A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

Rae ArdGaoth · Sep 5, 2008

The Fallonese official introduces himself: Greetings, captains. I am Jord Theren, customs enforcement officer. Your names, please? From where do you hail? And your ship's names..." He trails off as he glances at the vessels' hulls.

He looks from Keldar to the Diligenza captain. "Ah, there seems to be... some... irregularity. Here."

He references his book. "Yes, ah, the Lake Jane is registered to a Lom Cregle, and you are not him. And the Onaeron is registered to Jamella Githiel, and unless I am sorely mistaken, you are not her," he says pointedly at Keldar.

He snaps his fingers, points at a building on land, and snaps his fingers again impatiently. His assistant jerks, nods, and dashes off. "Explanations, now."

The captain of the once-Lake Jane says, "Common not my strong. Please, to him." He gestures towards Keldar "Jamella" Warbray, self-proclaimed captain of the ~~Onaeron~~ ~~Warbray~~ ~~Mighty~~ Floating Warbray.

Trouvere · Sep 5, 2008

"It's exceedingly simple!" says Keldar.

"First, the introductions. I'm Keldar, Keldar Warbray, lately of Orussus." Keldar indicates his companions in turn. "The Lady Rapture of - also Orussus. Tarag, master smith, respectable businessman and priest, no less. Atomerasu Worthallingham, student of one of the two greatest schools of magical learning in the known world. Galwynn Grimeblade, of the tragic village of, of... wait, I can remember. Black and white animal, small area of woods - of course, the village of Magpiethicket. And here is Frimble Laura Atkins Mackerel Gibbons the Third, whose name I'm sure is not unknown in Fallon. But we all set off from Orussus, having signed on as guards for the voyage aboard the Jane - the Diligenza, as she now is."

"Now, Jamella Githiel, you say? Long silver hair? Pointed ears? About half as pretty as Rapture? Carried this very blade?" Keldar displays the rapier that he can't seem to keep his hands off, though he's never strapped it to his side. "A first mate who looks exactly like him? Fond of fire? Screams a lot? Quite clearly insane?"

"Because that's the woman who attacked the Diligenza and tried to kill us all. She stabbed herself in the heart when her attack failed. She's down below, in winding sheets, alongside the corpses of two of her men. And, you might be pleased to hear, we have all but one of the rest of her piratical crew tied up below too, alive if not happy. The twelfth leapt overboard and swam for it."

"And strange to relate, so did Captain Cregle, before he had a chance to see what the Keldarites and his own men could do in the face of pirates. It seems he had less concern for his ship than they."

"We would have looked for them, but the Kithsul is large, and the night was dark, and a lot was happening. We had had two others overboard and wounded to tend. I hope they reached shore, but I would not lay money on it."

"Will you come aboard to examine the stolen goods in their hold - which I am sure you will find on the manifests of other vessels sailing the Kithsul? Though if you wish to wait for your companion to return with the guard, I understand. You'll need them to remove the prisoners."[sblock=OOC]Ahem, in swapping around the order of introductions, I managed to cut and not replace the mention of Tarag. For once, my fault and not Keldar's deliberate snub[/sblock]

covaithe · Sep 5, 2008

"He's right, sir. We were attacked by pirates from this boat. There was a terrible fight!" Tommy adds earnestly, trying to look young and innocent.

covaithe · Sep 5, 2008

double post

Trouvere · Sep 6, 2008

"Yes, too terrible to speak of," says Keldar.

"I put arrows in two and stabbed three more," he adds modestly. "And armed our crew with javelins and organised the rescue of the two who fell overboard."

Rae ArdGaoth · Sep 8, 2008

The dock official looks rather flabbergasted. The captain of the Diligenza looks incredibly proud. The official sputters and hums like one of the gnomish machines for a full minute, until his assistant arrives with the guard. He immediately regains his composure.

"Good! There are allegations of piracy involving these two ships that need to be investigated. There are prisoners and stolen goods aboard this one, and I need to re-register this one. Go to it."

After brief, successful interrogations, accounting of stolen merchandise, and dealing with some bureaucracy, all the chips fall into place. In exchange for eliminating a pirate threat and returning the goods to their rightful owners, the once-Onaeron, previously owned by a foreigner with no will, is given to the Keldarites by the Fallonese government. (Under whose name will the deed be? Or will you have a joint ownership deed? A captain and crew can probably be hired for merchant work, making enough money to pay the crew and keep up the ship, with potential profit.)

