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Plugg Firetail is one of the secondary antagonists of Triss, the fifteenth book in the Redwall novel series. He is a sly and charismatic yet bloodthirsty fox pirate who is the captain of the Freebooters, a group of pirates that plundered for whatever loot they could come across and to whom savagery was second nature. He makes a deal with King Agarnu, ruler of Riftgard, to take his daughter Princess Kurda and son Prince Bladd along with the Ratguards accompanying them on a voyage to Mossflower to get loot there in return for twice the reward once they return, though he secretly has plans to double-cross and slay all of them when the time is right to get all the rewards and to overthrow them and make the slaves build large fleets of ships for him and his crew. On the voyage, he would develop an enmity of sorts with Kurda, often arguing with and provoking her, even eventually fighting her when she's ticked him off too much.

Biography[]

Plugg Firetail had a reputation as the slyest, most bloodthirsty fox afloat with his ship, the Seascab, being the biggest Freebooting vessel in all the northern waters, crewed by vermin to whom savagery was second nature. As their captain, Plugg would lead plunders in various places and was usually successful in them, providing loot for them. At one point, when he and the Freebooters spotted a beacon burning on Riftgard Head, lit by the Ratguards on King Agarnu's orders to lure him and his Freebooters over there, he rose in bad high humour and angrily hit Grubbage with his blade, berating him for not sailing the vessel towards the beacon, though Grubbage, due to being deaf, was unable to understand him, much to Plugg's frustration. Just then, Slitfang came in and informed him of the beacon before Plugg ordered Slitfang to take the tiller and keep it dead on the light and Grubbage to rouse the crew and tell them to make full sail. While unable to understand him, Grubbage wound up following his orders while having them sing their Freebooter shanty as they sail over.

Despite Riftun trying to have them drop anchor outside the bay on Agarnu's orders per Kurda's countermanding, Plugg flatly refused to trek overland to the stronghold and instead, filling his ship's longboat with almost a score of crewbeasts, he had them row him up the fjord to the jetty, leaving Riftun and the others to march back along the meagre shoreline. Once they disembarked, he confronted the fox and tried to force him to leave his weapons, though Plugg affirmed that wherever a Freebooter goes, his weapons go too. When Riftun threatened him with death if he didn't carry out his orders, Plugg merely threatened him and forced him to allow them through by showing him Tazzin and informing him that she can kill him within the blink of an eye. After a discussion with the king, he accepted a deal he made for him, to take Kurda and Bladd along with Riftun and some Ratguards on a voyage to Mossflower to get bounty there and bring it back under the promise of giving a reward that is twice as much value.

However, Plugg secretly plotted to double cross and slay all of them when the time was right so that he could overthrow them, collect the rewards along with the bounty, and use the slaves to make big fleets of ships for himself and his crew. During the voyage, Plugg would sit studying the chart in his cabin while Grubbage poured him a beaker of seaweed grog and reminded Tazzin when she asked of the plan to kill them only when the ship is set homeward bound for Riftgard and to get rid of Captain Riftun and his Ratguards in a way that would make it look like an accident before slaying Agarnu, Bladd, and Kurda when they return home. When Grubbage mishears something he says, Plugg kicks him out of annoyance before Kurda comes in to complain about the ship not going any faster and demanding that Plugg make it go faster, to which Plugg explained that it is due to the ship only going as fast as the winds carry.

When Kurda points her sabre at him and declares that she must catch up with the slaves that stole her boat and ordered him to make the ship go faster, Plugg Firetail, ignoring the sabrepoint, amusingly responded by stating that he's only an ordinary ship's captain and jokingly suggests to her to go up on deck and wave her sword and give orders to the wind and waves. Angered, Kurda threatened to behead him, though Plugg merely tells her he can fight her with a proper weapon while staring her down. Just then, Bladd comes in complaining about his bed being too hard and demanding a soft one. Putting his grin back up, Plugg brushes past Kurda, knocking ehr sabre aside, and threw a paw around Bladd's shoulder, telling Slitfang to get him a nice soft mattress for him, calling him his shipmate and jokingly chiding him for letting a royal ferret like him sleep on a hard bed. As Slitfang goes to get him a decent bunk, Kurda sheathed her sabre and stormed out of the cabin with the former two following her, chatting away like lifelong companions. When the door shut, Plugg turned to Tazzin and emphasized that when the time comes, she is to steer clear of Princess Kurda as he seeks to take her on himself.

