My thoughts, in general, are that Captain Sparrow shouldn't be deprived of his paperwork, those men on the ship don't know that they're probably going to walk anyway, men who are used to crewing a ship might be willing to continue crewing that ship if they know full pardons for piracy (a hanging offense in most places I've heard of) might be on the table if they do, and the people who own that ship won't miss it for a few more weeks while certain interested parties go to tell Captain Sparrow about the success of his mission, if you follow my train of reasoning here...
"So then, we hold the captain here for trial, but we pretend we are not aware that the ship is stolen and let the crew take it. Hopefully they've got an officer left who knows how to find Captain Sparrow, and they'll deliver their documents to him with the bad news that this man got caught up in a local murder. He'll then come to claim his property as a legitimate businessman, and we'll catch him in some criminal activity down the line because we know who he is and he doesn't know we know. We'll recover the ship another time, if all goes well. Is that basically it? Sounds like a plan."
If that's what you're suggesting, they'll do it.
--M. J. Young
"That's pretty much it, except that I was expecting to include one of our own men among the crew, to keep an eye on them, make sure they go through with it and don't tip off Captain Sparrow to what's really going on. I mean, we did just take their ship by force. They might not be inclined to help us, all things considered."
"That's an interesting thought. Probably you couldn't do it yourself, though--you're obviously known to them. There's also the problem that they're not going to want to reveal to anyone that they are Jack Sparrow's pirates, but they're not going to want to take on someone who thinks they're all honest sailors. Somehow we need to find a way to insinuate a man into their midst that they won't suspect, that they'll treat as one of their own.
"Maybe if we put him aboard in the hold and had him discovered as a stowaway? That could be dangerous--they might simply throw him overboard.
"How do you think it could be accomplished?"
--M. J. Young
"I wasn't planning on sneaking someone into their crew, so much as I was thinking of recruiting them. You're working under the impression that their being pirates is still any kind of secret. We already know they're pirates - we took them off their ship in chains because we know they're pirates. We're not trying to say they're not pirates. We're trying to say they are pirates, and that we need them to be pirates.
We're going to buy their loyalty with the promise of freedom, and put a handful of our own men - who will be in danger all the while, and so must be volunteers - to oversee the whole thing. To go with them, and work on the ship as needed because no ship can afford men who do no work, but they are, in effect, jailers.
Once our pirate crew, with our lawmen aboard, leads Captain Jack back here, we get our men back and bring down the whole thing. Captain Jack and his flagship crew go down as pirates, and the men who sold him up the river - small fish, compared to the Captain himself - walk. Keeping in mind that bored ex-pirates with no money and no ship will probably all wind up back in jail for something else by the end of the week anyway."
"What an interesting idea. In essence, we tell these men that we can make cases against them as pirates, but we'll give them freedom to live on Durnmist as citizens if they give us Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew. A couple of our men, maybe harbor patrol, join them and pretend to be pirates with them, to help move things along, but however it's done, when Sparrow gets back here we take him for piracy.
"One complication I see is that Sparrow is not going to sail into Durnmist in The Pearl; he's probably going to come in this ship, or some other stolen ship, and leave The Pearl in the hands of his chosen successor. That means that this crew probably won't be able to come back here with him. Also, that's a lot of trust. We send a score of men back on this ship with instructions to deliver the papers to Sparrow so he'll walk into our trap, and just one of them alerts Sparrow to the trap, and the other nineteen know they're dead, along with our men. That gives them a big incentive to be the first guy to spill the beans.
"I think we've got to let most of them go--tell them there's insufficient evidence to convict them of piracy under our jurisdiction, but take the officer for the murders he committed. Let them have the papers in some way that doesn't suggest we know what they're planning, and keep watching for whoever takes charge of the inn in the weeks ahead and what they attempt to move in and out of it. They'll return to Sparrow and tell him that the officer in charge got involved in a fight that led to a killing, and he was taken for the killing, but that he did get papers that were not part of that. We took them from the ship for resisting our efforts to arrest their commanding officer; they might think themselves lucky that we did not determine they were pirates. But I think if we tell them they're to set up a trap for their captain, they won't, and if we send men with them, those will be dead men if they don't have more than a promise of freedom in Durnmist to offer.
