groundrules: (Default)
let's set d o w n some ([personal profile] groundrules) wrote in [community profile] westwhere2022-06-03 07:06 pm

no man's sea


Avast ye — sprawling til 18 June is part I of the Storm at Sea travel arc, which doubles as a test drive. Participants don’t need an invite to reserve or apply over 10-17 June.

Try to label if you’re a test drive tourist or an old timer — and don’t hesitate to leave an OOC note to opt out of random NPC piraaaaaaaargh interaction. Test drivers can post both log and network prompts. Have fun!




NO MAN’S SEA




DEEP WATERS | SON OF A BISCUIT EATER | MOLLYWICK | | THE CROSSING | NOTES




AHOY! SCALLYWAGS

Departing Ke-Waihu, the existing party joins paranoid pirate king, turned stalwart saint Samuel Vane — the feared Quicksilver Sam — aboard the Pariah.

Test drivers awaken anguishing at sea, floating on rafts, or on minuscule patches of deserted land. They are collected by two pirates and the recalcitrant sorceress Karsa — who supplies translation and communication devices. She explains the newcomers were summoned into the land of Akhuras by warring undead factions. Karsa’s master, the elusive Merchant, ferries newcomers east to beacons hoped to return them home. He has secured them passage on the pirate vessel Queen Zanyra of ’Wet Rope’ Caladan Kreil, an associate of Quicksilver Sam.

The Pariah and Zanyra meet at sea, a day’s travel away from Ke-Waihu:

■ Characters overhear that Quicksilver Sam seeks to reach the haunted Crossing Seas and ‘settle an old score.’ Long-term ally Caladan Kreil supports his cause.

■ The two vessels make daily supply and crew exchanges by rowboat. The Pariah’s passengers must give the passcode: flaunted like gold to board the Queen Zanyra. Staff of the Queen Zanyra must speak the words before the blind man to access the Pariah. Forget your passcode and fall at the mercy of whoever patrols the decks!

■ Tasks await all passengers: diligently clean and polish decks, climb tall masts to sew torn sails, banish a preposterous number of seagulls, fish, read post or… dubious novels to sailors, count loot, guard the decks, clean cannons or serve as boat lure for shark fishing. Medics and cooks can practise their natural trades, while musicians and entertainers should amuse the crew.

■ By all means, grab thematic garments from crew coffers. Also available: daggers, swords and rare pistols.

■ Characters may notice both ship crews are spirited, but grow weary when Quicksilver Sam fitfully orders his five on-call priests to carry out protection rites, or to ‘exorcise’ evil from random staff — through ineffective bitter potions, shrill chants and requests to sit in unusual luck-incurring poses, or to commit some mundane, repetitive task. Let’s bore the devil away.

■ Treat senior crew with respect: some pirates are equally drunk on rum and fleetingly authority and reward perceived slights with a 24h-stay in the brig. These fine accommodations fit two and annul powers while there. No dinner.


■ Sleep where you can: hammocks and rotting mattresses can be found in great common halls beneath decks. The sick and women (naturally, ill omens at sea) can share the four private cabins of each ship. Sumeragi Subaru has his own cabin aboard the Pariah.

■ Each night, expect drinking beneath the halls and a pirate’s greatest hobby: gambling. Conmen might lure you into an ‘innocent game’ that sinks you deep into debt, winning your valuables, favours, or kidney!

■ Ladies are afforded a wide, begrudging berth and some authority over the crew.

Accommodations: fresh potions are readily available to ward off sea sickness, and magically resilient oranges are on hand to counter scurvy. As woe would have it, the long-serving Mr. Ishmael has passed, and his earthly remains have been retained aboard the Pariah for Kaneki Ken. Viktor receives a leashed emotional support albatross — a large, loud but docile bird that flies above him counter-current to balance him, whenever the ship’s sway threatens his footing.


OBJECTIVES

■ Discover why good Quicksilver Sam is intent on his haunted travels. The captain declines audiences, but try to get information from the two crews.

■ Please share the information gained via network…!





THAT SON OF A BISCUIT EATER

Trouble starts to brew, within days at sea:

■ Be on the lookout while on watch duty: on a handful of occasions, new faces appear aboard. They fail to offer the passcode — and attempt to injure characters, throw them overboard, or to enter the captains’ lodgings. Sound the alarm or seize intruders!

