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Be Gay, Do Space Elf Piracy, Ride a T-Rex: A Warhammer 40k Eldar Corsair Quest

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[X] Let Nacinde Handle It

Nacinde is more than capable of doing her job. We can trust her with this one.

[x] Tyranid Parts Collection

I don't trust the tricks of Ulthwe and the Farseers. And i don't want to deal with the Imperium and their insane politics.

And i really want to see more of Kalsilme. So fighting Orks and Tyranids is fine for me.
 
[X] Tyranid Parts Collection

Because I want to give Imperials some time to lose track of our "kidnapping" of a noble before meeting them again.
 
[X] Let Nacinde Handle It
[X] New Oldenfaith VIII

The potential profit upsides to raiding the Chaos ships goes up with as many ships as our courageous corsairs can take. Where the other jobs are more or less limited to the initial pay we're getting for the jobs. Even if this does come with some enhanced risks.

And no reason to not let Nacinde run her post as long as no issues come up.
 
[X] Let Nacinde Handle It

Warmachine375 said:
Plus Iranni and her crew will have to keep quiet about the fact they helped the Halflings of Shiregrove keep their independence and have a former Imperial noble psyker on board.

It will be bad if the Imperials notice Adra among the crew of Eldar and make their own conclusions.
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As I recall, we didn't let any human witnesses escape the planet. As far as the Imperium knows, Fauntleroy's ship fell into a black hole or something. That it was specifically us who got involved... I can't imagine them figuring that out.

The Imperials noticing Adra is another matter, but they'd have to identify her and she'd be, well, a human renegade. We took her fairly legally, insofar as 'legal' even means anything when it comes to the dealings of Imperial aristocrats.
 
Simon_Jester said:
The Imperials noticing Adra is another matter, but they'd have to identify her and she'd be, well, a human renegade. We took her fairly legally, insofar as 'legal' even means anything when it comes to the dealings of Imperial aristocrats.
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Yeah, the Imperium is a big place and Adra's homeworld is a serious backwater. In the event some Imperial authorities seeks to uncover Adra's origins, I don't think they'd succeed anytime soon. Not unless her uncle does something to increase his world's notoriety, and even then it'd be iffy.

That latter possibility is actually somewhat plausible. Delkor is arrogant enough to think he can have a mutually beneficial relationship with a group of Eldar* for crying out loud. I wouldn't put it past him to make a deal with the Ruinous Powers to secure his rule. The technological stagnation, fertility, and even name of Eternal Garden means the followers of Nurgle would be the natural beneficiaries of such a deal. Of course if such dealings were exposed, Adra would be marked for death regardless of any Xenos relations.

If that is the case, then Adra probably still wouldn't have many issues so long as she used a disguise. Given that she's already slated to learn how to slow her aging through Biomancy, I think she can figure out how to perform some cosmetic self-surgery.

*He's admittedly correct, but he probably had no way of knowing that we he began doing business with Captain Calina.
 
So folks know, the vote for which job to take is currently in a tie.

Simon_Jester said:
The Imperials noticing Adra is another matter, but they'd have to identify her and she'd be, well, a human renegade. We took her fairly legally, insofar as 'legal' even means anything when it comes to the dealings of Imperial aristocrats.
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A human renegade working with Xenos is a bad thing as far as the Imperium is concerned, but Adra isn't really in a position to do much harm to the Imperium. Her being identified would probably be a much bigger problem for Delkor than for Adra herself. Adra's on an Eldar ship and safely away from the Imperium, so the Inquisition is going to go after the people they can find.

Not to say the Inquisition wouldn't love to have a chat with Adra if they could get their hands on her, but stealing someone off an Eldar warship isn't an easy task.
 
I'd like to take the less risky option for our first job as captain.

And getting into sacrifice-range when it is Ulthwe vs Chaos time is never a good thing.

Sure, NIds are dangerous too, but Orks are on the average a good enough distraction.
 
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    • Scheduled vote count started by Chengar Qordath on Jan 5, 2024 at 9:31 PM, finished with 23 posts and 19 votes.
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    • Old and New 1​

    While taking on a nicely uncomplicated enemy like the Tyranids or Orks had a certain appeal, both of them had one terrible flaw: neither had anything worth looting. Orkish weaponry assembled out of crude scrap made for poor trophies, and they didn't take much in the way of plunder beyond food and slaves. The Tyranids were even worse, with little interest in anything beyond biomass they could assimilate to turn into more Tyranids.