As the ship sails, Kurda notices a rock sticking up in the distance and points her sabre at it, asking what the island is called with Plugg, not bothering to turn to look at it due to having already seen it, stating that it isn't an island but a big rock sticking up out of the main, unaware that it is actually an island. Kurda tries to get him to sail it over there, but Plugg merely orders for the ship to be kept steady on its course before telling her to let him get on with his job and run along. Kurda, seething with rage, threatens to cut out his tongue one day before storming off, though Plugg is only amused by this. He expresses further amusement when she has Riftun keep the Ratguards away from the Freebooters, commenting on her being a maid after his own heart. A storm soon arrives, leading to Kurda barging into Plugg's cabin as he was swilling grog with Tazzin and Grubbage and asking if the ship is in danger and if the storm will sink them. Unfazed, Plugg jokingly states that it wouldn't dare sink a ship carrying a prince and a princess, especially one with as good with a sword as her. When Riftun demands to know if there is a safe cabin aboard where Kurda can ride out the storm, Plugg states that there is one above the room they're in on the stern peak, claiming that it's a comfortable little berth and that while he usually sleeps there, Kurda can have it for the night, leading to Kurda having Riftun take her there.

After they exit the cabin, he laughs out loud as this was a trick he was playing on her since she will actually spend the night going up and down to teach her a lesson for giving him orders. As they got to top deck, Kurda notices Shogg and Triss on their ship, happening to be nearby during the storm, and tries to have Riftun slay the otter only for lightning to strike and kill him, leading Kurda to go back into the cabin and inform him of the slaves. Brushing Riftun's death off for being a snootynosed rat, Plugg tells her not to worry about the ship as if it's still afloat by morning, they'll run it down. He adds that if she doesn't have double the value of the ship, he will take it for himself and brng it back under his own colours, much to Kurda's rage as she declares that she would have killed him had she not left her sabre in the cabin. Plugg only continues mocking her, stating that if she did bring it, the lightning would've struck her and brightened her night up, angering Kurda even further as she insults him and threatens to have his head on a spike one day and to have him be chopped in half by her father after telling him how he treated her. Plugg then explains that there is nothing to be done until the storm blows over and they have enough daylight to see what they're chasing and suggests that she toddles off to her cabin he lets her have for the night. As she exits, she openly expresses her lack of trust towards Plugg as Plugg only makes more jokes about this and laughing with the crew as Kurda strode regally from the cabin.

Eventually, they begin nearing land as Tazzin informs them of it. Kurda declared that her new captain, Vorto, had spotted it first and saw something move over by the rocks, though Plugg was to preoccupied with their position to pay her much heed as he scanned the coast up and down. When Kurda frustratingly asked him what he was looking for, Plugg explained that there should be a river running out across the beach and that's where the chart says they will make their landfall before asking who saw what to which Kurda introduced Vorto and had him explain that he saw a little boat running for the rocks, showing no sail and might be moored behind the rocks. Noting the fair old pair of eyes Vorto has on him, Plugg decides to take the ship in and scout the coast until he finds a landmark and has Tazzin steer it landwards and stop before the big reefs while he studies the chart in his cabin and orders him to shout out when he's dropping anchor. Blocking Plugg's way and gesturing with her sabre, Kurda asks how they will get ashore once they throw down the anchor by the reefs, to which Plugg explains that she can wade or swim or ride in the ship's boat with him if she stops playing with her sword before ordering Slitty to ready the jollyboat for when they anchor.

Once they dropped anchor, they get into the jollyboat and sail to the shore. When they get close enough, Kurda leaped from the hollyboat and splashed through the shallows toward the rocks. Bladd, on the other hand, complained about how he will get his paws wet if je jumped in there, leading to Plugg to have Slitty and Ripper give him a lift a shore and avoid getting his paws wet. After all got ashore, Plugg came swaggering up with a few of his crew to Kurda to inspect the vessel she found, admiring how well crafted it was and commenting on how good a job the slaves did on building it before suggesting to Kurda to begin searching for them with the pawtracks as the drizzle will soon wash them out. Kurda only bragged about how she knew all about the land in contrast to Plugg knowing about the sea before summoning Riggan, her very efficient tracker to begin tracking the creatures with her following her along with her Ratguards. Plugg, in the meantime, has his crew cast about for landmarks so they can find Mossflower while he stops there and polishes his new boat up and suggests to Kurda to bring him the sail back when she catches up, though Kurda was not listening as she had set off with her Ratguards by then.

