wouldn't give it up unless you gave him the amulet. So you slept with Siofra, and stole it while she was resting. It was a transaction, nothing more.

And yet, there's this niggling little feeling in the back of your head that you have brought dishonor to yourself. Feelings are hard enough, especially niggling little ones.

And then there's the matter of the Blood Jewel. Worth thousands of dubloons to the proper buyer, the gold it would garner could secure the crew's future for a decade or put you up for life. But that's not your reason for wanting it. Rumor has it that the Blood Jewel is no jewel at all, but a dragon's egg. If this were the case, and if it were fertilized, secreting it away and having it hatch might be your only chance to keep the ninja clans from dying out entirely. For a ninja clan to be successful it needs to have a powerful kami (or spirit) at the heart of its spiritual focus, and what would be more powerful than a dragon? It would mean creating an entirely new ninja clan from scratch, but there may be few enough ninjas that there would be no one to argue with you over it. If it does turn out to be a dragon's egg, you hope to keep it for yourself. And if that means using your ninja skills, you'll do it, though doing so in public would make it obvious that you're a ninja and possibly draw the attention of others who know of your clans.

But tonight is a night of carousing, a hard-earned reward for your work. As is the Captain's right, he has chosen to spend the night enjoying himself rather than keeping the crew in order, handing over that task to his First Mate, Nathaniel Teach. This doesn't mean that he won't make the final decisions on any important matters, of course, especially about the Blood Jewel. For now, however, we eat, we drink and make merry! Three cheers for the Jolly Rancher and her crew!

Who You Know

• Sam Bellamy - Quiet and thoughtful.
• Edward Blackfellow, Second Mate - A man who's been a leader. Fair but ruthless.
• Calico - The ship's (supposedly talking) cat. The captain found her soon after his encounter with the Sky Devil.
• Grace Duguay, Helmsman - Cheerful and friendly.
• Pele Giggs, Boatswain - A little odd, but good at his job.
• Stede Hawthorne, Quartermaster - A steady, reliable sort.
• Kate Highwater, Sailing Master - Charming but hard to read.
• Thomas Kidd, Cook - A great cook, and a warm and chatty guy.
• Siofra O'Malley, Cooper - A freespirited, personable woman, but you should not have done what you did.
• Lady Charlotte Marlow - A well-to-woman who's taken to piracy. You shared her bed once in a moment of weakness, but she was gone by morning.
• Tully Morgan, Lookout - A woman who knows herself. You do not know how to make up what you have done to her.
• "Red" Ned Morris, Captain - A charismatic, able captain.
• Mary Rackham, Carpenter - A bit of an unknown.
• Bloody Christian Read, Surgeon - As good a doctor as a carouser.
• Nathaniel Teach, First Mate - A smart, learned man.

Abilities

• Fire Artist - You can make things appear as though they are on fire. The fire may appear as you choose, including color, height, etc. While this effect is purely cosmetic, it is pretty darn rockin'.
• Fire Warrior - Once per combat, you may throw bomb for any action that involves an aggressive action. Because this attack takes some preparation, this attack may not be used until the third turn of combat. This power may be used in concert with others; feel free to ask the GM if it is an appropriate circumstance.
• Smoke Dancer - You can perform some of the specialized concealment tricks ninjas are known for. So long as you have a smoke bomb in your possession, you may use it as a special ability in a turn of combat to ignore one successful throw of Rock Paper Scissors against you in matters of escape only. (In other words, you can use it to escape that turn even if one person beats you in RPS that turn.)

Items

• Clan Medallion - A copper pendant in the shape of a wedge with the Japanese symbol for Fire embossed.