"But if you can see how to make that work, I'm listening still."
--M. J. Young
"We could promise to let them keep their ship, appoint their own officers and so on.
Or we could replace the entire crew, except for a few who know where the rendezvous point is and would be willing to tell us.
I'm not willing to just let these people sail away and hope they'll come back, with or without Sparrow. If the idea is to get him in custody, we have to make sure we get him into custody. We can't hope to get him into custody."
At this point I'm pacing my office, hands behind my back, wearing a rut in the floor. Am I allowed to smoke in here? I think I need a pipe.
"There has to be some way to use a capture pirate ship, a crew of captured pirates, and a known rendezvous with their highly-wanted pirate admiral, to get said admiral into custody. There has to be a way..."
The men with you are similarly stymied, some tapping fingers, others wringing hands.
Finally the chief says, "I agree with you, John, but I can't think how. Maybe we're out of our element--you're the only one here with any background in seamanship or pirates. But perhaps we should get together with the Watch General and his staff, and the Head of Admiralty and his staff, and see if they can devise a strategy. Obviously the more people Sparrow doesn't know on the crew that returns, the more suspicious he'll be, particularly if a lot of those he does know are missing. I'm not sure how we solve this, but I think there must be a way."
--M. J. Young
"That sounds wise. I do have some experience at sea, but two years as a navigator doesn't make me an admiral, and just because I've taken two pirate ships by force doesn't mean I can out-think a career pirate commodore. This is definitely a good time to ask someone who knows what he's doing on a much larger scale."
You are invited to attend a noon meeting tomorrow. Given your work schedule, it is perfectly understandable if you need to be sleeping at that time, but your boss suggests that if you are there you should be well dressed and wearing your cord. It will be at a restaurant downtown with an exclusive reputation, in a private room.
--M. J. Young
"I'll be there."
The morning will be spent visiting a tailor, to get clothes that count as 'well dressed,' and a barber for a proper barbershop shave and to trim (not cut, but trim) my hair (which I wear long now). Then I'll be there. After re-upping my Remove Fatigue spell, of course.
A hot beverage like tea is served, along with some sort of not too sweet biscuit or cake, as several men mill about in personal conversations. Then the man who is obviously Watch General asks everyone to gather around a table and find seats. There seems no particular order to it, but that the Head of Admiralty sits to the right hand of the Watch General. Your chief invites you to sit beside him near the other end of the table. The General begins.
"Since I am not certain how much everyone knows about the present situation, and indeed my own briefings have been rather third and fourth hand, I thought we should begin by getting the first hand account. As I understand it, it begins with a murder of a tavern owner which was suspected to be connected to a ship in harbor, from a company that does not normally visit our port. The efforts of the local watch confirmed that the man pretending to be captain of that ship was the killer, and placed him into custody; but first, that man completed a transaction as agent for another, a notorious pirate named Captain Sparrow, who purchased a different tavern in a different part of town, but who is not here to take possession. It is hoped that we can devise a plan that will allow us to keep the murderer here but deliver the completed contracts to said Captain Sparrow to lure him to Durnmist, where he can be watched and ultimately arrested for piracy. I am also told that the ship in harbor is stolen, but that there is insufficient evidence to convict more than a few of its crew of piracy, as there is no plunder aboard.
"That is what I have been told. I should like to ask Investigator John Sevenwinds, who has been at the forefront in all of this, to give us any and all additional details he thinks might be relevant or helpful, and particularly to correct any misinformation in what I have just delivered."
--M. J. Young
"I thank the General for giving me the floor, but that is the long-and-short of it. I could go into detail on the exact evidence or methods, but that would be making a short story long.
Where the trouble comes in, is in the method. How to proceed from here. We have a pirate ship, and a jail full of pirates, including one convictable murderer. The problem is in using these pieces to build a trap, from which our Sparrow cannot, eh, fly the coop, as it were."
"The problem, then," the admiral says, "is getting our own people aboard without Sparrow realizing that we've done this; and that probably means that the pirates we release can't know that these are our men. They're going to expect us to attempt something of the sort, and will either sell out our people to Sparrow or maroon them at the first opportunity."
Everyone ponders for a moment. A member of the Admiral's staff speaks next.
