One that would let him bring his share of treasure ashore a bit at a time disguised as imported rum, and spend it as if it were profits from his business.
"Law abiding citizens know there's a tax on imported goods in this town, and the harbor master is very thorough. I'll make sure to let him know you'll have no problem at all with him going over your stock nice and close..."
Captain will be coming here, probably take over our ship and leave the mother ship in the hands of the first mate. Mother ship's much to recognizable as a pirate vessel to bring her into a port like this. 'Course, word of the stolen ship we're using will reach here eventually, but he'll send that away with one of his other officers before that happens.
"Honest sailors? Is that why you're afraid to let us see your flagship? You didn't think I'd honestly believe that stolen rat-trap is all you've got, did you? I did my years at sea, and stole ships right out from under better pirates than you."
"I mean you, and this first mate you're planning to report back to."What kind of question is that? Who is he talking about?
I'm not really sure HOW to get the interrogator to follow my lead in terms of what I'm getting telepathically, OOC, but I'd like to try IC.
"Law abiding citizens know there's a tax on imported goods in this town, and the harbor master is very thorough. I'll make sure to let him know you'll have no problem at all with him going over your stock nice and close..."
I guess the captain's plan isn't working as well as he'd hoped. 'Course, they don't know that it's Jack Sparrow, so they probably won't know whose cargo to check. "No one said anything about ducking custom. That would be criminal."
"Honest sailors? Is that why you're afraid to let us see your flagship? You didn't think I'd honestly believe that stolen rat-trap is all you've got, did you? I did my years at sea, and stole ships right out from under better pirates than you."
What is it with this guy? Nothing seems to satisfy him. "Now, let's not get insulting. We come on our ship, a fine ship out of Haven she is, even if you've seen better in your fair city. We're on an honest bit of business here, and nothing says otherwise, and I don't much care for having you call me no pirate. I recognizize that you are just doin' your job, inspector, and so I suppose I should cut you a little slack, but really, that's uncalled for, and I should expect an apology." I hope that sounds indignant enough but not too much. This job's proving harder than I expected.
Where is this guy getting his information? He coughs and shifts in his seat. "I think you're a bit confused, gov'ner. Or maybe I am. I'm the first mate of this ship.""I mean you, and this first mate you're planning to report back to."
--M. J. Young
"And you're just as honest as can be, like sunlight and roses."
I'll turn to the Interrogator. "This smells like Jack Sparrow's work. Sneaky bugger..." in a sotto voce, stage-whisper sort of way, "We'll have to make sure the dock inspectors check everything in the next few months..."
"I didn't mean that ship," I grumble at the pirate as though it should be obvious.
"How did you know--I mean, what makes you--why did you mention Jack Sparrow?" This guy knows more than he says. How did he come up with Sparrow's name?
"I think we have enough to detain this man on suspicion of piracy," the senior investigator says. "Probably could detain the entire crew. What I don't see is how we prove it, though--or how we connect it to the murders."
"Murders?" the detainee says. "What murders? I don't know nothing about no murders! You can't pin something like that on me!"
What has Fredrick gotten me into here? He didn't say anything about any murders. What happened to James and Peter anyway? Is that who's dead? Why would Fredrick have killed them? When he said they weren't coming back, I thought he meant they'd decided to stay here in Durnmist, not that he'd killed them. Andrew, old boy, you're in deep now. Keep calm, think of something.
--M. J. Young
"I did because you did," I say to him, plain as can be.
Then I'll turn to the senior investigator, "We could detain this man, until he gives us enough evidence to go after someone higher up than himself..." I'll trail off, leaving it to the senior investigator to pick up where I left off and say the rest of it - that the alternative is to detain everyone and search their ship from bow to stern to find the evidence we need.
"Or we can detain them all on this man's confession that they are part of Sparrow's band of pirates, and look for evidence connecting them to the murder from there."
--M. J. Young
"Works for me. I'll send word to the harbormaster."
"Well need backup on this, I think. I can't imagine that they'll come along peaceably. I'll talk to the chief."
In a few minutes you hear the familiar whistle signal calling redshirts to the location, which is the office. A few are dispatched to other offices, mostly near the harbor, to get additional men. While this is being organized, the inspector returns to you.
"So, they tell me you've got experience with ships and pirates. How do you think we should handle this?"