Plugg soon realizes that he had misjudged his landfall by anchoring too far north of Mossflower. Immediately after Tazzin and the runners arrived with news of Slitfang's discovery, he had the Seascab under way, rousing the rest of his crew from their night's sleep. With the recovered craft in tow, he sailed south down the coast, having been informed of the ship they found that got burnt and three prisoners they captured. Once he arrives and stands in the bows, Slitfang informs him of the ship he had found in the place along with three prisoners for him. Getting down the rope lowered by two of his crew, Plugg boxed his ears soundly, beratedly asking him why he isn't back there guarding them and didn't save the ketch. He comes up to the burned-out campsite and glared at the three, a badger named Sagax, an otter named Kroova, and a hare named Scarum, distastefully, commenting on how useless they are to him and asking why they did not get destroyed and the ketch not get saved Grubbage then came up the beach, followed by Bladd and the rest of the crew and reminds him of how Kurda and the Ratguards are going to find him now that he's moved the ship down the coast much to Plugg's frustration as he sighs, having forgotten about them.

When Scarum comments on Bladd stating that he hopes they get lost forever and does not want to see them again, Plugg waggled his axe threateningly under his nose to silence him before ordering Tazzin to gut them and toss them in the sea for fishfood. Before Tazzin could do so, Sagax makes up a fib about them being from wealthy families with lots of treasure that they would give to save them to convince him instead to hold them for ransom with Scarum backing this up. Sitting down on the sand beside Scarum, Plugg tells them he'll let them live, though if their families don't stump up plenty, they'll be fed to the sharks one at a time. Scarum then begins charming him to the point of where Plugg whacked Slitfang for mimicking him and commented on how he's an educated beast and how he himself had an old uncle who had an education and could sing wonderful educated ditties as well. Whirling on Scarum and shoving his double-headed axe under his chin, Plugg asks him if he can sing educated ditties to which Scarum declares he can. The hare begins singing it at an alarming rate without a single stumble, impressing Plugg as he orders the crew to cheer for him as well.

After a while, being immensely proud of the new boat he had gotten, Plugg decides to show it off along with his Seascab with the three prisoners expressing enjoyment of it, though he comments on how some runaway slaves made off with its sail. They then begin conversing on what name to come up with it with Scarum trying to convince him to untie them to no avail as Plugg declares he'll instead have his crew carry them and put them aboard his new ship where they can then have an educated talk about naming it. After they were carried down the shore by the Seascab's crew, Plugg had them propped up in the bows and ordered extra ropes and had them lashed securely to the seat before sitting astern and dismissing his crew and ordering Slitfang to take them back to the fire and keep an eye out for Kurda and her Ratguards and Grubbage to bring them some breakfast if they're still there by dawn. Turning to his prisoners, he brags further about how pretty his ship is before asking which of them is educated about ship names to which Scarum declared that Kroova is a boat-naming expert, leading to Plugg telling him to do his stuff.

When Kroova's efforts did not satisfy him, Scarum took up the task and began coming up with names before Plugg fell asleep and began snoring moments before the three prisoners get rescued by Shogg and Triss, the runaway slaves Kurda was pursuing, and tie up Plugg and take over the ship to sail away on it. Kurda, her Ratguards, and the Freebooters, however, would notice this and begin pursuing them on the Seascab. Moments later, after they turn the ship around, they throw Plugg and Bladd, who happened to be asleep onboard at the time, into the water tied up, leading to them being rescued by the Freebooters as Slitfang was in charge and prevented Kurda from ordering the ship to be fired while Plugg was still on it. Onboard the Seacab, as they continued pursuing the ship, when Kurda asked him if he thinks they're going straight ahead sailing for the stream to which Plugg responded that he deduced that to be their little game and knows they can't stay there forever and they'd be circling, waiting for them to come out and that they will have the advantage if they make plans on making a run up yonder stream as they'll either miss the channel and run the ship aground or smash the bottom out when they whack into that burnt old boat. After getting a sneering comment from Kurda, Plugg gives his crew orders to capture the beasts, intent on slaying Scarum himself.