"What if we found a couple of younger men who stowed aboard and then claimed they wanted to join the pirates for the adventure and wealth? I suspect pirates pick up new recruits that way occasionally, and if we had our duo pose as best of friends who stowed away together, they might be believed. I don't think we could get more than three aboard that way."
"True," another says; "but if the pirates are expecting us to try something, they'll be suspicious of this."
Everyone ponders, and the first speaks again.
"Well, if we put someone on the ship that the pirates know is a plant, and then maybe two days out of port he jumps ship taking one of the boats and we pick him up with one of the patrol ships, they might think he expected them to kill him and fled for his life. Then they would be less suspicious of the stowaways, particularly if these had not yet been found."
"Dangerous for the man who goes aboard, of course," the Admiral says, "because even if they don't kill him before he runs, afloat in the Greater Syndic a day from Durnmist is lost at sea, even if someone knows to look for you there. But if they're headed back out into the Syndic, which seems most likely, they're going against the current, and the boat would bring the man back--and if they're going the other way, currents will carry him within sight of a known port eventually. Hopefully if our patrols can keep a decent distance behind, they'll be able to catch the boat easily enough."
"Who seems flaws here?" the General asks.
--M. J. Young
I do have certain unique skills that would make me unusually suitable to be the man in the longboat. The problem is, I was the one who took their ship at gunpoint. I can't volunteer - they will hang me from a yardarm as soon as we're out of sight of shore. I'm good, but I'm not 'one against the whole crew' good.
"It has its problems, but its the best we've got so far. So long as those couple of men can make certain Sparrow comes back to Durnmist in person..."
Someone else from the admiralty answers. "I'm inclined to think that this is going to be problematic. If our men attempt to induce him to come, that's likely to make him suspicious--particularly since it's unlikely he would expect new men to know his plans here. Also, he's not going to bring them with him when he comes--he'll probably steal some other ship, or even more likely play the part of a stranded sailor and get himself picked up by a passing ship to come here alone."
"Maybe," another answers; "but if he is at all suspicious--and he's bound to be when his first officer is hung for murder--he's apt to send someone else to take possession of the tavern and give it a few days or so to see if we move on him."
"That would have to be someone he genuinely trusts. After all, if he gives his papers to someone else and has him take possession, how can he then prove that they were his originally if the man doesn't surrender the shop to him when he asks? And do pirates really trust each other?
"And I don't see how our stowaways manage to get themselves back here alive. The pirates aren't going to drop them off at a friendly port, and jumping ship is not a particularly reliable way of getting anywhere."
Someone from the watch speaks. "It may sound crazy, but maybe the best answer is to do as little as possible. I mean, if we put the papers back on the ship as soon as we're done with them, and release the rest of the crew with the statement that there's no evidence they were involved in the murder or any other illegal activities in Durnmist, they're bound to return to Sparrow, and he's bound to ask about the papers and get them. He'll ask about the first officer, and they'll tell them what they know--which at this point is that he managed to complete the business for which he was sent, but along the way murdered two men and was caught and executed for it, but that no mention was ever made of piracy and the rest of the crew was released. He might not come immediately, and he might or might not send someone ahead of himself--but if we keep an eye on the place, he's bound to show, and sooner rather than later because the owner from which he bought it wants to retire and isn't going to watch it now that he's been paid. So we have a speedy trial for our murderer, return the papers to the ship, set the crew free, and keep an eye on the tavern in question until we catch Sparrow involved in something illegal."
The Watch General is nodding thoughtfully; the Head of Admiralty is scratching his chin.
--M. J. Young
I agree with the Watchman. "It was Sparrow's plan to come here all along. We know he's coming. We know where he's coming. It might work out just fine to get out of his way and let him come. At the very least, even if he doesn't show, we'll get someone he trusts highly enough to be his point man for a job like this."
