westwhere | 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

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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.

■

■ 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ out of all the things tenn can imagine would come to his defense, another person is certainly very high up on that list. the second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on... none of them are birds. especially ones that dart into and nail his attacker like feathered missiles.

he rolls up from his side and gets back onto his feet. his eyes haven't left subaru--- at least, not until the sparkle of something on the boat's floor catches his attention. a dagger, flat and short, that he scoops up into his hands. ]

Watch out!

[ a second man, on subaru's flank. tenn rushes forward, though it ends up with him stumbling at the end of it, slamming the pointy end right into the newcomer's ribcage.

the pink haired idol gasps in surprise. he really just did that, huh. ]

[ He sure did just do that.

Subaru startles to a stop when the blade impacts flesh in the blink of an eye — the birds were probably a surprise, yes, but so is this. His would-be attacker stumbles off of him with a breathy gurgle and into the waiting grasp of the ship's crew; if he doesn't die quickly, he'll be interrogated. Iron scents the air and Subaru reaches out with one arm to steady the boy at his side, the other crossing in front of him with a talisman to draw a shimmering ward against the first man to attack. It'll do for this split second where the shock is still new. With the other man kept at bay, Subaru doesn't avert his gaze from him, though his attention is torn and elsewhere. ]

...thank you. [ Heavily, but sincere. ] Are you alright?

[ he doesn't have to worry about being disarmed, with his hands already shaking--- the blade has found a new home and won't be leaving anytime soon. has tenn ever thought about stabbing someone before? absolutely. it's crossed his mind a few times in his life. but he's never actually gone through with it, using his words to do the real cutting and stabbing.

here... no, it's very real. hopefully the assailant will live to tell the tale of how he got wrecked by a soft looking landlubber with the most deceptive of hands.

he stares at subaru for a moment, then swallows heavily, before shaking his head. ]

No. [ what an amazing question to ask someone who just murk'd a dude. ] I don't really have time to be alright.

[ and then a beat after: ]

How did you... do that?!

[ is this a 'out of the frying pan, into the oven' kind of deal or what. ]

[ Where he comes from, dudes getting murk'd is sort of commonplace — not that he's partaken of such festivities (on purpose), but when the apocalypse is in full swing, you come to expect the worst. The boy's response causes a reflexive wave across his expression, there and gone again. Understanding, maybe?

On a scale from one to uh-oh, this situation isn't the most comfortable but it is manageable. ]

Do what? [ He lets the talisman go and it sticks to the air as if slapped onto an invisible wall. There, it ripples, charges, and when Subaru slashes his fingers across it, blasts the man halfway across the deck and into one the masts. He will... survive, but it won't be pleasant. THe barrier calms, dissipates. ] That? It's my family's magic.

[ By now, the Pariah's crew is swarming about, peering over the side of the boat to try and spot any more intruders. ]

Come on. We should get you below deck.

[ his family's magic. that's the explanation? his mind flickers to what his family has, what "magic" might be shared, and he thinks about his music. his voice. his twin, their combined passions. their desires, their destinies. forever entwined. they make magic, they bring magic. and for a second, tenn's heart sinks... heavy, where it might never find the ocean's floor. ]

It's... [ how can he describe it? ] ... kind of mesmerizing.

[ like even though it's completely brand new to him, tenn doesn't think it'd ever get old watching subaru use his magic.

still: ]

Sure. [ he doesn't want to get in the way. he also doesn't want to get hurt. he's already done enough hurting today, too. ] It's this way, right?

[ gesturing toward the stairs. thank god it's not just a ladder ]

no man's sea

no subject

i'm sleepy but not enough

i'll try to sleep after this

no subject

me, while in training