Gaming Outpost Discussions

1. 

   johnosevens
   Member

   I explain to him that the flute was a gift from a friend, who thought I would be more likely to bother learning if I owned one, and who was right. I haven't actually learned to play yet, that's what I'm doing now. My name is John Sevenwind and I don't remember where I'm from - I spend a lot of time wandering and before that my father went to great lengths to make sure I never had a home. If Andrev ever does make Captain, he should keep me in mind if he needs a navigator. I'll play the refrain from "Star of the County Down" and ask, By the bye, do you happen to know any songs?

   If I can't get uninterrupted practice, at least I can get practical interruptions. He's just lucky I'm practicing the flute today and not TK Pulse - the water here looks cold.

   Tue Jan 15 2008 4:16 pm #
2. 

   M. J. Young
   Moderator

   Andrev says he knows songs, but he can't sing very well. You coax him, but it turns out he's right--the man is apparently tone deaf, can't sing worth a lick, and has a minimal sense of rhythm. The only difference between one song and the next is the words, really, but he does know a dozen songs, and once you've got him started he moves through at least pieces of all of them.

   After one particularly long rendition, he says that that particular song has thirteen more verses, but he doesn't remember them all.

   The songs range from bawdy tales on the order of some of the Canterbury Tales stories to songs of love lost to dreams of adventure on the high seas to hard labor songs ("Chief Roman don't like that one; he says if we don't like working he can get other deck hands who would love to have our pay for what we does.").

   Everyone is back aboard before sunset, although there's still work to finish in the morning, so you'll be anchored here overnight.

   --M. J. Young

   Tue Jan 15 2008 9:14 pm #
3. 

   johnosevens
   Member

   When he teaches me the one Chief Roman doesn't like, I'll teach him the Pump Chanty, which is another one good for annoying work bosses.

   Anchored here overnight... Meh. I'll leave whoever is taking the night watch to, well, take the night watch, and go below. Food. Coffee. Then back to my room for a little practice flicking coins around in my lap with TK before bed - overall a nice relaxing day at anchor.

   Provided, of course, that over the course of the day I never actually saw anything out there, via telescope or via Telescopic Vision. I'm obviously not going to sit there swapping songs with tone-deaf Andrev while the dread pirate roberts sails right up our rudder.

   Wed Jan 16 2008 1:25 am #
4. 

   M. J. Young
   Moderator

   The late the next day you raise anchor, the mast having been braced with several stout split logs lashed about it. The head of engineering seems to have that "hope it holds" look about him.

   Over the course of the next few weeks you finally confirm your position and conclude that you are back in the lane. You practice regularly, both in the work you are doing and in the skills you've undertaken in your spare time. The wind is good and the seas calm and lonely.

   --M. J. Young

   Wed Jan 16 2008 10:51 pm #
5. 

   johnosevens
   Member

   I do my duty, taking my shifts and spending them practicing as I have been.
   In my off hours I write my journals, practice my TK Pulse and music, and spend most of the time in the galley with the various men who come and go, learning their songs and their stories.
   If anyone has significant events that they celebrate - birthdays, wedding anniversaries, "my wife was due to have our first child today," that sort of thing - I ask them what they would normally do to observe such an event, and try to recreate that as best we can aboard ship, generally getting to know these people and their culture, and trying to make the long days at sea a little easier.

   If I get a chance at all, I want to talk to the captain and the first officer as much as I can about captaining, about the price and issues involved in owning and operating a ship, and generally just learning from them how being a legitimate captain and running a real ship work. Seeing as I'm just a simple fisherman's nephew, and all...

   If there is anyone aboard who swordfights - maybe my friend in Security - I'd like to try and get some fencing in with him and his men, to keep those skills sharp in case we need them. (My sword is a red-bladed smallsword, hand-forged by a master smith from meteoric iron I bought for that purpose - very light and almost perfectly balanced.)

   Mostly just pass the time passing the time. Work on my skills to keep busy and keep sharp, and keep learning, and try my level best to immerse myself in this world, as after my near-death experience I'm increasingly hoping for a long stay.
   To that end, I'm seriously not pushing my luck with any more experiments. I learned TK Pulse and Telescopic Vision, and after my little episode with that, I'm not willing to risk the head-asploding that might come from trying any more. Until I'm really comfortably good with both - 1@5 or better - I'm laying off trying for anything new.