Over the next three days there is an expedited trial. You are called to testify to the details of the murder, and the acquisition of the blood-stained papers aboard the ship, but it's all fairly routine and the trial time means time off from the night shift. In the end, the man is sentenced to execution as a murderer, the other papers are returned to the ship (not the blood-stained ones), and the crew released. The explanation is given to the crew that their captain and two of the crew were involved in some sort of illegal activity which resulted in the deaths of his two confederates and two citizens of Durnmist, but that there is no evidence that any of them were in any way involved or responsible, so they are being returned to their ship to continue their journey on behalf of the company (name of which slips my mind, but was mentioned and is included in this speech). They choose not to stay for the execution, and thereafter life returns to the routine.
It strikes me that you've had a hand in developing some of the culture here, so I thought I'd invite you to suggest whatever you think is an appropriate mode of execution for murderers in a civilized port such as Durnmist. I don't guarantee it will be whatever you say--I'm not inclined for it to be too barbaric or too humane--but particularly if you've a notion of different forms of execution being used for different capital crimes, I'm interested.
--M. J. Young
Murder of a citizen is considered a fairly heinous crime pretty much anywhere. I don't imagine they are above a public execution, although they are probably above public torture - it just doesn't seem like the kind of town that would give him the Braveheart treatment. I would say a hanging, or public beheading is probably about right. Guns aren't really widespread, so a firing squad isn't likely, especially as he's not a military criminal.
He is offered his choice of public hanging or public beheading; he chooses the latter. It is performed two days after his conviction, but his crew are already gone.
We return to the routine, but there is a commendation in your file for your involvement in this case.
--M. J. Young
Once things settle down - in the lull while we wait for Captain Sparrow to come back to roost - I will devote my off-hours energies to finding suitable tenants for the other half of my duplex.
I will also write myself a note about a spell I would like to try, though I don't have the specifics of the ritual worked out yet. First I want to use a Restore Freshness spell, to restore all the wood of the house to pristine condition - i.e., very recently dead. Second, a Remove Impurities variant, to remove the spaces between one board and the next, in effect turning the entire house into one single contiguous block of very fresh wood. Then I want to use a Healing type spell, to turn my entire house into a single living tree, and let it put down roots. I don't know if any of this is possible here, even though it's all based on things I've done before, but the idea of trying amuses me more than a little, so I devote some small amount of time to writing about it.
I am equally intrigued by your spell ideas, and look forward to seeing what you devise.
How do you plan to look for suitable tenants? Qualities of such tenants would be a good start (so I know what you consider suitable), but also where and how you will be looking.
--M. J. Young
Is there anything like a real estate system in this town? Brokers and the like? I could just put a 'space for rent' sign in the window and see who drops by. I've never been a landlord before, so I don't really know how.
The ideal would be a young family with a stable income, the kind of people I can look forward to having as tenants for years. Pets are okay, children are welcome. Once I meet them, a trustworthy look and feel to them - people I shouldn't expect any problems from. I will make no secret of the fact that I am a member of the Watch, and if that makes them nervous, they probably oughtn't rent.
My recollection is that the way you found the places you found was mostly by asking people if they knew of any place for sale. You find no one in the real estate business now, so it seems that the way to do this is to get word out through local businesses that you've got a place open, and see what they send your way. You do know a few tavern owners apart from the one who was murdered recently, and there are other businesses in your police area (which happens to be more of a commercial sector, although there are residences as well). Perhaps figuring out what kind of businesses are likely to be frequented by the kind of tenants you hope to find would be the right place to start.
--M. J. Young
Tailors, I suppose, or schools. Higher-end taverns or restaurants. I'll also mention it to the customs house guy I worked with on the investigation - maybe he'll recommend me to someone new in town and looking to settle in.
Response is poor. You do get one caller who wants to see the place, but he doesn't look like much of a tenant and he seems rather uncertain about you as a landlord; he does not return to discuss it further.
Ten days after the ship pulls out, you arrive at work at your regular time and find the place in an uproar. There is a fire three blocks from the office, and all hands are frantically working to contain it. The incoming supervisor is already there, looking bleary-eyed as if he'd been pulled from bed hours ago and had not had enough sleep, but he sees you and immediately calls on you to help organize. Other offices should be sending some spare men, but some of the men from other districts helping right now will expect to be relieved. They need men fighting the fire, but also men managing the area, watching for opportunity crimes--people breaking into homes and businesses under the confusion of the fire. Someone has to try to assign men where they're needed, and that means trying to keep track of the need. What part do you want?
