Die Shize

I'd like to give this a go with someone if open to it down the road. The more I roleplay in Ursa Madeum, particularly as a faction with a fleet and elsewhere a privateer with a ship, combat is inevitable.

Ambience IC [Recurring] Wallace could only cock a brow at that. “I have lots of enemies.” The name had a ring to it on that note but sounded too hackneyed and uninspired for a ship. Something a heavy metal band might choose. The Iron Captain might have put a pirate or two in an iron maiden cabinet, and his ship did have an iron maiden woman for a figurehead, but it was justice that gave wind to her wings; stronger and sharper than any coffin and the spikes that filled it. The weapons are just the gavel—it is the hands that matter most. The handful of marines upon the deck were all men but it appeared that, as soon as Sam had spoken, a female came topside from the lower deck, handing rope to a fellow sailor. Male-only sailors was an outdated myth reserved for the uninformed. “You might be the only lady but you’re not the only woman.” Wallace assured, looking between her and Wiz. “As for quarters, you’ll both get a cabin—to share, that is, and with proper boundaries.” He added with a shrug. “She’s a river warship and I have my own officers to appease.” With that, Wallace left Wiz to help Sam with her bags as the Captain crossed the gangway to board the Iron Justice, his two companions in tow. On the deck, a long-haired man turned around to reveal a rugged countenance, with a thin beard and narrow eyes that walked warily over the ship’s newest recruits. “Swabbies?” Lieutenant Commander Trayger Halkak asked loud enough to be heard. It would take some familiarity with the Master-at-Arms to determine whether he was joking or not. “Partners,” Wallace smiled. “We’ve got a new job. Inform Han-im of her two guests and call for the Commander. I'll explain to everyone at once.” He turned to face those guests. “My Steward will meet you in the lower deck and arrange your quarters. Trayger here will take you to her. When you are both ready, meet me in the Command Room of the quarterdeck for debriefing. It shouldn't take long. We’ll embark from there.” He didn’t wait for any questions; they could save them for the meeting or let his officers answer them. Sam and Wiz would be led below deck by the Master-at-Arms and introduced to Han-im Jeong, the ship’s Steward, who would show them to their cabin and go over with them ship and protocol, from compartment layout to meal times. It was a short sail to Littleleaf but they would be in for the long haul if the Captain's feelings were in order. Meanwhile, Wallace opened the door to the quarterdeck, which housed the captain’s cabin and the Command Room. He considered dropping his book off in the former before heading to the latter, but decided on taking it with him into the meeting. The Hills of the Hawk seemed like something to keep around for now.

@Venus Sprite Let me know if you see any issues on your end with continuing. The requirement to complete this quest is simply for me to solo it out but I'm game to continue with you.

@amenities I didn't accidentally overlook your IC nudge for a name exchange btw. It's just...how often do you introduce yourself or ask for someone's name? lol depends on the circumstances. It'll come up organically

Music IC Tyra had just swallowed a lump of bread and beef when the question came. She took a breath and opened her mouth to speak when the man opened his mouth to eat—or whatever he called it. I guess I can’t judge… She sat there twirling a fry in some kind of red-yellow-white soup on her plate before chewing on it and the thought that someone else might have toward her special little blend. Though, her gaze had previously passed over another burger on the menu where peanut butter was the spread of choice on the patty, so there was that. If we can’t go crazy with our food then what’s the point of any of this? What does the world even mean? “Well…” She began to answer her own question out loud before clearing her head and her throat. The ceiling’s speakers gave way to a violin that guided her thoughts; melodic and melancholic, taking her backward and forward at the same time. “...Escape…” She settled on that word as beer settled down her throat. When she licked her lips she tasted flower and fruit, earth and pine; sweet and bitter like a sleeping sea beneath a swollen sky. With a ship between both, cold and lonely in the warmth of solitude. “I needed a change in pace,” Tyra told no one in particular, speaking to the table beside her as much as the bar before her. “After sailing and flying for so long and so far, I decided to explore this world in a different kind of vessel altogether.” She smiled, looking back at her fellow patrons with their burgers just like hers, wondering if the similarities ended there. “So I came to Chesterfield on the wings of my Wildwind,” she leaned forward, suddenly alive with the vigor of an adventurer with a tale to tell. “I heard talk of a nearby forest where the trees aren’t just trees—they’re ships. Not just ships, but living beings, like you and me!” She nodded at the pair as though they needed reminders. Did the Gaian Clergy even let its members actually live? She shrugged. “Maybe not just like you and me...but still organic. You bond with one where it rests upon the earth, learn to trust it as it trusts you, and then you take it to the clouds…” She shook her head as though struggling to believe herself, even despite all the things she had seen in this crazy world. “That’s why I came to Chesterfield. To head to De Viento—a forest of wind.” Tyra took a deep swig of her beer and let out a refreshed sigh. “To get myself a bioship…and to get away.” Away from...one million miles away from home...

