no man's sea

[groundrules]

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

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

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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…!

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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!

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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.

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THE CROSSING

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

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■ 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.

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NOTES

TEST DRIVE QUESTIONS

OLD-TIMER QUESTIONS

Comments

[unas]

When are you actually from?

( really she should probably ask how he can time travel but una isn't certain she wants that headache )

[somebadnews]

[ With luck, where he spent most of his life doesn't exist any more. He could lie about that, but for whatever reason persistence manages to pay off. ]

I've been outside of my timeline too long to tell you. [ And it's probably useless to say, but... ] I made it to 2064, and I've lived a couple of years past that.

[unas]

And somehow our Earths aren't the same.

( not when he had to ask her what was special about 2063. even for the terrans it had happened in 2063 so it's not the mirror universe )

I think we're all surviving something.

[somebadnews]

[ That 'somehow' is the apocalypse didn't happen in 2019, thanks to them. It's the first confirmation he's had that it's a possibility. — He'll obsess over that later though. Hard to believe that until he sees it for himself. ]

It's what we do best. [ Progress is slow, but he'll at least say that they're hard to kill. ] You're taking it well.

[unas]

You learn to expect strange and not always wonderful things after a while.

( and she's been in starfleet for nineteen years, she's seen a lot of shit. including time travel, and supercomputers determined to destroy everything. etcetera )

Wouldn't mind finding land though.

[somebadnews]

[ Five can appreciate that. Enough that he loosens up slightly. He hasn't been genuinely curious about someone in a while, but they don't get many people from a future where everyone lives. ]

It's not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you're better off in the middle of the ocean.

[unas]

There's not much I can do in the middle of the ocean. On land I could find parts, see about making something useful.

[somebadnews]

You're an engineer?

[unas]

I have been.

[somebadnews]

[ Hm. ]

What are you looking to build?

[unas]

Something to pick up a signal, to tell me more about the planet. We need information.

[somebadnews]

[ ...Someone with a non-magical solution. ]

I didn't get a lot of information about where we're headed, but electricity is hard to come by. You might be building more from scratch than you're used to.

[unas]

I'm good with a challenge.

( and it might have been a while since she'd used her engineering skills in this fashion but she hadn't lost her touch. not when xo required her to pull from everything she knew )

[somebadnews]

[ She might regret getting his interest later on, when he tracks her down to see if she's as capable as she sounds. ]

What's your name?

[unas]

( there's a pause here, one that in hindsight seems stupid because she doesn't actually need to pause. she could tell him her name, she's just more used to being number one than anything else, with all of two people currently calling her by her name. the third that tried got shut down.

and number one suits her, always has even before she became first officer.

but none of that is here and she wonders if it would take too much explanation. even though no one should care. but these are the thoughts running through her mind before she finally says-- )

Una. What's yours?

[somebadnews]

[ She pauses just long enough that he wonders if she's giving a fake name, which is a crazy precaution when she's lost in another dimension, but he can understand paranoia better than most. It doesn't really matter if that's what she's going by. ]

Five.

[unas]

( the smile she ends up giving, the slight laugh is a laugh at herself. she'd debated on her name and he gives her five.

should have stuck with number one )

Alright, Five. ( and there's no question or hesitation on it, just using the name given ) I don't suppose you want to help?

[somebadnews]

[ He squints a bit when she says his name back like that, but at least she doesn't question it. And assumes he'd be an asset, which he would.

He considers for a moment. ]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

[unas]

Well, I'd be lying if I said I couldn't use extra hands. Especially from someone who seems to know a little more than I do.

( and she's not stupid enough not to tap into that resource )

[somebadnews]

[ She's smart to play to his ego. And it's true, he does know more than anyone about anything, except magic. Generally speaking. If it’s based on science, he'll be able to pick up on what she's doing, even if it involves technology that hasn’t been invented yet. ]

Fine. If you give me an idea of what you’re looking for, and show me how it works, I’ll see what I can do.

[unas]

When we hit land I'll do just that. Unless you think these ships are hiding something useful.

[somebadnews]

[ He thinks about it… ]

There’s one thing I’ve kept around, but it’s broken.

[unas]

Sounds... ominous? Important? Useful? You're gonna have to give me something.

[somebadnews]

A briefcase.

[unas]

( what the shit )

Seriously?