■ After interrogating an infiltrator, Caladan Kreil sends word that the assailants hail from the Concord, a war vessel of the Dawns’ Reach Trade Company that is pursuing the pirate ships at distance under the command of Maximilian Hawk. A credit to his name, Wet Rope Caladan has the spy hanged.

■ Prepare to get drafted for double watch duty, as both Caladan Kreil and Quicksilver Sam bolster defences. Tensions escalate, with pirate crew questioning the loyalties of newer recruits.

■ A few days later, at dawns, the silent, swift and massive Concord approaches close enough to fire its cannons at both ships and send vicious militia to climb aboard. Defend your ship!

■ The Concord withdraws by midday, after lightly damaging its opponents. Help with repairs and enjoy some rum — you’ve survived your first sea scuffle!




MOLLYWICK

Just short of entering the Crossing, where the seas are dark and highly opaque, the Queen Zanyra and Pariah encounter a stretch of vibrant, lushly forested land.

■ Both vessels send crew over for a few hours, with captains urging quick incursions. Pair up to collect berries, scant mushrooms and sweet water. Curiously, no animals are found.

■ Veteran sailors say this is the Neverflight isle of myth, where sea kings have buried their treasures. Pirates share legendary coordinates of long lost loot, archived as riddles or poems. Grab a shovel and a-digging you go!

■ …ah, but don’t linger too long. What pranksters your sailor friends are. Within hours of the island’s appearance, the earth beneath your feet crumbles and quakes, and the land starts to sink. Evacuate or call for help to get out of here — as the great white whale Mollywick submerges in the waters with the Neverflight island it carries on its back. Hopefully, you don’t go under with them.

■ If you’ve threaded out a treasure dig, drop a line to receive some especially deplorable loot. You deserve it.




THE CROSSING

The Pariah and Queen Zanyrafrequently chained together to avoid separation — creep into the Crossing : a stretch of eerily silent waters, dark and volatile.

■ Slowly, a thick, nearly impregnable fog dawns during the day, covering the sun and leaving the skies a desolate slate. Dreadful storms spark at night.

■ Strange, talking carps jump on board, offering to tell you your future. Caution: they only make bad luck readings (request yours) that turn true. They appear wherever their target flees and are exceptionally annoying, until either the moon rises, or you apply the superstitious cure of throwing salt on them.

■ Nightmares haunt you — your own, or glimpsed memories of ships crashing, sinking, falling to storm. Note: only your character suffers these memories/nightmares, but everyone else can experience their exhausted grumpiness, come morning.

■ Be wary, when pairing to cross over to the other pirate ship: you may find another rowboat beside yours, its sailor begging for an oar or ladle. If you give him one, he shovels water into your boat with inhuman speed — desert your vessel and swim quickly to a pirate ship, before undead hands pull you into the sea.

■ While alone on deck, characters might hear sweet, coaxing voices that urge them to walk the plank into the water. Break your brethren from this spell, or watch them fall into the arms of man-eating mermaids.

■ Now and then, the ships are shaken by long, whips of something lashing from the depths.

■ Pirates become increasingly skittish and on edge. Priests perform countless protection rites and exorcisms on both ships.

■ At night, a handful of undead men climb aboard. They lack awareness and are in a clear state of discomposure, looking to catch the living and drown them. With toothless, rotting mouths, some rasp, This is kinder.

■ As you officially enter the Crossing, beams of light erupt in the horizon, showing the distant silhouettes of several ghost ships.




NOTES

TEST DRIVE QUESTIONS

OLD-TIMER QUESTIONS

inthechair: (enhhh)

ahoy!

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Pike has had better days, certainly. He’d woken face down with a mouthful of sand and something excavating the hair just behind his right ear. He’d jolted upright to realize he was on a sand bar barely bigger than him.

No communicator, no tricorder. One shoe - no, wait. He lunged for the other as it tried to float away. He sat up, peering blearily around himself.]


What the hell?

[Something big in the distance, heading his way. Rescue? Something smaller, closer. A person on a raft that was more hope than wood. He jolted to his feet.]

Number One!
inthechair: (Default)

b)

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
Here, let me help.

[Pike has nothing but sympathy. He’s accustomed to hard work, that part’s fine, but as he’s learned, Starfleet hard work doesn’t translate to this. Flash burns, exhaustion, and sore muscles from desperate repairs to a shuttle engine before you get eaten by Gorn are not things that give you skills for running around a pirate ship.