@supernal Valucre admin trying to keep it all together with threads like this

@The Hummingbird (she moves like a penguin and strikes like a ninja...or is it moves like a ninja strikes like a penguin?)

This sounds ideal for me right now since I have a character who will be working to obtain a bioship. As I want this process to be...organic...it will span some time IC. So living near the bioship makes sense!

To echo others I think that this is generally a mechanic I would reserve for dungeon digs or some kind of event thread. When you need someone to step in to play the swamp troll or barkeep or whatsuch. Though this does sound interesting for even your average roleplay thread where you’re including a barkeep or swamp troll. Instead of the PCs already in that thread covering such roles via NPCs in their own posts, it could spice things up to appeal to a GM even on the spot. Along the dice mechanic, it just sounds like another way to keep things less predictive. I’m only considering this since the topic came up in this thread but I’d like to give it a go. As a storytelling comparison, dice is something I tried and don’t do often, but I’d treat temporary GMing the same way. A random scenario is two PCs are standing trial in court. They could roll dice for the verdict or decide it for themselves and write it in their posts. Or they bring in a GM judge who sentences them to five years in a penal world accessed from Valucre’s vortex because who doesn’t like penal colonies accessed from a wormhole?

And Wallace went to the ship with Wiz. ...Or so it was written, but that’s what erasers are for! I’m game for whatever but I recommend as much as my character does that Sam not bring all that much aboard the boat. AKA if she cannot carry it herself then she may not want to take it lol

Both the Lost Scions and the Ironborn are indeed open for business! Put me to the test and see if my mercenaries can’t help you!

I will make it so.

Music OOC Imradel. The city of...stuff. Magic and stuff and stuff like that. Whatever. I’ve seen magicooler stuff in a swamp with talking toads and that one dude who spent his days looking for his fingers . . . Sitting in the academy’s yard, enjoying the grass, M blinked at her diary, wondering what the heck she had written and why. It was days ago when she had recorded her arrival in the Arcane City of Imradel, a city filled with sorcery and arcane as much as sore pain and anal retentive tutors if her own were anything to go by. At fifteen years old, one would think that a certain amount of respect was in order. No, instead, one teacher had been as quick as a cat to all but bonk her on the head with a coiled newspaper over nothing smaller than bringing a bottle of beer to class. Oh, if only he had actually hit me. I would have ripped his fingers off, thrown them in the swamp and sat my ass on a patio chair while he spends his days looking for them… She blinked again, suddenly aware of the humidity in her eyes. This side of Genesaris, it was pretty warm in the summer, and worse when the rain set in as it had for three drowning days before this one. The sun was out this morning but it did little to brighten the girl’s mood. Damn headaches… Just won't go away… Like a squirrel begging for nuts but not gettin’ any… She blinked again. Maybe it wasn’t heat in her eyes but the darned smoke spiraling from the joint between her lips. Northern Lights were blinking and dancing, limited though they were to the form of red-orange embers at the end of the joint. Still, were it not for her drug then the girl might just have thrown herself from the academy’s roof, landed on her skull, watched her brains spill out like a million miserable memories, and gone back home in time for tea. “Ha…” M chortled to no one in particular. “Ha ha ha…” She looked left, looked right, looked at the letter beside her diary—that gobbledygook from Seneschal Goldbum. She squinted at the paper. Sorry sorry—”Sentheril Goldburn”. Also known as the Jerk Who Sent His Colleagues Copies of That One Book That Gives Everyone Those Dreams That Make Them Want to Jump Off Roofs. Jerk. I’ll beat you up you jerk. Jerkity-jerk. "YOU JERK-KAAGGGHH!" M coughed out a cloud of curling haze, guzzling from a bottle of water. It was thirsty business, staving off the horror of yestereve and the night before, with all those monsters knocking on her door. The next time she had a nightmare she would burn them. For now, she sat in the sunlight, basking in the warmth, enjoying two kinds of grass, watching and wondering whether any others would show up who had received this same jerky letter from Captain Jerkass.

Primarily as a fighting force. They can intel-gather but it would depend on the job as intelligence-gathering is not their overt specialty. But like I said it is subjective to the circumstances. Depending on the job, the Lost Scions could handle it. For one thing, one of the lieutenants is specifically skilled in this field! Perhaps another way to answer this is: “I have a roleplay where I want to hire mercenaries to gather intel. Would the Lost Scions be a good fit?” | “Yes, depending on the specifics of the job, and in the interest of accommodating the roleplay.”