Round One Lynch: Down once more!

Cristo steered the Quillette past the pitiful remains of the Catfish with a smile on his face. Perhaps he was the one who caught that particular cat and perhaps he wasn't but all that really mattered was that there was one less person racing towards the prize. In a flat out race there was no way his ship would win, sure it was deceptively fast for its size but there were far fleeter things on the water. The Captain of the Quillette knew that he'd have to come out first by some keen cunning and misdirection.

As he was considering his next plan of action, a call from the crow's nest alerted him that there was a ship coming up from the stern. Cristo pulled out the spyglass and grimly took note of his follower, not a ship that he recognized. He called for more sheet and hoped the wind was with him. His crewman called again, Another ship had fallen in beside the first, and then another.

“What in ze name of all that is sacred is this?”

The French captain began ordering his men to secure the deck and prepare for potential battle. Cristo planned to use some fancy maneuvers to allow him to escape impending doom.

“Sail Ho!” The sailor within the crow's nest shouted again.

“Mon Dieu! Have they nothing better to do?” Cristo spared the time for a brief glare at the oncoming ships before getting down to the business of steering his beloved Quillette. His plan was to lose them in the turbulent waters that lay ahead to the north but he could not appear to be heading straight for them or the other ships would try to cut off his escape and herd him away. He had seen the sails of what lay behind him and Cristo knew that they were remaining there by will alone, at any time a few could easily over take him.

Tacking cleverly eastward,the Frenchman, veered more and more towards the waters that spelled doom for the unwary navigator. Surely, he would not need to brave more than the edge of them to fend off his pursuers.

And yet as Cristo reached the abyss still they came. Several ships, braver or perhaps more foolhardy than the others, shot forward coming nearly even with the Quillette. They herded the great ship towards the swirling waters; it was then that Cristo realized the error he had made. THEY had planned this! All along he was meant to reach this place. The ocean would take him without a shot being fired!

“Zey fear me! That is something at least!” Cristo grimaced fiercely as he struggled at the helm.

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The Quillette might have been more than a match for many ships but she could not triumph against the sea herself. The whirlpool claimed another soul for her collection.