the concord

[groundrules]

Image source.

THE CONCORD

The vessel Concord of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company once more appears in the horizon. She has learned her lesson from the previous scuffle and the minor charring her sails took at the hands of Sumeragi Subaru: she remains at a cautious distance from the pirate ships. Quicksilver Sam concludes the Concord’s reticence is unlikely to persist long term and asks a delegation of characters to deliver two gifts to captain Maximilian Hawk, in hopes of deterring further aggressions.

He entrusts the peace-bearing party with two items: an especially small scroll, rolled to the length and width of a thumb, and a modest, worn and a heavily locked wooden box to the size of a man’s palm. The scroll, if unravelled, only shows, 39.42116 N. The box cannot be opened, but weighs very little.

✘ OBJECTIVE: deliver the gift to Maximilian Hawk and retrieve his answer.

■ Travel by rowboats to the Concord, bearing large white flags. The Concord will not attack the incomers, but beware hungering, long-clawed mermaids and sharks within the Crossing seas.

■ Once within reach of the Concord, characters are welcomed by a small armed escort that insists all weapons must remain on the rowboats. They check that this instruction has been carried out. Those who refuse to give up their weapons are not allowed on the Concord.

■ The Concord is large, magnificently well attended, clean and armed with the most modern cannons and navigational instruments. The crew comprises trained sailors and graduates of a navy school — the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company’s own academy. Deck patrols and sails and cannon inspections are diligently undertaken every few hours.

■ You reach the Concord by noon. Marcos Diaz is received by first mate John Lattimore for an initial parlay (please wait for NPC thread). Lattimore introduces the newcomers as refugees from the Pariah to the crew.

■ Captain Maximilian Hawk is in deep strategic congress with his employers at the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company until evening. During this time, you remain under escort but can chat with sailors, enjoy a canteen meal, or take a tour of the ship’s deck. Characters also have supervised access to a guest cabin, the captain’s library or the medical bay, as needed. Use your time wisely to learn the lay of the land.

■ Noteworthy on deck: two sailors laundering uniforms and restitching membrane-thin diving suits that allow breathing underwater for two hours; a brawl that leads to four disgruntled men being taken down for jailing in the brig; several sailors carrying or taking tally of small boxes containing delicate, thin white powders (if they are inspected: opiates); two sailors drawing up a perfectly serviceable small steampunk boat to repair its rudimentary engine. Note: no further information or clues are forthcoming on any of these items — they exist as props for your getaway.

■ Come evening, Jim Kirk is finally received to present Maximilian Hawk with Quicksilver Sam’s gifts. (NPC thread link forthcoming!).

■ Discretion seems to have lost some value as everyone waits out the outcome of Jim’s talk in the captain’s cabin. It appears lips have loosened, and the crew has learned that the newcomers aren’t refugees, but representatives of the pirate ships, when a sailor recognises one of them from the Concord's previous altercation at sea. Several sailors spark a brawl, flinging accusations and demanding retaliation for the injuries they sustained when the Concord was singed. They progress from verbal to physical blows, which their superiors try but ultimately fail to calm down.

■ Smooth talk your way into being allowed a clean exit, or better yet, SOS Jim and run. Grab any weapon or valuable you can find, and jump either on the boat you came in, or on the partially fixed steampunk tanker that’s been set at sea. Row and shield to bide Viktor time and cover, if he’s up for tackling the last of the boat's engine repairs.

■ Beware cannons! And head back to the Pariah and Queen Zanyra, you delinquents. Marcos and Jim Kirk can share any learnings.

QUESTIONS

PLOTTING

Comments

marcos

[sansdoute]

( They've disappeared the sun so it need not behold this abomination. Master Lattimore had begun the day's service with thoughts of efficiency — of how to bring the beauty, the Dawn Reach Trade Company's good Concord to a fine and noble steer. How to retain her on her course until the captain Hawk can re-emerge to take her in his custody.

Instead, Master Lattimore has been graced with the complication of... company. A white flag flown draws the inevitable cooperation. Despite their... disagreeable interlude days prior, these visitors present themselves as messengers, delivering a proposition. For all that, the men cannot know — there is a start and an end to their fine disposition that the Crossing has already begun to erode.

So, he meets a representative of the contingent under confined conditions, drawing Master Marcos within the most sophisticated guest's cabin, where Master Lattimore instructs him to one table seat, before assuming its counterpart. )

The captain will, of course, see you. As we have discussed, and I have pledged. ( He has not, after all, received this man and his cohort under false pretences. ) But... it would be good to glean under what omens I should be introducing your pursuit with him. I understand there is a gift. Is Master Samuel Vane finally prepared to reimburse his debts?

kirk

[sansdoute]

( He is flustered, surfacing from his encounter with the masters of the Dawn's Reach Trade Company, cheeks ripe and eyes wild-white, gaze diffuse. There is always a softening of a man when he is flayed, vividly and unmistakably, in the company of his peers and his betters. That his vivisection takes place in a communicator array, rather than in the physical presence of his employers does little to preserve his dignity.

Hours of discourse, of reprimand, of scrutiny. An afternoon of spiteful anger. How he has born this, without losing control of himself and his senses, he cannot say — only that he deeply and wholeheartedly depends on his composure to close the day without ordering the next man who crosses his path whipped to the bone.

And then, first mate Lattimore delivers the news: messengers, from the Pariah. Under a white banner, carrying gifts. A chance to prove, if not necessarily the success of his action, then at least its indubitable and apparent finality.