His feet are so sore.

He works his way over to the man hidden behind the sail scraps and offers the spare needle from his pocket.

Then does a double take.]


Nice outfit. I’m Chris Pike.

unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
( she'd seen the large shape ahead of her, not yet having seen the smaller one behind her, moving very little on the 'raft' as she works to keep it afloat.

except that voice-- )
Captain? ( she turns, or at least looks behind her the best that she can without moving too much )

What the hell happened?

( echoing his question but maybe he knew something she didn't )
unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
How did you use it?

( and how was it supposed to be used?

her hands run over the outside of it, feeling first for anything strange before then looking to the latches to open it )
inthechair: (chair no not that one)

A (poor Bones)

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
That depends on where here is.

[Pike’s voice is not without sympathy. He finds a rag and dips it in what passes for clean water.]

I’m not a doctor, but putting this on your forehead might help a little.

[This guy might not be a doctor? So that’s not a definitive guess, just a general comment. Whoever he is, it’s good to see another Starfleet person.]
inthechair: (Default)

scuffle

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Pike did not expect this particular attack, so quickly after he’s found himself on this damn ship. He’s still wobbly, still unsettled, for all that he’s trying to adjust.

He ducks a punch, delivers an uppercut that mostly connects, then finds himself yanked back just in time to avoid a cutlass through the gut. He lands on his ass with a thud. Then scrambles back to his feet.]


Phew, thank you, Spo-

Spock?!
inthechair: (chair no not that one)

Crossing

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
The carp are incredibly annoying. Pike has a sound stomach, and he’s had to make use of it in recent days given the, er, lack of choice in onboard dining.

Even he draws the line at eating something that talks. No matter how obnoxious it is.

Unlike the perso- cat? Cat. Next to him. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he says gravely.

intermingled: ([malagraphic]d68UhTN)

[personal profile] intermingled 2022-06-09 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
That is... most perplexing.

[ He had not expected to be able to do something with time like that again, certainly not something that large. It must have been important for him to take such a leap. ]

I believe my curiosity may not outweigh my concern for what more knowledge could do. I do not wish to damage either of our universes by learning more of my own future than I should. I can only assume I will have good reason to do what I do.
intermingled: ([malagraphic]owkcV1B)

[personal profile] intermingled 2022-06-09 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
I will employ caution in my approach.

[ Though his definition of caution may be questionable where this is concerned. ]

Are you well? I have noticed these sailors are superstitious.
inthechair: (Default)

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:51 am (UTC)(link)

[Not a hallucination! Probably. He gives her a relieved grin, in spite of every single other aspect of this scenario not giving him any form of relief whatsoever. Una obviously doesn't know what's going on, either, and that means the same thing's happened to both of them.]

No idea. Last thing I remember we were eating, right?

[It'd seemed like a simple enough away mission. Meet the locals, make nice with them, exchange technological information. The food'd been all right, maybe a little too peppery for his tastes but he could always ask M'Benga to give him something for it later. Then nothing in his memory apart from a giant blank spot, until waking up here. .......and if it was just the two of them, were the others close by, too?]

unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
No, I was in my quarters.

( recording a log that she'd then deleted, even though the questions still stood and needed to be asked... just not yet.

but his account not matching hers-- )


Chris, who else were you eating with?

( one of their regular get together chats, his crew dinner or a mission? )
intermingled: ([malagraphic]OKWhPBT)

[personal profile] intermingled 2022-06-09 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ Spock raises an eyebrow. ]

It is true that humans are often ruled by their emotions.

[ Not that Spock feels a drive to defend the public reading of pornography, but he does not approve of dehumanizing the sailors. ]

However, it might have been more logical for his lady friend to send him a drawing rather than a written note if he cannot read it.
intermingled: ([malagraphic]wLPMcZ6)

omg hi!

[personal profile] intermingled 2022-06-09 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
Hello, Captain.

[ Unflappable as ever, Spock catches a fist as it flies at him and twists it until the man who had thrown the punch is on the ground before turning to offer Pike a familiar raised eyebrow. ]

I was not aware you were here.
inthechair: (Default)

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 05:59 am (UTC)(link)

[His eyebrows go up. He shifts back, encouraging her to make her way onto his tiny sandbar if she wants. They don't have a lot of good options right now.]

