Hood
Having returned to Sargasso, the group find Mr Mattay and their ship in port - as is Tamanak. They sneak onto the Vixen to speak to Mattay, who explains that he returned to Sargasso because it is a truce town, and to hire a new crew, but Tamanak has spread rumours that the Vixen is a cursed ship. "Nothing is as gossipy and superstititious as a sailor", and no-one wants to sign up for the cursed crew. The loss of 30+ lives on the island won't help things, either.
Mattay charges the group, the only members of the crew Tamanak doesn't know are in town, to find some way to either win a big prize for the Vixen, or to discredit Tamanak so that his rumours no longer hold weight. This provokes a long discussion about options. Morgana wants to look for high-paying work. Drummond wants to poison and/or knife a bunch of people, though how he's going to get away with it isn't do clear. Brentoph is against any plan that sounds risky ... which is all of them.
Eventually, they decide to turn to Hood, the most experienced and mysterious of the other pirate captains. Hood, who is not at all creepy, agrees to held the Vixen against Tamanak: in exchange for Tamanak's ship, almost all of Tamanak's treasure, and an unspecified future favour. The group agrees, after Morgana is assured that the favour will not involve any harm to innocents.
The plan: the Vixen will flee Sargasso, making for the Coral Isles. Tamanak will pursue, and once the two ships engage, Hood and his vessel, the Hangman, will join the fray, ambushing Tamanak.
Battle of the Coral Isles
Hood sneaks his crew members aboard. They're led by Chell, a human woman whose tusk-like canines indicate she has a tinge of orcish blood to her. Mattay consults with her, and they agree to a high risk plan: rapid engagement with Tamanak's crew in hand to hand combat. This will limit the damage to the Vixen, which Mattay cannot afford to repair, though it is likely to cost more lives. The island survivors are given the toughest role: to engage Tamanak himself.
The plan is then put into action. Brentoph somehow conspires to vanish, leaving Fafnir, Morgana and Drummond to carry the fight with Tamanak. It's a brutal contest. Several of Tamanak's crew are killed by the group's spells and blades, but finally the enemy begins to overwhelm them ...
... and then Hood's ship arrives. Tamanak and his remaining crew are quickly overwhelmed. Hood congratulates Mattay on the courage of his crew. Then he kills the former first mate, appoints Chell the new captain of the Vixen, and tells the crew they can sign articles with him, or feed the sharks.
No-one's keen to be sharkbait, so they sign up: and get a tasty sum of gold for it. In the course of this conversation with Hood, Fafnir blurts out "OH! OH! You're a super-intelligent hood that takes over bodies!" He also squees, just a little bit. Nothing bad can come of it, I'm sure.
Finally, Chell gives the crew some indication of their next job: a matter involving some dwarves ...