--M. J. Young
"Get the harbormaster to dispatch a patrol ship long before we do anything. We can't risk them getting wise and trying to break for open water - we need to be able to cut them off. Once the ship is in place, there's two ways to go about it. Order them off the ship and see if they'll come along, seeing that that they're surrounded, or try to take the ship by force. If we don't have the manpower to raid them and they won't come along peacefully, the alternative is to keep them barricaded in and starve them out. If I were more cavalier I would say 'sink the bastards,' but a good ship is a shame to waste..."
You have the ship cornered, but no one is disembarking. There is something of an effort on behalf of some crew member to make a claim that they are being unfairly detained in port in violation of the rules of trade, but your chief ignores him.
--M. J. Young
I'll call for volunteers from among the gathered redshirts, dock patrol, and so forth to go take their ship by force. I won't order anyone into battle, but anyone who chooses to come I will take with me.
"I give you thirty minutes," I hail the ship, "Surrender peacefully. This is your last chance."
Then I kneel, very Jedi-like, on the dock, and begin to pray. IF they don't surrender and if I do get enough volunteers, I'll have a spell composed next post.
You get fifteen men willing to storm a suspected pirate ship.
The ship is still quiet.
--M. J. Young
This is going to be a thirty-minute version of a double-battle-blessing. Bonuses to attack and defense for all sixteen of us, appropriate words sotto voce, my usual gun-eyeball-coin thing for the gods, kneeling in a prayerful position during or immediately preceding a battle... Yes I know it's vague but it's really just like my other battle blessing spells only with the casting time changed. You know what boni you've given me for this before.
Actually, this will not be just like my others. I want to include another effect: Until the end of this battle, none of the sixteen of us will feel any pain, no matter how badly injured we may become. We will fight like Immortals until we die, until the battle is over.
"Hand weapons only. No guns. We don't want to risk anything happening if they have cannon and powder aboard." Once I say that, especially if I feel the power of the gods guiding us, I will rise and draw my swords.
If I understand aright, you are taking this skill:
1@1 Double Battle Blessing Mass Combat Bonuses M+1@2 16:01:00 casting time plus maintenance time, sacrificing 30 uncut emeralds, speaking words invoking Thor, god of Rage; Sif the Golden Haired, goddess of tactical combat; Njordr, god of the sea; and Heimdall who guards the gates inside an activated holy ground, pacing the area, named unique sword in hand, with five armed men on deck for the casting, may be broken after sixteen hours leaving a one minute completion, after which everyone in the affected area who fights to defend the holy ground RSx2 SM on all attacks and defenses, for as long as the caster continues to pray, sing songs of battle, and otherwise maintain the spell, +32 SMThen you are cutting the casting time from sixteen hours to one half an hour, and adding an immunity to pain effect. Is that correct?
--M. J. Young
Also minus the activated holy ground and 30 uncut emeralds, plus a gold coin destroyed for +6, plus an additional hand and eye for +4, and I'm not sure what "the gun thing" is.
Also, "kneeling in prayerful position" presumably replaces "pacing the area." It might be better to rebuild this from the ground up, instead, especially in light of the second skill's inclusion, which might change baselines.
____
My suggestions (because I know O'Sevens hates waiting for ritual mechanics, though it doesn't stop him inventing new spells):
Base skills
1) Bonus Strike M1@2, baseline TF 1:00, baseline effect RS=SM, baseline duration 10:00
2) Reduce Strike Against Self M1@2, baseline TF 1:00, baseline effect RS=SM, baseline duration 10:00
3) Block Pain M13@1, baseline RF 1, baseline effect 'intense', baseline duration RS/10 minutes
Alternatively,
3') Protection from Pain M1@6, baseline TF 1:00, baseline effect absolute, baseline duration 10:00
If we go with option (3), then the bias is M13@2 (probably curved out) and the baselines are TF 1:00, effect RS=SM/RS=SM/intense, and duration RS/10 minutes with a -15 sit-mod.
If we go with option (3'), then the bias is M1@6 (maybe curved out) and the baselines are TF 1:00, effect RS=SM/RS=SM/absolute, and duration 10:00 with a -15 sit-mod.
I'll give numbers for 3' first, because that's more likely to work in my opinion.
TF: 4.875 doublings for +49
Duration: I'm guessing ten minutes is fine, baseline
Effect: Four doublings on number of targets, which I'm not sure whether to count as -40 or -120 (because it applies to all three skills, but they're really one spell). Also, double sit-mod from the Strike effects, which is either -10 or -20 (for similar reasons). Total from effect: -50 or -140
Verbal: appropriate, +5
Somatic: both legs, both hands, eye, +10
Material: coin (3, destroyed), Soulmorn (7), gun? (?), +13 (?)