   Thu Jan 17 2008 1:10 am #
6. 

   M. J. Young
   Moderator

   Very few men own their own ships; ships like the Mary Piper are owned by companies like the Sardic Trading Company. Captains are hired, or commissioned, based on experience; in general, you should have significant experience in at least two departments aboard a ship, and have served as an officer/department head before being considered for either first officer or captain, and most captains were first officers at one time. Captain John started in Engineering, and worked in Navigation and Piloting ultimately becoming Pilot Commander and then First Officer on another vessel; when the captaincy opened here, he stepped into it, although most ships promote from within first. There are captains whose background is mostly security and deck, but they're rather rare.

   Officers and crew are paid fixed salaries; navigator is second only to pilot in terms of crew salaries. The first officer gets the base salary of a Pilot Commander, plus 5% of the profit of the run if there is any. The company runs many ships, and takes 10% of the profit from each. The Captain gets no salary, but 85% of the profit; he's the one who decides what expenses must be paid along the way, so every time he buys supplies, repairs the ship, hires help, or in any way spends the money, it is mostly his own money he is spending. It doesn't pay to cut corners, though, because if the ship isn't seaworthy, you're out of a job. Typically Captain John makes about four times what a pilot commander is paid, but he can make a bit more or a lot less, depending on how the trip goes.

   Any other questions on that?

   Security trains in swords all the time, and if you want to train with them in your spare time, they'll be glad for the sparring partners. They'll comment on the quality of your sword and ask where you got it (being a simple fisherman's nephew and all). How much time per week are you putting into this?

   --M. J. Young

   Thu Jan 17 2008 11:44 pm #
7. 

   johnosevens
   Member

   Let's say half of my off-duty shift every other day, so 4hrs X 3 or 4 = 12 or 16 hours per week.
   Do I have four things I'm training in off duty? TK Pulse. Irish flute. Swordsmanship. I practice my Telescopic Vision on duty so that doesn't count... hmm... let's say all of every other day's off-shift, on average about 20 hours a week on each of those three with the extra shift divided up into patches of rest.

   No other questions on the business of captains or anything like that.
   And I explain that the sword was made by a master smith who happened to owe me a favor, from metal that was never torn from the womb of the earth. (It's close enough to true - I did also have to pay the man, but the fact that he made me such a sword at all was because he owed me for covering his ass. And the metal IS meteoric iron, even if I did buy it rather than finding it.)

   Fri Jan 18 2008 2:18 am #
8. 

   M. J. Young
   Moderator

   Thirty days after you leave the island--the eighty-second day of your time on this ship--Brian gives out a yell from the crow's nest about an hour before you're on duty.

   It seems that he has spotted a sea monster, some distance ahead off the port bow, moving to intercept.

   --M. J. Young

   Sat Jan 19 2008 3:57 am #
9. 

   johnosevens
   Member

   A What!?
   SO not what I signed on for...

   I watch what the others from Navigation are doing, and follow suit. I imagine the standard for a fishing boat would be to bravely run away, so I figure no one will mind the new kid not knowing what to do. Still, I try my level best to figure out what it is I ought to be doing and then, well, do it.

   Sat Jan 19 2008 4:23 pm #
10. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Donald is of course also on duty, and he responds to the cry swiftly. Seeing you, he says, "Good, John; find or roust Dooley, and then get up on the forecastle with some telescopes, and both of you tell me exactly what you see. I'm on my way there already; maybe we can steer clear of this thing, but it depends on what it is and what it wants."

    --M. J. Young

    Mon Jan 21 2008 5:28 am #
11. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I do as he says, scampering down to poke Dooley. "Sea monster! Grab a telescope and meet me on the forecastle." If I have a telescope handy, I hand it to him, along with his boots, then head for our post.
    If I have /another/ telescope, I use it.
    If not, I grab one.
    If I just handed Dooley the last one (sorry for drowning one, captain!) I rely on my Telescopic Vision.

    While waiting for Dooley, I'll take a moment to tie a rope to the forecastle mast, in case I need something to grab onto, before going back to scoping the beastie.

    Mon Jan 21 2008 1:01 pm #
12. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    You roust Dooley and hand him his boots; you'll each have to get telescopes from navigation, but the Captain is well aware that telescopes get washed overboard, and it's more important to worry about bringing the people back aboard than the equipment, so there are quite a few here.