    The pay Kalsilme offered us was already lower than what Ulthwé offered, and against Chaos there was at least the possibility of further plunder. Not nearly as much as some opponents, anything The Great Enemy touched might be corrupted, but even a little additional loot was better than none. I was new to being a corsair captain, but even I knew my crew wanted to take plunder from their enemies.

    Besides, when Captain Calima had transferred command, she'd taken most of her trophies with her. She hadn't left the captain's quarters of the Shadow Blade completely bare, but there were a lot of empty spaces that I felt obligated to fill. I had a feeling I wouldn't get many trophies out of a lightning raid on a Tyranid bio-vessel. Not that a stuffed Hive Tyrant head wouldn't make a fine conversation piece, but...

    In any case, there wasn't much to do until we arrived at the rendezvous point Ulthwé had set for us. Their agents had been bouncing around corsair ports to find any captains willing to help them out, and evidently the autarch in charge of Ulthwé's operations wanted to evaluate every new ship before assigning territory for it to raid. I understood the theory behind making sure ships and crews picked the right targets, but it struck me as a misunderstanding of how corsairs operated. Perhaps a Craftworld fleet would stay in their assigned sector, but corsairs went to where the best plunder was.

    Trix'll shrugged when I mentioned as much to her. "I'm not a strategist, but I was always under the impression that Ulthwé's autarchs weren't as sharp as that of other Craftworlds." She frowned thoughtfully. "Or maybe they're just not as developed. We didn't have as many aspect warriors to start with, and everyone knows that the big strategic decisions are made by the Seer Council. What's the point of training our leaders to have keen strategic minds when a seer would ignore all their suggestions because they think they saw something in the future?"

    "I'd feel a bit better about this job if a proper military leader was running it." I sighed and poked at my lunch, throwing a longing look at the doorway and hoping Nacinde would join us soon. Newly appointed Captain Iranni didn't have as much free time to spend with her girlfriend as I'd had when I was just another officer.

    Adra swallowed what looked like a quarter of her sandwich before she spoke up in her halting, uncertain, and poorly pronounced but still improving Aeldari. "Yeah, uh, I mean, from what Miss Trix'll have said the seers don't always see things perfectly. I mean, um, well, she always say divination is more about seeing odds than seeing exactly future." She threw a hesitant look Trix'll's way, searching for approval that she'd gotten the information right.

    "More or less," Trix'll confirmed. "If the Seer Council never got it wrong or missed something, Ulthwé would be the masters of the galaxy. Seers have their biases and blind spots, not to mention a ridiculous amount of pride. Plenty of them will ignore any divination that might warn that they got something wrong. Even when they can see the future accurately they don't always know why things will work out that way."

    "Especially if your divination is a simian foot." Adra took a look at my confused face and sighed, switching back to Gothic for a moment. "It's an old legend about a cursed object that granted wishes. It would always give you what you wished for, but there'd be some kind of nasty trick to it that fulfilled the letter of your wish while going against the spirit."

    Trix'll chuckled. "Another of those strange human idioms, but a good enough comparison. A poorly done divination could easily give information that is technically accurate while still being misleading. A seer could ask 'When and where will the enemy attack?' and find the time and location for a diversionary attack instead of the main one."

    "So in summary, the true leader of this operation is likely to be a seer. One we might not be able to reason with because their decisions will be based on the results of divination instead of logic." I sighed and shook my head. "That could be a pain, but hopefully we won't have to work too closely with them. According to the contract, they just want us to attack any Chaos vessels we find within our assigned area, or inform the autarch if we encounter a force we can't engage."

    "That would be nice," Trix'll agreed. "Just don't bet on it. Farseers love meddling."

    * * *​

    After finishing lunch I sought out Nacinde. I was the captain, and she was the commander of the ship's boarding parties. There were plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons for me to seek her out that had nothing to do with the fact we were lovers. Perhaps if I kept reminding myself of that I could even make myself believe that I was only looking for her out of a sense of duty.