In your quarters? Hell.

Chapel, Spock, Hemmer.

You.

Viridian Four. Do you remember it?

[Away team chosen partly for expertise, partly to demonstrate to this culture that the Federation comprises many species.]

homeostatic: (ST - 4)

[personal profile] homeostatic 2022-06-09 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
( Surprise and then relief cross his face, before he remembers that the Commander's Pike wouldn't be the same man he spent a good eleven hours operating on. Still, there's an odd comfort in knowing that someone's Christopher Pike is still kicking around, hale and healthy instead of sleeping through an induced coma, after having his spinal cord re-myelinated. The neural grafts will take, he's confident of that, but the recollection of home drops in like an unpleasant guest, and he looks away from her, studying the glimpse of sky beyond the porthole.

I need to get home grips him. )


Oh Lord, ( Bones mutters vaguely, ) Do you have a, I dunno, Commander Spock, too?
inthechair: (hm)

Saw all you folk and couldn’t resist, hi!

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, this certainly makes some things easier. Pike jogs from foot to foot and blocks an overhead strike with crossed arms. He grunts, then manages to shove the man’s forearm back before the cutlass in said forearm can bisect him.]

I’ve missed that eyebrow.

Likewise. You been here long?
homeostatic: dnt (Default)

[personal profile] homeostatic 2022-06-09 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
Just because some folks have unrealistic ideas of what sex is about, ( he sees fit to declare. Bones doubts the men aboard care to understand the difference.

Did he steal his cousins' romance novels as a teenager? Haha yeah, totally. )
unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
( this worries her. there are many implications of it but... for him not to have the same knowledge as her-- something had happened as they'd arrived here )

We were in orbit of Hetemit IX. Our mission had been to investigate the colony.

( a colony that no longer existed but had given them some interesting pieces )
inthechair: (Default)

[personal profile] inthechair 2022-06-09 06:18 am (UTC)(link)

[This really, really isn't going to be his day, is it.]

Right. I remember that. Illyrian colony. Nine - ten days ago, for me.

[He remembers cowering on the floor with Spock. He remembers the truth about Una's heritage coming out, too, but he's not sure right now if that'll exactly be reassuring for her.]

intermingled: ([malagraphic]Ux78XMh)

Yeeees! come have fun. :>

[personal profile] intermingled 2022-06-09 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Spock does not voice that the feeling is mutual, but it is and he assumes that Pike will understand that. ]

Five days, three hours and seventeen minutes.

[ He ducks below a blade and sweeps the assailant's legs out from under him. ]
unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
( oh, she's relieved, firstly that they're not really from that different points in time but on a personal note. would she have told him again? )

Dinner sounds like something to look forward to after this.

( when they figure out where they are, where the enterprise is and if they can even reach her )

But I'd like to get off the water.
unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 06:46 am (UTC)(link)
You caught that.

( it wasn't difficult to notice when your presence could clear a room )

They haven't harmed me but I'm stuck down here.

( after being thrown in the brig for being above deck. she was never mentioning that )

They don't want me on deck. So I'll need you to let me know what you see or hear.
unas: ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ (Default)

[personal profile] unas 2022-06-09 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
Lieutenant Spock. He's our science officer.

( though from kirk she's more than aware that spock was first officer on his enterprise )

Captain Kirk made me aware that events in your timeline were very different, he didn't tell me the nature of what caused the timeline to emerge but I understand enough.

( she understands that she might not even be in starfleet. she's not on the enterprise so that's currently her assumption even if she could just be elsewhere )
homeostatic: (Cadet - 004)

[personal profile] homeostatic 2022-06-09 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
( The man's voice isn't wholly familiar, but his cadence is, strangely enough. Leonard picks his head up to squint at him with unhappy, glassy eyes, his olive skin gone pasty white (awful against his blue shirt), his usually neat hair a mess, sticking wildly to his sweaty forehead.

He first clocks the gold cuff, the Captain's stripes on the aforementioned cuff, and then the man they belong to, on the other end of that sleeve: tall, heroic-looking, silver hair, and an air of easy charm. For a second, McCoy looks like he's seen a ghost. )


Oh. ( Leonard takes that cloth with a murmur of thanks, mopping his face and draping it over the back of his neck instead, breathing out slowly. )

Close enough. A for effort.

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