    From the forecastle you focus on this beasty. Theres smoke coming from its head as it moves through the water.

    Odd thing, though--its chest seems to be covered in something like tree bark.

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Jan 22 2008 4:49 am #
13. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I point that out to Dooley and to Donald - the tree bark thing. "Is that unusual? I've never seen one up close before... It certainly looks odd..."

    Tue Jan 22 2008 6:16 am #
14. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Donald focuses his telescope where you're pointing.

    "No, you're absolutely right. Call off the alert, everyone. It's not a beast--just some natives trying to scare people away from their territory. Dooley, tell the pilot to alter course about five degrees starboard until we get past it. If the natives see that we're going around them, they'll probably back off. Meanwhile, John, you keep an eye on it from here, and I'll relieve Brian in the crow's nest until we're around it, and Dooley, you can head back to bed--I'm sure you didn't get enough sleep yet.

    "John, if the dummy doesn't back off when it sees we're going around it, you'll have to widen the berth; but keep an eye out for shoals and reefs, of course, and I will too. We don't want to be run aground by this thing, and it's a lot easier to fight a bunch of natives with bows in a covered canoe than it is to fight a sea monster or get a ship off a shoal."

    He heads for the rigging.

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Jan 22 2008 9:30 pm #
15. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I take that all in, and nod. It's not a sea monster, it's a scarecrow. Gotcha.

    "Alright."

    I keep an eye out, looking forward with my telescope and my Telescopic Vision. If I can, I'd like to increase the contrast of my Telescopic Vision so as to be able to pick out subsurface reefs, iceburgs, sandbars, etc.
    Bloody scarecrow... As we move past it, I poke the scarecrow with my TK Pulse. Poke. Poke. See how you like getting all freaked out over nothing. Poke.

    Wed Jan 23 2008 3:03 am #
16. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    The telescopic vision isn't working at the moment; do you want to attempt to increase contrast anyway?

    You do bump the monster well enough on the first attempt to change its course slightly. The second attempt fails, but the third gets it rocking a bit. Whoever is operating it turns it around and heads back toward that island not far away, and you don't have to make any more course corrections.

    Donald asks if you want a dinner break before he goes off duty; the sun is setting ahead of you, and you seem to be nicely on course.

    --M. J. Young

    Thu Jan 24 2008 6:08 am #
17. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Yes, I'll attempt to increase contrast anyway, though I prepare for another night of weird visions and migraines when I do.
    Provided I'm not bleeding from the eyeballs by then, I'll gladly take Donald up on his offer for a dinner break. Have a mug of ale with my friend from Security and some of those biscuits. Yawn. Maybe some coffee. Mmm. Coffee.

    And as they sail away... hmph! Serves them right for THEM to be the ones to have to row out of the way. Scarecrow indeed!

    Thu Jan 24 2008 7:17 am #
18. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    You don't damage your eyes, but you don't achieve your objective either.

    You take dinner, but your security friend is just finishing when you arrive, and can only stay a few minutes. However, you mentioned to him about practicing your swordplay sometime, and he asks if you want to work out in the morning a bit, maybe around ten or so.

    --M. J. Young

    Fri Jan 25 2008 2:26 am #
19. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I don't work until noon, so ten is fine with me.
    It'll be good to get in a few rounds with someone who knows what he's on about - especially if he uses a weapon other than a smallsword, as I have little practice against heavier blades.

    Mmm, dinner. Yawn. Stretch. And then back to work. And more time alternating between the actual telescope and the power of my... very sleepy... mind. Bloody scarecrow giving me an adrenaline crash. If they were still here I'd... yawn... poke them again.
    At least the forecastle is uncomfortable enough to keep me awake till the end of my shift.

    Fri Jan 25 2008 3:24 am #
20. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    The weapons of choice in security are cutlass and dagger, and your friend fights Florentine, using both as weapons and as defenses. It is a challenging bout, as Walt is quite good with the sword and has a respectable level of ability with the dagger, and it is clear he has used both in real personal combat situations where his life depended on it. He's quite willing to practice with you a few days a week, if you're up for it, as he has to practice anyway, and having a partner with different skills is helpful. Besides, Davis is much better than he (can outdo him using the dagger against his sword), and the new guy Douglas isn't as good as you yet.