Multiple Skills: three, -15
That gives us a total of +12 or -78 (plus the worth of the gun thing, if defined and included), depending on how power doublings of related, included skills are tallied.
Again, that's for the M1@6 interpretation. For the other, the main difference is that the duration's only RS/10 minutes, which probably isn't quite long enough for what O'Sevens has in mind and would need to be increased at a penalty. (Of course, the M13@2 version is unlikely to work for other reasons.)
_____
I hope that helps expedite the process. If not, oh well.
That certainly does help to expedite the process; most notably, I had not realized that in the mag bias area anti-pain skills would be a problem. I think, though, that it's not unreasonable to treat a M2@1 limited damage repair skill as a remove pain (particularly since it's similar to the M2@1 remove fatigue). The complication there, though, is that both of those are designed as palliatives, not preventives, so we're going to have to penalize for an inversion which really does make it more powerful. I think it's more than twice as powerful, but not four times, so I'll go with -15.
Generally on combined spells, the casting time of the longest controls, and its duration controls unless there is some reason to think that the spell should be penalized for extending the duration of one of the other spells. Thus the lower numbers would be correct.
Oh, the "gun thing" was a skill check for a flourish with the gun, if memory serves; but I think he removed it from the final version (as I don't see it in the description).
The duration is extended by a "continued casting", that the caster has to continue to pray and sing battle songs while he fights. Stamina checks are appropriate after a few minutes.
So let me see if I can pull this together into a coherent spell description:
Triple Battle Blessing Mass Combat Bonuses M+1@2 0:30:00 casting time speaking words invoking Thor, god of Rage; Sif the Golden Haired, goddess of tactical combat; kneeling; everyone in the affected area who fights with caster RSx2 SM on all attacks and defenses, for as long as the caster continues to pray, sing songs of battle, and otherwise maintain the spell, and will feel no pain from injuries, stamina checks appropriate to maintain spell while fighting, -3SM
I haven't double-checked that, but it's close enough for my purposes.
Thanks for catching that, Scott.
Harry, is this the spell you want to create?
--M. J. Young
It's pretty close, yes. I would add my nods to the other gods - one eye closed for Odin, sacrificing a gold coin for each man affected to Loki, a runic flourish of my sword at the very end (one each for Thor and Sif, two skill checks required to get them right), and since this includes a curative effect, I will include a drop of my own blood as a sacrifice to Freyr, god of healing.
The only thing I'm curious about is: why would I be making stamina checks while I'm immune to pain, when fatigue requires awareness of bodily damage? In the same way that my muscles wouldn't cramp up from acidosis while I am relieved of pain, my vocal cords wouldn't go hoarse either.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying it seems like the effect of the spell would preclude that even being possible as a limitation (the spell itself would auto-pass them).
My math (and thus MJ's -3 SM total) included the eye, a single coin, and the sword itself, but not the additional coins or the two skill checks.
A gold coin for each man affected would add up to fifteen coins to the material component, for +90, but it also implies that you have control over the number of coins sacrificed (i.e., that if you've only got seven companions, you only sacrifice eight coins), which is worth at least -10 and might reduce the sit-mod for the coins, either every time or only in those cases where you sacrifice fewer than sixteen.
As for the stamina checks: I think perhaps you're operating under a broader definition of pain than I/we had thought; but, beyond making that comment, I'm not going to venture to discuss the issue or make any sort of call of my own. That's a trickier issue than ritual math, and seeing as it's not my game . . .
Edit: Actually, sixteen gold coins might be too many to get counted individually. An ad hoc sit-mod for that might be more appropriate than a +96 bonus for the sacrifice of sixteen Diktar. I hope to learn from MJ's handling of this.
(It occurs to me that sixteen diktar weigh 32 ounces, or roughly two pounds of gold...)
The stamina checks are because it is necessary for you actively to sing praises or similarly worship in a loud voice while actively fighting. If you were just fighting, you could control your breathing to your best advantage; if you were just singing, you would not need the extra air for the fight. Since you are involved in a strenuous activity and an activity which interferes with your breathing, the stamina checks are necessary to be able to keep singing/talking, and the singing/talking is necessary to maintain the duration of the skill.
It strikes me that each additional individual covered by the skill ought to be counted as a penalty on at least some of these skills, so I'm going to call the gold coins a wash--one per person to be affected, and only the first counts (because each one counts for the casting of the spell on that individual, countering the penalty).