He receives Master Kirk in the full, recently cleansed, spartan splendour of his captain's cabin, knowing full well that the luxury of order will awe far more sweetly after however many days this wretched man has spent at sea with pirates. Then, reaching out a hand to clasp Master Kirk's, when he enters: )

Come. Come, you honour us. If your companions haven't skinned you of the concept of honour yet, I suppose you might even understand what I mean. ( Laughter, shrill. His own joke. Delightful. ) No matter. No matter. What's this, you've come from Vane? Quicksilver himself? Surprised he could muster the wit. Is he well? They say he's taken ill.

on the way over, and on board the ship (not an exit tl, that'll be later)

[bravelyrunsaway]

1.

Licyn reversed his hold on his make-shift spear and stabbed at the eye of the shark surfacing alongside their boat, making a side pass before a charge, if the pattern held. The blood that follows is thick and black-red, left behind in their wake even as another shark and two mermaids turn and lay into the shark now thrashing and frothing as it struggles to escape its equally hungry compatriots.

He smiles in a twitchy way, grim.

"Really, that's the problem with predators, isn't it? Always on the searing hunt. Never for anything nice, either, though I suppose from their perspective, a full stomach is one day longer away from starvation."

2.

He nudges one of his fellows, nodding his head toward where two sailors are mending some odd looking material shaped like... he's not sure what it's like. Not body bags, that much he knows, formed to be something like a close-fitting gown, only with legs?

"Are you considering what I'm considering?" He doubts it, but if they can focus on getting some information on whatever those are, maybe they'll learn some about whatever the Concord likewise plans to do.

Beitang Moran

[beitangmoran]

A - PRETTY BLUES

[Moran is never one to refuse the exploration of something new - exciting, things to learn ! Either he will find somethings out on his own, or if not be a sufficient distraction so that people with more skills can do so. He is, after all, quite good in drawing gazes to himself when he wishes too.

So he wears his royal blue robes with the flashy silver flower embroidery. he's not wearing a weapon but the person frisking him doesn't try to take his hairpin, so there is that.

And of course once on board, it's hard not to notice this ship is in much better shape indeed, and of course, certain recent conversations come to mind.]

... Someone mentioned one of the ships we are on is carrying opiate drugs. They are too. I wonder if maybe, our pirate companions might not have stolen some of that cargo for themselves.


B - BOOKS!

[I'm sorry, did you say library? As soon as that is mentioned, Moran will make a beeline for it and just... disappear in there.

You can find him sitting at a table with about as many books as it will support while groaning slightly, trying to make sense of what he is deciphering. The constant traveling is making it hard to keep up with the language studies, but some of the contents can be inferred from previous learnings...

If he feels a presence nearby, he won't even look up.]

Would you mind seeing about bringing some tea in here? Thank you.


C - ROMANCE IN TIMES OF PIRACY

[So if you've been around you probably know that Moran and Xunxian are as well as married. They did come on the ship together. but right now, just as Moran is engrossed in his readings, Xunxian is ... busy slutting it up with some of the sailors on deck, in plain view of everyone and without any shame whatsoever.

Do you want to be the person who goes tell Moran his husband is... well, maybe not being very faithful right at this moment? Gently, of course, you wouldn't want to make him too sad, would you?]

for Kirk (tl may come later!)

[soloritur]

The meeting with the first mate didn't go entirely in the direction Marcos had expected. In the moment, he couldn't think of anything that he might be able to offer for safe passage that would satisfy them more than Vane himself. Actually going through with those terms is almost unthinkable, both logistically and morally, but he's the one who put it on the table without talking to the others.

He was given a reprieve before he was backed into agreeing to a kidnapping, and the moment he returns to their group he immediately seeks out the man slated to meet with the captain. He doesn't know much about Kirk other than his name, but he's very aware that what he did might make his conversation more complicated.

"Hey." He talks in a lowered voice the moment he's in earshot, while trying not to alarm the rest of the group, who must be expecting news for how long he was gone. And he'll give it to them, but first he needs to let Kirk know what he could be walking into. "Can we find somewhere to talk?"

Su Xunxian | Oh! My Emperor

[topoiran]

i. Charms

During the time to mingle, Su Xunxian does not hesitate to chat up as many of the sailors as are even remotely interested in the arrivals. He turns on the charm, and soon enough there are several of the sailors who keep watching his every move, both the ones who observe from afar, and the more pushy ones that he juggles with a smile, whetting their appetites to the best of his abilities.

And he can also be spotted extending a hand to any birds who might be on board... his moments of communication with rodents and insects is more shielded from the sailors, but others he arrived with can catch him at it.

He does keep an eye on when Moran will end up being ejected from the library, but mostly does his best to gather information in his own ways.

ii. Negotiation

Ah, this is not good. Aside from the fact that they have a job to do, their group is majorly outnumbered, and a fight will only result in at least some injuries, if not worse.

So he steps forward, letting his sheer robe flutter in the wind just so.

"Ah, but we surely can consider an option other than this... ah, look, isn't that little rat carrying something shiny?"

There may be some lost little times suddenly showing up on deck, distracting their owners.

Hopefully.

iii. Charms 2

"Let me go!" The usual smooth tones suddenly ring out in alarm as one of the sailors who... may have been watching him very attentively earlier decides he doesn't want to risk Su Xunxian either getting hurt or leaving.

Perhaps he may have done the charming a bit too well...?

iv. Wildcard

Find him around the deck in another situation, if you wish.