    Two and a half weeks later, on your ninety-ninth day aboard, there is an announcment made that water will be rationed. Word is that one of the main casks apparently sprang a slow leak months ago that went undetected, and now that they've tapped it it's empty, and they're using backup casks. Since navigation can never be one hundred percent certain of the latitude or the distance traveled in a day, the three days supply will be stretched toward six, in the hope that land--and fresh water--will be reached before then. It looks promising to you; if you're where you all think you are (that is, navigation), then as long as the wind holds you'll be in Durnmist within seventy-two hours--civilization, such as it is.

    --M. J. Young

    Sat Jan 26 2008 6:08 am #
21. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Do they have any buckets on board, and cloth that is waterproof or can easily be made waterproof?
    If they do, and if we can spare about 1 square yard of space (on the forecastle, perhaps?) I could build a rudimentary solar still, which would allow us to desalinate the seawater and, with a little work, make it potable. I've done that before and I very much remember how.
    A cone of black cloth to substitute for clear plastic. As it evaporates, the water condenses on the cone and drips into an inner bucket (which is weighted down and sitting in the bucket of seawater). The water that condenses in the inner bucket can only be pure water, due to the way water behaves when changing states - that is, it doesn't take anything with it. This becomes /faster/, if not nearly as efficient, if we have a readily available source of heat. (Of course, fires aboard ship are bad, but we do have a galley...)
    Granted it won't be as easy without modern materials, but it should still work. It would be enough to let my mates in Navigation drain less from the emergency supplies, anyway.

    Of course, I would probably waste a whole day rigging the thing, given how many times it's likely to leak, dump, or spontaneously combust before I get a working version, so I'll leave it to Donald to decide whether or not I should bother. Water from a solar still generally tastes like the bucket, but it's better than nothing.

    In the mean-time I suggest to Walt that we ought to lay off sparring. Working up a sweat while water is at half rations would be unwise at best.

    Sat Jan 26 2008 6:55 am #
22. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    The nearest thing anyone has to "waterproof cloth" is canvas sails--and they're certainly not waterproof in any meaningful sense, just thick and tightly woven enough that they don't get too heavy when it rains. They're also rather large, and a bit expensive; it's not clear whether you could make what you describe without cutting one, and at the moment no one is worried enough about the water to start slicing up sails.

    However, your idea is good, and might be implemented in a couple days if necessary.

    Walt agrees to hold off on sparring.

    All of this, though proves unnecessary, as by the dawns early light the next day you can see land, and before the sun sets you are pulling into port in Durnmist.

    Your contract with captain says you get paid (along with everyone else) upon reaching Sardic, which is still several ports away, probably a couple of months; however, you are welcome to go ashore. Navigation doesn't need staffing during layovers, usually, until just before departure, when wind and weather checks are done. Deck will be busy, of course, moving cargo, and security will be on regular shifts, and there will be an officer aboard at all times, but you're welcome to go ashore as long as you return in time for departure.

    --M. J. Young

    Mon Jan 28 2008 2:19 am #
23. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I'll go ashore, but I won't go too far. Big cities make me a bit nervous. And either way, what is a city to a man without a dime to his name? My roll of gold dollar coins probably won't buy me bread here, especially if anyone realizes they're not real gold, which isn't hard as some of them are probably tarnished.
    If Walt knows of a good place to go for drinks, I'll go along. After all, everyone has their bouts of alcoholic generosity, and a good pub ought to have a musician - maybe one I can learn something from. And what pub doesn't have barmaids?
    And maybe some gambling. If they have anything like poker I might even be able to buy a round of drinks by the end of the night.
    If I have time - a second day in port, perhaps - I'll go roam the market, if there is one. Again, with no money it won't amount to much, but I would like to see the sights regardless.

    ...There's no law against wearing a sword in public here, is there?

    Edit(!): Not poker! Dice! After three months of practice I can probably get my TK Pulse to go off fairly reliably, and a telekinetic can rake it in at dice.
    Especially if Dooley and Walt feel like making some pocket change with me.
    The two of them sit at the dice table, and I - being just a simple fisherman's nephew - stand behind one of them to watch. The one I'm /not/ standing with, who would enter perhaps twenty minutes later, then proceeds to have a decent but not inexplicable run of good luck...
    And then we're all three of us not broke all the way to Sardic.

