Official DM Post
I little early, but here it is.
(OOC: Uriel - you don't know each other but will meet shortly)
Vemuz - You are standing in your "personal space" - the other seamen give you a wide berth - near "the Wall," looking for employment, when you feel someone plucking at your sleeve. Looking down - far, far down - you see a short, thin man who bears more resemblance to a rat than a person.
He is certainly no ship's captain. He doesn't carry himself like one used to commanding men. Rather, he carries himself like one used to running from them. Nor does he dress like a sea captain.
"Allo, guv," he says, grinning nervously and showing rotten teeth. "Lookin' fer work, are ya? Coor, but you're a hard-lookin' brute. If y'are lookin' fer work, come with me. I'll buy ya a drink or two, an' mayhaps we'll discuss signin' Articles wi' someone, eh?"
He gestures to a building not far away. It is a hulk, shorn of its masts and rigging and floating tied to the wharf. It has a low, mean look - it looks like it would cut your throat and take your money, were it a person. You can barely make the name on its smokestained sign. It reads "The Frigate - Food and Beds for Weary Tars."
"Trust me," the man says, "It's a good deal better on th' inside. An' 'ere's something ta calm yer doubts [here he presses a gold coin into your palm]. Its not a bad place, ya know. Good drink, great gals...if ya catch my meanin'...and I know a captain or two's a reg'lar there. If ya wanna sign Articles, there's nobbut better than Th' Ould Frigate." He stands, awaiting your response, brazen but intimidated. He spits out a wad of tobacco nervously.
(OOC: do you follow?)
Malachi(OOC: I now you haven't posted yet, but I'll just say you're still on the ship): As you walk down the gangplank, hefting your seabag to your shoulder, you take a look at the town. It is not a bad town, though it has all the attendent fixings of a port-town - prostitutes, thieves, and the like prowl the streets, rubbing shoulders with fabulously rich merchants. Malthas, you know, has already disembarked and headed for a tavern, but you had stayed to say a brief prayer to Calypso that your next voyage be as successful as the last.
As you step down, a man taps you on the shoulder. He is tall, sailorly type, though you notice he has been on land long enough to lose his sea-stride.
"Hey Porc...err, gu'vor. Ya'll be looking for a tavern, eh? An' maybe ta sign Articles afore yer money runs out...say, are ya an officer or somethin' or did ya just steal that sextant, eh? Either way, why don't yer come this way an' I'll by y'a drink or two," he says, expectantly.
(OOC: Do you follow him?)
(Other Players: This contains knowledge not meant for your eyes...yet. So please don't read it, or if you do, don't act upon the info herein)
Malthas: You are sipping your ale, relaxing and wondering where the hell Malachi is, when a small boy, eleven or twelve, walks in, striding brashly over to your table.
"Hello," he says furtively. "Can I sit down?" He sits down regardless, not waiting for you to respond.
"So you're fresh off that ship, the Sunset Princess, where the navigator is a Porc? Heard someone call him Malachi, or some such? I'd watch out, If I was you. I seen this Malachi talking ta one of the Runners. Yer gotta be careful of them, ya know. They're allus lookin' fer new sailors. You drink with them, sometimes ya wake up on a slow boat ta Canching, if ya get my meanin', and ya don't get paid a seaman's wages, neither. They'll Canching ya, them Runners, if'n yer not careful. They ain't nice folk. I'm only tellin' ya seeing as yer prolly a ship's boy like me, an' I don' wanna see us cabin boys gettin' Canchinged." the boy obviously thinks you're a fellow child, and shares this information with you because he feels some sort of charity toward a fellow "boy."
* * * *
I will give the others a chance to post before resuming my DM Post. Anyways, Malachi, I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to respond before I posted about you, but necessity demanded I make at least part of my DM Post. Tomorrow, I will finish this DM Post.
Hopefully we'll have the game going full swing by the weekend.
)