--M. J. Young
I'll see to the men looking to be relieved. Why? Because I can put someone in charge of debriefing them - making sure they haven't seen anybody going for opportunity crimes while we have them checked for injuries and out of uniform - and while we're at it drop some of those half-hour group-burst Remove Fatigue spells, so those same men can be recycled back into service.
This one?:
1@2 Induce Alertness M+2@1 remove fatigue variant 30:00 TF removes fatigue from all within 30', speak appropriate words sotto voce, one eye closed for Odin, left hand on sword for Thor, right hand on heart for Baldur, and single gold piece in right palm for Loki, destroyed in the process, only works when vigilance is significant and caster is aware of that significance, must be night or local equivalent thereof, +30SM
You assemble a couple of assistants, and bring a tired batch of about thirty men going off shift into your squad room. You ask them all to wait patiently while your assistants deal with each of them individually, and when that is done you'll have a few words. One of your assistants goes from man to man checking for and bandaging injuries, the other gathers information about what they saw that might be relevant to other crimes or to the cause of the fire. You, meanwhile, stand silently in the middle, hand on heart and sword, eye closed, ignoring all who attempt to catch your attention as you mutter quietly. As you anticipated, it takes them a bit longer to get through everyone than it takes you to get through your spell, and then you have the opportunity to address them.
I presume you will thank them for their labor, and then make some sort of appeal for those who are still able to continue to assist in the effort to contain this conflagration, and that you promise to get them time off if they need it to catch up on their sleep tomorrow.
--M. J. Young
Exactly so.
All of the men for whom you prayed return to fight the fire.
Are you tackling another batch, or doing something else?
--M. J. Young
I'll stay on doing this. If every half-hour of my time gets groups of men back into the job, that's more effective than anything I could do in person.
Unless...
Was anyone hurt in the fire? Have they brought out wounded?
The second batch has several injured badly enough that simple first aid is not going put them right. You've got a broken arm and some second degree burns.
--M. J. Young
I have several versions of basically the same healing spell. I just need one that doesn't require a consecrated holy ground, which I don't have time to set up. My Lay On Hands one should work - the one that requires someone have been injured without malice, but burns through gold. Thankfully I have an abundance of gold.
I find three healing spells; the first heals only yourself, so we'll discount it. The other two are
- 1@1 "Lay on Hands" - Limited Damage Repair M 2@1 TF 10 minutes, laying hands on a person injured without malice, kneeling, counts as whole-body involvement, appropriate words spoken including invoking Freya to heal him. Requires sacrifice of an appropriate amount of local currency to pay a medic for similar treatment. +57SM
- 1@1 Cure Wounds M+2@1 limited damge repair lethal base, must touch victim, TF 20:00, invokes Freya, sacrifices any flower (destroyed in the casting), keeps his left eye closed while invoking Odin, plus Hel and Baldur, kneeling beside the victim, sound matters, must be spoken forcefully (as a stage actor) while looking into a manufactured portable polished reflective surface such as a mirror or sword blade, rest required immediately after use, +90 SM
Since neither of them is a quick one-minute prayer, this is not something I should decide.
--M. J. Young
The first is the one I meant.
The first patient, the broken arm, heals rather well, although it is still tender.
The burns of the second patient clear up almost completely, and he is fully recovered.
The third patient is also burned, and you reduce the severity of the burn to some redness and tenderness.
All three are asking what you did.
--M. J. Young
"I did nothing," I answer, "It was the grace of the gods that healed you..."
Am I trying to convert the indigs? Well, it would be nice if one or two of them wanted to know more... At any rate, it looks like I've found my place in things for now.
"What," one of them asks, "is that some sort of native mysticism you picked up when you were a sailor? I've never heard of anything like that."
--M. J. Young
"Native mysticism? Yes, but not from sailing. If you want to know more I'll tell you all about it..." If he is not immediately looking to dive back into work, or to go home, I'll be more than willing to tell him all about it, until they bring in more wounded.
"Well, you've got me curious. After all, whatever it is, it seems to work. I'd have sworn his arm was broken, but it looks to be set right now. And my burns are much improved--I'd have expected something like that to take weeks."
You've got an audience. What will you tell them?
--M. J. Young