    Mon Jan 28 2008 5:39 am #
24. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Walt will certainly buy you a drink--actually a couple of drinks. There are barmaids, indeed, but Walt's pub of choice doesn't have a musician--just a bunch of sailors making passes at barmaids who are flattered but too experienced to take any of them seriously.

    There are no weapons restrictions in Durnmist, although since you asked you'll be told that in Tempest there are some very strict laws concerning weapons, including that the ship will be inspected to make certain that any weapons beyond security needs and the reasonable personal gear of the crew are secured, and only security will be allowed to carry weapons off the ship, and only in the immediate vicinity of the ship. Here you could take one of the flintlock rifles, if you wish, although it's more cumbersome than it's worth. Walt is wearing his sword and dagger, as are quite a few of those in the bar, although most are not armed.

    Generally port stops are twenty-four hours, unless there's a problem--and there isn't, so you've got until shortly before sunset to be aboard tomorrow, so you can help negotiate the journey out of the harbor into the open waters before you lose the day. I don't know whether that's enough time for you to do your market visit or not.

    Gambling is illegal in Durnmist. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, or that you can't participate. It does mean that there are some associated risks, that it's not so easy to find, and that the people who run the gambling aren't the sort who easily accept losses as part of their business. I'm sure you and Walt could find a place, if you want.

    I should also ask about how exactly you would use your telekinesis here--not because you can't, but because it's not the strongest power in the world. You've got what amounts to the ability to give something a nudge. You can do this once in a minute, and it works roughly one time in three. If you had more control, of course, you could move the dice the way you want them and set them down (with practice you might make it look natural); with more speed (which comes with improved ability) you could probably keep the dice moving by bumping them until you get the number you want. Here, though, it would seem to me that you've got to let the dice hit the table, see where they're going to stop, and then bump them if you don't like that number, and hope that wherever they stop next will be better. Have you got a better way to do it? (Think of the TK Pulse as something of a gaff here--it's easy to knock the ball out of the pocket of the roulette wheel, but difficult to make it go where you want it instead. So if you see seven or eleven appear and you're quick, you can make them go away and hope for a less friendly roll; and if you see snake eyes or boxcars you can get rid of them and hope for a friendlier roll, but you can't easily turn a five into a six to get the match you need.)

    So, are you going to look for a place to gamble, or put that off for another time?

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Jan 29 2008 6:50 am #
25. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I'd rather not run afoul of Mafia justice, but at least now I have something specific to practice using my TK Pulse /on/ between now and the next port. One approach I want to practice is combining TK Pulse with Telescopic Vision - being able to see the dice in higher resolution might let me figure how they're going to land that much quicker, and thus bump them more fluidly. Still, hopefully I'll have better finesse - and better than 1-in-3 odds of it working at all - between now and Sardic.

    I will go out for drinks, probably strike out with at least one barmaid, and be back aboard ship by sunset tomorrow.

    Tue Jan 29 2008 8:01 am #
26. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    I note your use of slashes to cue italics ("/on/"). You'll find a quick list of code that works beneath the reply window (it's HTML, so it uses < and > bracketing), and a longer discussion of what works and how to use it in the sticky thread Coding On This Board. Obviously you'd like to do text formatting, and it's not that tough, really.

    Your visit is uneventful. Walt isn't the sort of drinker who goes too far, and since he's paying for yours, you aren't either.

    I note that you do have twenty assorted dice, so your idea of practicing with them has merit.

    I also note that you reached Durnmist on your one hundredth day aboard ship, during which time you have been working in navigation. This means you've got notable improvements in a number of skills from using them on a regular basis as part of your job--certainly not up to professional standards yet, but finally above rank amateur.

    Those will be listed behind the screens.

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Jan 29 2008 10:55 pm #
27. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I'm not the sort of drinker who goes too far either. A touch of the rum and I'm good to go.

    I'll focus mostly on my six-sided dice, since those are the kind most often used for gambling, unless Walt tells me otherwise. Beyond that, it's back to business as usual after Durnmist.

    Wed Jan 30 2008 3:39 am #
28. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Your psionic practice now includes tossing dice, trying to follow them with your magnified vision, and trying to bump them with your telekinetic pulse if they don't land the way you want. It's not a very reliable way of doing things, but it does tip the odds slightly in your favor.