Ownership of the Diligenza is transferred to its once-first mate until such time as Captain Cregle returns, at which time court will be held to determine whether abandoning his ship in the face of danger forfeits ownership.

With all that out of the way, you are finally allowed off of the docks. With the vast city of Fallon before them, and with one more ship and one more shovel than they had a month ago, the possibilities seem endless.

Fimble is incredibly excited to be home. His weasel, seeing this place for the first time, stands on his head and stares rapt at the lights and the waterfalls and the geysers. "Fallon, City of Falls. Beautiful, isn't it? All this bureaucratic work has gotten me hungry, anybody up for some Fallonese Flipfish?"

Boddynock · Sep 8, 2008

OOC: Another character of mine once became part owner of an abandoned mine but had to sell it because he, like the rest of his party, needed the cash. Since we're considering adventuring as a permanent group, I'd love to keep the ship - it could be a good plot-hook, or a handy resource, not to mention a nice little earner long-term.

But if we do, let's find an appropriate name for it. Something like The Vigilance, or The Kiss of Steel, or Valour's Reward, or even (dare I say it?

) The Bloody Bard.

And a proper name for our group please, so that it can go on the title deed. What about Company of Friends? Because I think that's what we're seeing develop here.

IC: "Fallonese Flipfish? That sounds suitably exotic. And I'll buy some fine wine to go with it - for we're celebrating our new venture tonight."

covaithe · Sep 8, 2008

"Flipfish? Why do they call them that? I'd be happy to try them. Fimble, do you know anyone at the College?" Tommy chatters happily as they go along.

[sblock=ooc]If we keep it, I vote for "That Bloody Bard". Putting my min-maxing hat on for a minute, we shouldn't keep it unless the income would earn us a decent fraction of the value of the boat and the reward (which we'd have to effectively spend on crew for the boat to become a viable asset, if I understand correctly), in some reasonable amount of time. Since 5000g at level 4 is worth a lot more than 5000g at, say, level 8, that amount of time might need to be on the smallish side. Which I'm not sure I can see Rae agreeing to. I'd welcome a more concrete breakdown of the numbers. I'm willing to make less than optimal choices in the name of RP coolness -- but there's a limit.

We should also determine what to do with the more portable loot from the pirate fight. I lack time to double check just now, but I seem to recall that not much of it was claimed. So we should have a bit of change coming from that, too.
[/sblock]

Trouvere · Sep 9, 2008

"It's certainly an interesting city. I think you might get a crick in the neck from looking up at the beautiful parts. Who'd want to live all the way down here and only see the sun for an hour each side of noon?" asks Keldar.[sblock=OOC]Keldar disagrees with me, but I think we should sell the ship. But not right now, at the end of the adventure. We can use it as a base if we spend several days in Fallon. Then we could sell it here and walk home, or hire some sailors for the return trip to Orussus and sell it there.

It seems likely that most of us are nearing the point of wanting to save up for a big-ticket commission from Tarag or Tommy, so there is no urgent need for ready money. Or am I wrong?

There are some looted items which are temporarily useful. Even if Rapture doesn't want a MW longbow long term, she might as well carry about the one we have for now, just in case there's a need to exchange arrows. Although it would be more cost-effective to keep Jamella Githiel's +1 rapier, for RP reasons I'd rather have Tarag magic-up the one he made. But since that can't be done until we get back to Orussus, Keldar will for now remain fascinated with the dead pirate elf's weapon. The MW short sword will have to do until Keldar can have Tarag make something better.

There are some items for which no one has any use - in particular the 3 MW mithral longswords and MW darkwood shields, the 4 MW rapiers, 3 falchions and 2 daggers. There's also armor (assuming that Tommy and Fimble have prestidigitated away the blood stains and mended the stab holes, or we find unbothered buyers!). We could try to sell this immediately. That should come to 3250 gp. The longswords cost 1315 gp each new, don't they? There's also unappraised jewellery.

It's probably about time we invested in a Wand of CLW or two, so that Tarag can make better use of his spell slots. Four of us can use them. One should be entrusted to Keldar, who is more battlefield mobile than Tarag, so that everyone in the party except the wizards can deliver some sort of healing if needed.[/sblock]

covaithe · Sep 9, 2008

"I bet they use mirrors or something," muses Tommy. "And the falls probably give off quite a bit of light, too, when the sun hits them. I wonder where we'll find an architect here?"

[sblock=ooc]All good points. With regards to a base here, I presume Fimble has contacts, if not an actual home, here. Which may or may not make a better base, but it's worth keeping in mind. [/sblock]