Soon, however, they manage to get further ahead of them due to the wild following-wave swells driving them like an arrow up the channel, much to Kurda's rage, though Plugg calms her down by telling her that the wrecked boat will stop them, unaware that the crew had hauled quite a bit of it, still burning, to feed their fire the previous night. Riggan informs that they've gone clear past it and points out struts of timber floating in the shallows having floated out of the stream mouth which shows they've broke through and passed it, prompting the crew to confess that she burned right through the fire, much to Plugg's fury as he orders them to leap overboard to catch them, though after several do so, Grubbage points out how the water isn't shallow enough yet. Kurda herself runs in to berate Plugg, telling him it's too deep and they need to be closer in as Plugg tells Grubbage to take the ship in closer to shore. Once they do so, they lower the ship's jollyboat with Plugg, Kurda, Bladd, and the crew joining in as well while instructing Vorto and the Ratguards to run both sides of the bank with the rest of the crew.

Plugg then teases Kurda, telling her that they'll get the slaves back and as Kurda smiles back at him, she asks if he'll deliver her back to her father when this is over. Plugg affirms this to which Kurda responds by declaring that she will see him hang him in chains over his gates. Unbeknownst to them, Shogg and Kroova had set up a trap to throw the others off their course. As Plugg had the ship's jollyboat speeding like an arrow upstream by continuously ordering the rowers to row harder and teasing Kurda a bit, the trap takes effect with a sharpened wooden stake lodged tight between two roots on the streambed protruding upward at an angle, the point lurking fractionally below the surface. The aftermath causes the boat to smash through the side of the prow as Plugg gives off an agonized scream due to the stake having gotten him in the lower back, just short of his haunches, even tearing off his beloved tail. With Plugg having passed out with the pain, he gets rescued and taken ashore where they attend to his wounds while an apathetic Kurda tries to leave them with her Ratguards, though Slitfang prohibits her, declaring that nobody goes anywhere until Plugg is ready to move.

In the late evening, Plugg awakens to discover himself lying by a fire, covered in an old blanket as Scummy and Grubbage hover about, watching him anxiously. They tell him to avoid sitting up and relate what happened when the jollyboat was rammed by the stake with Plugg, while grimacing, declaring that he'll be shipshape soon before they reveal to him that the sharp cob of wood got his tail ripped off, much to Plugg's horror as he asks where it is. Scummy holds it up as Plugg covered his face and groaned in despair, having viewed the tail as his proudest possession, and asks if anyone else knows with them stating that no one else does, Pondering a solution, Plugg orders the two to get him sticky stuff. As they do so, Plugg stuffed the tail under his blanket as Kurda approached, expressing how disappointed she is that he wasn't slain with Plugg sarcastically apologizing for not pleasing her. WHen Kurda declares that the ground might get poisoned and then kill him to satisfy her, Plugg responds by declaring that he'll haunt her if it does before she stalks off.

Scummy returns with a beaker that contained a few lumps of pine resin and has Grubbage sit on Plugg and hold him still while Scummy sticks his tail back on. After threatening to skin them both alive if one word of this gets out and ordering them to follow right behind him wherever he goes and to fix the tail if itslips before anyone can see, he notices Riggan sneaking into camp to Kurda. Trailing in Kurda's wake, Plugg tells her they knew her spy sneaked out of camp and tells her to make her report. Riggan related that she picked up the slaves' trail further upstream and are with some shrews and discovered their plan to go to Redwall Abbey. Plugg comments on how he's heard grand tales about the place being a treasure house ripe for the plucking and declares that they had best break camp if they're going to follow them. After a bit of bickering with Kurda who drew her sabre and pointed upriver, declaring they march now, Plugg gets pulled back by Grubbage holding the tail up, leading to Plugg punching him on the nose and having Scummy fix his tail back in place as he marched forward boldly.

They soon catch up with the creatures and begin pursuing them, Kurda and Plugg leading the chase with Plugg declaring that they'll lay them by the tails and attempting to show off to Kurda how skilled he and the Frebooters are by leading a charge. The creatures, though, begin slinging stones at the vermin, halting the charge before Plugg has them press onward and drop to the sides of the path and circle them. Kurda and Plugg only continued to urge their creatures on as Kurda then slew a shrew with a sabre thrust and threatens to slay Vorto if he turns back too. When noticing Plugg leaning on Bladd and stumping off into a tree shelter, Kurda demands him to come back before he poitns out the ramparts of Redwall Abbey that lied ahead as the creatures made it in. Having set up camp in the woodlands, with Kurda having seemingly become a touch more affable toward Plugg, when she asks him if he has conquered big stone places like Redwall Abbey, Plugg explains that the bigger they are, the richer they are and that if all the tales of bounty and loot inside the abbey are only half true, he will find a way to get it. Kurda tells him that he can have the bounty while she takes the slavebeasts.