    A week later there is a general announcement made. It looks like you're still most of a week away from the next port, Tempest, but there are some unusual rules there. A customs officer will board the ship sometime before final approach, and will inspect all quarters looking for contraband--most particularly weapons. All personal weapons must be secured; only security is permitted to carry weapons in Tempest, and then only within a hundred yards of the ship. Anyone else with weapons can find a way to secure them in their quarters (such as nailing them to the wall), or turn them in to security for the stay at Tempest. Failure to do so may result in delays.

    Probably you have four or five days before you're close enough to be boarded, but you can't count on as many as seven. What preparations are you making for the customs inspection?

    --M. J. Young

    Thu Jan 31 2008 4:39 am #
29. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    I'll entrust SoulMourn - my precious red-finished hand-forged meteoric iron smallsword, a graduation gift from my grandfather - to Walt for safekeeping. It is my only actual weapon. The first time it's been outside my arm's reach since I first Versed out.
    I doubt they'll object to my keeping my flute handy.

    As for the psionic practice, it's mostly the TK Pulse to flick the dice. The Telescopic Vision was mostly for an edge in reaction time. If it seems cumbersome, awkward, ineffective, or counterproductive, I won't bother. I practice my Telescopic Vision enough while on duty that I don't fear falling behind. (Unlike TK Pulse, it's not a <i>visible</i> effect, so I'm not uncomfortable practicing it in public.)
    If it seems that flicking the dice rotationally like I'd originally envisioned doesn't work, or is simply too difficult, it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to focus on the sides of the dice I would want to face downward - the sides directly opposite the sides I need facing - and give that 'downward' side a quick vertical tug at the right moment. Not failing to target the whole die - that is, I'm not targetting just a slice of the die - so much as making sure I poke it downward in the proper direction.

    Thu Jan 31 2008 6:00 am #
30. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Walt secures your sword in the security lockup.

    Twenty hours outside Tempest the customs official arrives. He's brought a crew with him, and insists on considerably more than a perfunctory investigation. Your quarters are searched rather thoroughly twice--not because they're yours, everyone including the captain is getting the same treatment. Notions float among the crew, such as that this guy must be new, or trying to impress someone; or that something got past them recently or they got some sort of warning and they're trying to be extra thorough; or that the guy has it in for the Sardic Trading Company. However, despite the stress, everyone is making an effort (some less effectively than others) to be polite and cooperative. Docking is delayed two hours while they finish their paperwork, but finally they give the ship clearance.

    Tempest is a moderately pricey city, where nothing is as cheap as you can get it in some other port, although nothing is as expensive as you would pay in some other port. That is, manufactured goods are more expensive here than in the manufacturing cities but less expensive than they are in primarily agricultural ports, while food is cheaper here than in manufacturing cities but more expensive than where it grows. Again shore leave is permitted, but the reminder is made that carrying weapons in the city is a criminal offense.

    --M. J. Young

    Fri Feb 1 2008 3:59 am #
31. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Makes me glad I remember my hand-to-hand combat. If I ever see Earth again, I'll send my grandfather a bottle of Brass Monkey to thank him for the training.

    Somehow I doubt I've gotten the hang of that dice thing to any praticable degree, so I find myself once again at the mercy of the house when I go ashore. I'll look for a place to hang around when it's my turn to go ashore, and once again I'll follow a more experienced sailor - Walt, Dooley, or Donald.

    If there's no drinking to be done and no gambling worth the odds, I'll pass my time ashore sitting on the pier playing my flute. They don't have laws against panhandling, do they?

    Fri Feb 1 2008 5:52 am #
32. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Walt will certainly spot you for a drink if you like.

    Who are you asking about the panhandling thing?

    --M. J. Young

    Sat Feb 2 2008 3:54 am #
33. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    The panhandling thing was more an idle musing. If anyone tells me to move along while I'm sitting there playing I'll move along. I'll have a drink on Walt, and spend the rest of the time looking around. If nobody is willing to show me around, I'll spend an hour or so walking around, probably up the longest straight road I can find. If I can, I'd like to find a place to buy a map of this city, and if they have one, a map of Sardic, too, so that by the time we get to Sardic I'll know somewhere worth going. Not sure what I'll buy it with, but at least I can find out what one costs.

    Sat Feb 2 2008 4:25 am #
34. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    A map of Tempest costs ten diktar for a printed one, one hundred for a good hand-drawn one. No one in Tempest that you can find sells maps of Sardic.