Let's try the revision:
Triple Battle Blessing Mass Combat Bonuses M+2@2 0:30:00 casting time speaking words invoking Thor, god of Rage; Sif the Golden Haired, goddess of tactical combat; kneeling; must sacrifice one gold coin per person to be affected; must conclude with two sword flourishes (skill checks) and the spilling of a drop of the caster's blood sacrificed to Freya god of healing; everyone in the affected area who fights with caster RSx2 SM on all attacks and defenses, for as long as the caster continues to pray, sing songs of battle, and otherwise maintain the spell, and will feel no pain from injuries, stamina checks appropriate to maintain spell while fighting, +20SMI've given him +3 for his own drop of blood (because it made the math easy) and +10 for each of the two skill checks for flourishes. Oh, and the bias has to be 2@2, because it contains a 1@2 skill and a 2@1 skill.
Do I roll against your smallsword skill use for the flourishes, or is there a skill I didn't see?
--M. J. Young
You finish your skill, toss your coins which ring as they hit the dock and roll or bounce, cut yourself, do your flourishes, and start singing as you rush toward the ship.
--M. J. Young
The cut hurts, by the way.
--M. J. Young
It's been Smallsword Duelling before. And it can't be 2@2 or it won't work, and I know both effects are possible here...
I recognized that problem, and you are correct that both effects are possible here. The reason, though, that it is 2@2 is because of the relationship to the curve. You can do the 2@1 skill in any universe with a flatlined bias, and thus even a 0@0 universe would allow it; but the 1@2 skill requires a curve of 3, and thus cannot be done in a 1@1 universe. Since it cannot be done in a flatlined universe, the bias of the combined skill must be set such that the skill cannot be done in a flatlined universe, and at a level that incorporates all the included elements. Thus no combined skill containing any skill above @1 can itself be an @1 skill of any level, because it cannot be done in a flatlined universe.
The solution would of course be to divorce the two skills, but you've targeted it as one. In any event, your roll was unsuccessful even for a 2@1 skill. Put it down to learning.
You are now charging the ship, I presume?
--M. J. Young
Yes. I'll use my individual battle blessings as I go, blessing my swords for accuracy and using my defensive prayer.
You charge the ship. Two men arise and grab hold of the gangplank lines to draw it up, but your foot reaches it just as it is starting to rise, and your weight is holding it down against theirs. You are on point as you charge up the gangplank; two other men appear ahead drawing swords.
--M. J. Young
I'll feint to try to goad one of them into attacking me (I have that as a maneuver, don't I?) then do my parry-across maneuver to parry that guy's blade into the other guy.
You perform the feint successfully, and manage to catch your opponents sword, but it hits hard and jars your arm, sending a numbness up to the elbow and leaving you open for a moment.
Neither of them manage to get close at all as you shake the numbness from your arm. You can get in one more attack in this minute.
You cannot use either the feint or the divert attack again until the next minute, but you have another attack with the sword. You cannot use the double lunge because a) they are too close and b) you're already credited with using three attacks this minute (including the one lost to the botch). You could use the groin kick.
Also to be noted, your two prayers work minute-by-minute, so you might want to pray them both again (they are six second prayers) for the next minute.
Your men are behind you on the gangplank waiting for you to force an opening.
--M. J. Young
I drop each of my prayers again, groin kick one, and TK Pulse the other. In that order.
Your kick obviously injures the man, but he is still fighting. You fail to get the TK pulse to work on this attempt, but can try again.
They continue to block your access to the deck as you enter the next minute.
--M. J. Young
I'll fall back, allowing the next man in line to shuffle up ahead of me. I'll trade my smallsword for my pistol, and if he hasn't opened a hole by the time I draw my pistol, I'll bless it and shoot one of the buggers blocking my way.
As you attempt to fall back onto the gangplank and let the next man forward, the pirate in front of you pushes his advantage and steps into the breach, now blocking the gangplank. This is the man you already kicked, and he's pretty angry about it, but he's not letting up on his attacks. I believe you have your sword in your right hand and your pistol for a right hand draw, so you are a bit stymied on that count at the moment.
--M. J. Young
Hence the 'trade my smallsword for my pistol'. i.e. slip the smallsword into its belt-loop (which is wide enough to do that since it's meant to catch the guard and not the blade) and draw the pistol while keeping my cutlass in my left hand to defend myself from the pirate. No stymie involved.
I'm sorry; I missed that you were using two swords. Keep me aware of that in future when you are; it should have allowed an extra attack with the other sword (not more attacks in the minute, but more sword attacks).