All of a sudden, Plugg smelled something horrible, unaware that it was the stench of Zassaliss, Harssacss, and Sesstra, three adders in the area that have been terrorizing Mossflower, and had a few of his crewbeasts go to find a stream while discussing plans to burn down the abbey's doors. While Kurda and the Ratguards were skulking about in the woods trying their own attempt at breaking into the abbey through the east wallgates, Plugg led an attempt to plunder the abbey by tricking the Redwallers into watching the fire so that Slitfang, Grubbage, and some others range out in two big half-circles and sneak up through the grass to the gates where, using dry bush, some vegetable oil, ship's tar, and a smouldering cob of tow rope, they will build the brush up against the gates and douse it with tar and oil and blow on the smouldering tow until it flames. Bladd himself even volunteers to join with Plugg seeming to have developed some genuine fondness over him as he tells him they'll make a Freebooter out of him and lets him participate in the plan by carrying the rope to set fire to the gates. When Grubbage interrupted him and told him about his tail having fallen off, Plugg has Scummy stick it back on quick before having Bladd land Grubbage a good kick.

As they prepare to set the plan in motion, they dance a hornpipe around the fire singing a ditty about plunder with Plugg having gotten so carried away at one point that he pulled off his tail and whirled it above his head. Plugg's plan, however, gets foiled by the Redwallers pouring scalding honeyed oatmeal over the walltops, severely wounding some of the crewbeasts with Bladd himself dying from it. Kurda's attempt, in the meantime, would be foiled by Scarum and his friends dropping a big fishing net over them and snarling them up in it before battering them with slingstones and anything they could drop on them before they soon allowed them to crawl away still knotted up in the net. Arriving back to camp, Kurda mocks Plugg for his failure while displaying apathy over her own brother's death, leading to Plugg calling her out for being bad luck ever since they took her aboard and the apathy she displays over her own brother's death and how even he had more guts than she ever possessed, also calling her out for being beaten by Scarum.

He calls her out even further for her cowardice, skulking back in the trees to get away from the situation while Plugg himself went back to the ditch to help his crew get away from the slingstones. This provokes a fight between the two as they try to kill each other for the mockery and insulting, though Kurda ends up throwing him into the bushes where he encounters the serpent trio that sink their fangs deep into him and send him wrenching into the air into their den where they devoured him as he cries for his crew to help him and his piteous last cries hung on the still air. The Freebooters, having a close bond with their captain, would break down wailing over his death and host a funeral for him with one of them reciting a poem in his honour before Kurda, apathetic to Plugg's death, seizes leadership over them with the help of her Ratguards.

Navigation[]

           Redwall Villains

Rats
Blodge | Captain Warpclaw | Catseyes | Cluny the Scourge | Damug Warfang | Doomeye | Gabool the Wild | Greypatch | Groffgut | Gruntan Kurdly | Raga Bol | Ripfang | Saltar | Slipp | Strapp | Ullig | Vitch | Wilce

Weasels/Ferrets/Stoats/Pine Martens
Antigra | Badrang the Tyrant | Bullflay | Cap'n Tramun Clogg | Eefera | Emperor Ublaz Mad Eyes | Ferahgo the Assassin | Gruven Zann | King Agarnu | King Sarengo | Klitch | Malkariss | Prince Bladd | Princess Kurda | Raventail | Sawney Rath | Spurge and Agric | Swartt Sixclaw | Threeclaws | Vallug Bowbeast | Veil Sixclaw | Vilu Daskar

Foxes
Ascrod | Badredd | Balefur | Codj | Farran the Poisoner | Gelltor | Karangool | Lantur | Mokkan | Plugg Firetail | Predak | Ruggan Bor | Silth | Silvamord | Slagar the Cruel | Urgan Nagru | Vannan | Vizka Longtooth | Vulpuz | Ziral

Cats
Lady Kaltag | Pitru | Riggu Felis | Tsarmina Greeneyes | Ungatt Trunn | Verdauga Greeneyes

Serpents
Asmodeus Poisonteeth | Zassaliss, Harssacss, and Sesstra

Birds
General Ironbeak | Korvus Skurr | Mangiz

Other "Vermin" Species
Frilled Lizard Leader | Gulo the Savage | Kharanjul | Lask Frildur | Razzid Wearat

Non "Vermin" Species
Druwp | Fenno | Gawtrybe | King Glagweb | Wakka

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