    Tempest is a much rougher sort of town than Durnmist was, the sort of large city with ample squalor and strong class distinctions from one neighborhood to the next. You can understand why weapons are banned, but it doesn't seem likely that there aren't any around.

    --M. J. Young

    Sun Feb 3 2008 9:29 pm #
35. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Being out and about in such a town makes me even more glad for my hand-to-hand training. Seeing as I haven't a cent - what do they call fractions of a diktar, anyway? I would sound foolish asking that, but anyway - haven't a cent to my name, I won't go buying any maps, but if I can I'll take my time looking at one, getting a basic feel of the place.

    Interesting that they have printing. I hadn't exactly expected that. The printing press was a revolution in our world, but it doesn't seem to have done a heck of a lot for these people. Maybe these people just aren't seeing any trickle-down from it. Too bad there are no schools. Well, good thing there are none of the German-style schools my homeworld suffers under, but too bad there's not something better, like Roman-model schools...

    Ah, idle musings. Not wanting to get shanked in the streets, I make my way back to the ship. Back to my quarters, or the map room, to practice my dice.

    Mon Feb 4 2008 6:35 am #
36. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    It wasn't exactly the printing press that caused the revolution; there were prints prior to that. What Gutenberg invented was movable type--which permitted the rapid creation of pages of books or newspapers. The maps you've seen printed are full sheet maps made from a hand-carved block, the sort of thing that takes months to make but then can be reused hundreds of times.

    Oh, and congratulations--no one has ever once that I recall asked what fractions of a diktar are called. I expect that they use a binary system--break the coin in half, in half again, in half again, like pieces of eight. I don't think the system will support sixteenths, so unless you've a better choice, we'll call the fractions by their fraction names--eighth, quarter, half. You'll have heard the use when you go out with Walt anyway, so you've no need to ask.

    After a few hours in the city, you return to the ship. Donald is glad to see you, asks if you'll stand watch in navigation for a few hours so he can stretch his legs ashore. That gives you the map room to yourself, and nothing to do unless one of the officers pops in with a question, which is unlikely.

    I presume you've nothing else on your plate except a good night's sleep before the ship pulls out tomorrow.

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Feb 5 2008 3:22 am #
37. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Mmm... sleep. Sleep sounds good indeed. Of course, that's after a few hours of playing with the maps, figuring out where we are and doing the calculations to plot a route to the next destination, getting in some practice. When that gets boring I'll practice with my dice, or look out to sea with Telescopic Vision, taking this opprtunity of downtime to try a new trick: adjusting my zoom on the fly, zooming in and out during one manifestation, rather than switching it off and refocusing, to see if its any harder.

    Yay for me adding to the world, though. Pieces of eight is a system I'm decently familiar with, so that shouldn't give me any trouble. Even though I don't have any yet.

    Tue Feb 5 2008 6:10 am #
38. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    You find it difficult to change focus; your impression is that at your current level of ability whether you change focus or stop and refocus afresh seems to be about the same difficulty, but that given a lot of practice it would probably be easier to change the focal distance than to shut down and regain, so you'll probably want to practice the changing as part of the routine.

    The next port is Tristar, a volcanic island where shore leave is sometimes restricted due to conditions but manufactured products are as cheap as anywhere. However, due to the unstable nature of the volcanoes, it is sometimes the case that the ship is not permitted to stop there, or that having docked it is sent away immediately without loading or unloading cargo. It usually takes about two weeks to make this piece of the journey.

    There are also more ships here in the civilized part of the world, traveling similar routes between the ports; it is not at all uncommon to see patrol ships, other trading vessels, and passenger liners in the distance.

    Oh--Walt returns your sword once you are out of the harbor.

    --M. J. Young

    Tue Feb 5 2008 9:09 pm #
39. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    Very glad to have my sword back. I will resume wearing it constantly, and go back to fencing with Walt whenever he feels like it and our schedules mesh. Duty shifts consist of playing with maps and focusing on my Telescopic Vision, dreaming of the day when using it becomes as effortless as lifting a glass to my eye. Off-duty consists of a combination of playing with my dice and practicing my flute, and fencing with Walt when the time is right.

    Two more weeks... I think during this leg of the journey I'm going to focus more on my map work, try to get used to this world and its geography a little bit, and how is best to navigate around - take my work home with me a little, as it were.