You change from sword to pistol, parrying with the off hand, and fire your load into the man's side. He is bleeding, but he is still fighting as he presses his hand on his side.
You get another attack before they do; you have your cutlass, feint, and groin kick available, that I recall.
--M. J. Young
I cutlass the pirate who is currently bleeding. Get out of my way, ya slimy rat, and don't bleed on my boots while ye'r at it.
It's not a good hit, but the keen blade of your fine cutlass (you neglected to remind me that it was a special weapon) slices deeply. The pirate has now taken three hits from you, and swings wild and then gives ground, letting you push forward and get an opening on the deck.
Your men push in behind you, spreading into the fray now. The pirates are retreating or surrendering; a few have leapt into the water, but the harbor patrol is collecting these.
In a few minutes you have cornered the supposed captain, and he surrenders his sword. It is a fine weapon, of just the sort for administering the injuries at the bar.
--M. J. Young
(I forgot I paid extra for that.)
I accept the captain's surrender, sheathing my swords to accept his. As a courtesy to a departing captain, I then slip his through my belt and redraw my own smallsword, so he won't suffer the indignity of being held on point with his own sword.
I will tell the senior investigator that the captain's blade suits the wounds on our victims, and when the time is right, turn over the captain's blade if they require it as evidence. If for whatever reason they don't, I suppose I've got a third fine-quality sword now.
I oversee the captain and his men being taken into custody, then, if I can (if it is within our jurisdiction and not claimed by the harbor patrol), stay on to oversee the searching of the ship (with a break to re-up my remove fatigue spell if the need arises).
At some point I will ask someone what the procedure is for a ship taken under these circumstances.
Concerning the ship, it is fairly certain that it itself was stolen from the company whose name the pirates used when they arrived. Efforts will be made to return the stolen property to the original and rightful owners. As to the cargo, an inventory of lost cargo will be requested from the company, and an inventory made of this ship, and an effort made to be as reasonably fair as possible; there might be something left over, which will be divided among the organizations involved (harbor, dock, and watch), whose management will decide on the appropriate disposition thereof.
The sword will be wanted for evidence.
You are invited to assist in the search. Papers are found on the desk in the captain's office transferring ownership of the bar in which you saw the pirate to Captain Jack Sparrow; these are all signed and legitimate. Other papers are found in the desk, transferring the ownership of the other bar in which the murders occurred to the same Captain Jack Sparrow; these are not signed, but are stained with dried blood.
--M. J. Young
I'll let them parcel it out as they see fit. The actual logistics of reporting all of that bore me to tears.
I'll turn over the captain's sword for evidence.
I'll examine the ownership papers. "What of these?" I'll ask, "Can these be enforced, considering what happened? That pirate can't seriously just sail in here and claim land here, can he?"
The answers you get tend to run on the lines of "that's a good question" and "I'm not at all certain," but you get people thinking and talking about it.
It does appear first of all that they have a clear case against the "captain" for the murder of the innkeeper; those blood-stained papers pretty much clinch it. He probably had figured on tossing them in the ocean so the salt water would wash away the evidence. He might try to go for self defense, since there's no one alive to contradict him, but it probably won't wash.
They can probably make a case that the crew are guilty of piracy based on the fact that they are crewing a stolen vessel; but that's a lot harder, since they can easily put the blame on their "captain" and claim that they were not aware that he was crewing a stolen ship when they enlisted. There's also no evidence at hand that this ship was used for piracy--it was stolen, and then it sailed into port to conduct what would have been perfectly legitimate business had it not resulted in the fight and consequent deaths.
So probably the crew is going to have to be released, but the ship can be held for return to its rightful owners.
As to the sale of real estate, that's a much more difficult question. It appears that the owner has accepted a down payment in promise of payment in full upon the arrival of the designated new owner on whose behalf the "captain" was acting as agent. Lawyers are going to have to examine it to determine exactly what that means, as far as who owns it and under what circumstances the transaction can be rescinded. Captain Sparrow is probably not going to be very happy with the idea, though, that we know his place of business and can monitor his imports and exports easily enough.
At the same time, it's not clear to whom the papers belong. Obviously the blood-stained ones are evidence for the trial; the others might arguably also be evidence. They are still legal documents, but it is not clear how delivery was to have been accomplished. If Captain Sparrow never receives his documents, what happens then?
Not your problem, of course, but certainly going to be a vexing problem for someone. Any thoughts?
--M. J. Young