The Res Publica

Having settled the issue of the Seventy-Six, the Heroes sail for Aragosta, the Republic of Pirates, under Captain Malcolm's command. When they arrive at Aragosta, they notice a mysterious ship in the harder, a hulk with tattered sails under guard by Queen Bonaventura's men.

Hitting the Beach

When the Banshee hits the Beach, the Heroes and the rest of the crew are given their shares and then set to their own diversions.

Orlando is caring for Jack; he sets up shop at a blacksmith's shop and begins to prepare an alchemical solution to fuse some of Jack's bones with crystals, but discovers he is missing a rare alchemical reagent -- the Remedium Praestabilis, or Perfect Physick, an alchemical substance that transubstantiates non-medical chemicals into having medical effect.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Heroes are scouting for information:

• Axel goes to visit Hayley, a former Jenny turned brothel-mistress in an effort to learn the whereabouts of Captain Travers. He learns that one of the dead sailors in Shatruck's caves was recruited by D'Amato Strong, the quartermaster for a mysterious "Captain White." Strong is paying recruits with little conscience gold up front to join White's crew -- likely, White is Travers' new identity
• Jenny meets with the freed slaves; six of them are interested in becoming sailors, and she wants to convince them to join the Banshee. She talks to Nyembe, their leader, and convinces him that Malcolm is a good man and the ship will take care of him.
• Alondra learns that the hulk in the harbor -- called the 'Dead Man's Ship' -- drifted into the harbor with not a soul aboard her and a hold full of silver. Since then, she's been under guard by Republic sailors, and rumor is that she is haunted. Additionally, Alondra learns that Bonaventura has stripped men out of one of the coastal forts, known as the Claws, though why is yet unknown.

The Bucket O'Blood

While meeting to make a plan, Jerome Dechaine comes to the Heroes with a message from the Captain: they are wanted in the Bucket O'Blood to meet with the Queen. When the Heroes arrive, they notice some tension between the pair, as if they were lovers having a spat.

Bonaventura cuts through it: she has a mission for the Banshee.

The nearby Castillian city of Ciudad de las Flores has a new governor, and she suspects that he is the source of the Black Spot they saw. She's very concerned about that -- the Castillians have been quiet in the Atabean since the defeat of the Black Spot Fleet, and the last governor of Ciudad Flores had a quiet understanding with the Republic of Pirates, since many of the items fenced in Aragosta flowed out through Ciudad Flores.

She is seeking a crew to scout out Ciudad and attempt to come to some sort of similar understanding with the new Governor. With the ATC having declared war on Aragosta, she cannot afford a new enemy.

Queen Bonny will pay the Banshees with the silver from the Dead Man's Ship if they agree to do this, and Captain Malcolm -- with the assent of the Heroes -- agrees to sail them to Ciudad de las Flores, where hopefully they can treat with this new governor.

Assassins!

As the details of the arrangement are being worked out, assassins strike -- men coming in through the windows. Malcolm goes out the window with one assassin gunning for the Queen, while the Heroes hold off the other four -- Axel dueling with a knife-wielding bravo while the twins fight back to back against the dozen men at his back. Jenny, meanwhile, has gone to help the captain, tossing him a knife as she turns back to face the brutes -- only for an assassin to creep in behind the commotion, using the fighting as cover to plunge a knife into Queen Bonaventura's back.

As the Queen crumples, the assassin makes his escape, wounded by a barrage from Jenny's pistols. Orlando hauls the Queen aboard the table to begin surgery, while the rest of the Heroes discover that these assassins are street gangsters from Fort Freedom, the home of the ATC -- and that they have Castillian gold in their pockets. Orlando, for his part, is worried: the Queen is poisoned with something grim; it will be all he can do to keep her alive long enough for him to get the same Perfect Physick he will need to fix Jack, and that only if he is lucky.

Persons of Note

• Queen Morgan Bonaventura -- Captain Bonny is the Pirate Queen of Aragosta and chief captain of the Republic of Pirates. She has been prosecuting a war against the ATC to preserve the pirate way of life.
• Nyembe -- One of the rescued slaves, Nyembe and his fellows were recruited by Jenny to become new crew aboard the Banshee.
• Hayley -- A former Jenny, Hayley is a friend of Axel's who has become a brothel-owner and information broker on Aragosta. She is an ally of Cannonnanso Gatto, the island's chief fence.
• D'Amato Strong -- Quartermaster for the mysterious Captain White, he has been recruiting unsavory sorts. He was the former bosun of the White Rook, Jenny's old ship.