    Wed Feb 6 2008 3:31 am #
40. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Four days out of Tempest you log yet another ship sighting, and then head to dinner.

    You're just finishing up your repast when you hear the commotion; alarms are sounding. Someone runs past the galley door and shouts, "Pirates! We've been boarded!"

    --M. J. Young

    Thu Feb 7 2008 2:18 am #
41. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    (I'm assuming I couldn't make out a pirate flag on that ship I sighted? They would've told me what to watch for, no? Or noticed when I said, like, "That ship has a flag with a skull and crossbones / flying dragon / demon rampant on it" and gone "oh carp, pirates!")

    Nonetheless, I beat feet up toward the deck, drawing my sword once I get there and looking around for anywhere I can be of assistance. Particularly if they've got gangplanks - big and sturdy and not bolted down, perfect for a quick TK Pulse into the water. Or if they have guys who aren't being fought yet, whom I might engage in blades.
    <i>Great gods, my first real swordfight. Thor guide me...</i>

    Thu Feb 7 2008 6:03 am #
42. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Actually, in civilized waters clever pirates generally don't fly identifying flags--they'd rather be mistaken for a patrol ship than recognized by one. So no, there would not have been anything marking them as a pirate ship.

    There is a lot of rushing around--some men ducking for cover, others organizing to repel boarders. You reach the main deck and find security already fighting, assisted by several of the deck hands; there's a medic cowering nearby with his bandage kit handy.

    I'm curious about this:
    

    Great gods, my first real swordfight. Thor guide me...

    Is your character saying that, saying it aloud as a prayer, and how much of it is he saying?

    --M. J. Young

    Fri Feb 8 2008 2:41 am #
43. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    (He wouldn't be saying it loudly, but it is indeed a whispered prayer IC. The whole thing would be, "Thor guide me. Put strength in my hands and rage in my heart, to defend my friends and break my enemies," whispered while discerning who my enemies actually are and clutching my sword as a kind of focus object.)

    I move up to one of the lines organizing to repel boarders. While listening to their plan with one ear, I furiously TK Pulse the boarders they're trying to repel. I haven't tried moving anything as big as a man before, but... well... Yoda always said weight didn't matter, so... Flick. Flick. You there with the axe, you crazy bugger, Flick.

    Of course, if any of the pirates actually get anywhere near me, I stop playing wizard and stab him instead. A lot.

    Fri Feb 8 2008 4:48 am #
44. 

    M. J. Young
    Moderator

    Since security is five men and deck crew is six (including their respective officers), and the defense of the ship falls largely on the shoulders of these men, the appearance of a known crewman carrying a sword is a welcome sight.

    First Mate James also appears with sword in hand and a pistol in his belt. The deck crew are armed mostly with grappling hooks, rather potent polearms when used against live targets, while security personnel each have cutlass, dagger, flintlock rifle, and flintlock pistol.

    Someone has set off several smokepots on the deck, apparently to confuse and disorient someone, with the result that visibility is somewhat limited up here. The smoke is not caustic, but when you're in it you can only see a matter of feet and when you're not in it there are clouds of it all around obscuring sight in various directions.

    You pray, but you don't have any sense that it made a difference.

    There may be between twenty and thirty pirates attempting to board, some by ropes and a few by planks. You pick a plank and aim your mind at it, but your concentration is interrupted when you attempt the push, and you get nothing. You collect yourself to try again, and then feel a surge of energy running inside your head like fire. You close your eyes for a moment and open them again. Smoke is everywhere, pirates are moving onto the deck, and Qwartz says to you, "So, are we going to get these guys, or what?"

    --M. J. Young

    Sat Feb 9 2008 4:30 am #
45. 

    johnosevens
    Member

    "For ship and captain!"
    If I can see my way to the nearest boarding plank, I want to try and hold it, use it as a chokepoint so I only have to fight a man or two at a time. If it has to be two at a time, at least there's Qwartz. (Edit: On third thought... who the heck is Qwartz? Have I actually met him before?)

    On second thought, I don't want to kick the plank over. I want to hold them. I want to aim for hits on the pirates that may or may not kill them, but will cause them to fall off the plank and encourage more to pile in behind them.

    Get them to waste enough men trying to board us, and we may be able to turn the tides completely...
    A savage grin at the thought of taking this insolent ship as a prize, and I lace into my enemies with relish.

    Sat Feb 9 2008 6:05 am #

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