    Not to say that I was desperately pining for her. Just that I enjoyed her company, and was quite happy to seek it out when duty allowed. If it was a choice between sending Fanya to check on our boarding crews or going there myself…

    Judging by the copious padding on the floor and how many of her troops were lying on the floor exhausted, I had walked in at the tail end of sparring practice. Nacinde still stood in the ring, exchanging blows with what was probably a former wych judging by her relative lack of clothing.


    Nacinde's opponent made the mistake of taking her eyes off Nacinde for a moment when I entered the room, and promptly paid for it as Nacinde sent her to the floor. The wych held her hands up in surrender, and a moment later Nacinde helped her back to her feet. "You can't let yourself get distracted, Saim'shlareen."

    Ah, so that was Nacinde's new problem child. The former wych chuckled as she stood, stretching in a way that seemed designed to emphasize her barely-clothed assets. "Nice job, ma'am. Though I probably could've gotten away with it if I'd been using some Hypex. Or some Dusk Lotus to help me win the grapple…" She scowled and started picking imaginary dirt out from underneath her fingernails.

    "It wouldn't be a friendly spar if everyone was on combat drugs," one of the other corsairs pointed out. "Healer Nilmelaiva and her people would spend all day putting us back together. And probably read us the riot act for being so stupid in the first place."

    Saim'shlareen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah..."

    I waved Nacinde over, and the two of us stepped aside for a private conversation. Once we were safely out of sight and earshot she smiled and gave me a quick hug. "You know you don't have to come down here for daily check-ins, right? Or am I just so irresistibly charming that you couldn't help yourself?"

    "Something like that." I chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Besides, a captain should keep a close eye on her officers."

    "And it's good for the crew to see you being active." Nacinde tried to keep her voice serious and businesslike, but the smile on her lips undermined it. "I know it helps morale every time you visit. I'm sure all my subordinates are having a grand time gossiping about us as soon as they leave them alone. They certainly enjoy joking about it whenever they think I can't hear them." She quickly held up a hand to cut off any objection on my part. "Nothing serious, love. Corsairs love to gossip and tease, but if they cross any lines I'll handle it."

    "Right, no need to make a fuss." If I tried to ban gossip I'd have a mutiny on my hands. "It looks like Saim'shlareen is coming along well."

    "I've got no complaints about her fighting skills," Nacinde conceded. "That's part of why her getting into that tavern brawl caused us so many headaches, she's good. As for the rest of it..." She grimaced and shook her head. "She's an addict. Not exactly a rare affliction for wyches, but even by their standards she's got a lot in her system. I asked Nillie to work on a detox schedule; if I cut her off completely the withdrawal would be bad—might even kill her. Assuming she wouldn't just try hiding her stashes from me."

    That all made sense to me. "And I suppose there's not much point in working on any other issues until she's clean?"

    "That's my current plan," Nacinde agreed. "Most of the stuff the Drukhari pump into their wyches encourages them to go violently berserk. If she had something like Adrenalight in her system when the trouble started, it would explain why she decided to handle a tavern brawl by pulling out her weapons. Good thing the enforcers stepped in before anything happened that the medics couldn't patch up."

    "That would've been trouble we don't need." Port Mathemar didn't have the strictest law enforcement, but even they frowned on murder. Starting my career as captain by having a member of my crew arrested for murder would've felt inauspicious.

    "No kidding." Nacinde sighed. "Once she's detoxed I'll figure out the rest. Right now it's hard to tell what's her, and what's all the chemicals pumping into her brain." She sent a reassuring smile my way and patted my shoulder. "Relax. I'm not saying it'll be painless, but if she didn't want to get clean she'd still be in Commorragh."

    "Very true." At least I could be certain Nacinde had this particular problem sorted.

    * * *​

    Management: 1d100 (5) vs 50 (30 Intelligence + 0 Management + 20 Difficulty) = 4 Degrees of Success

    By the time we made it to the rendezvous point I felt I'd settled nicely into my new role. At first taking over for Calima had been understandably intimidating, but with every day I felt more confident in managing the task. I learned which things I should take care of myself and which I could trust the others to take care of. Not to mention how to strike a balance between my duty and taking a little personal time. Something Nacinde and Grymloq certainly appreciated.

    Of course, the real test of my skills as captain was still to come. Keeping the ship running smoothly during a webway journey would be simple compared to taking us into our first battle. Or even the upcoming meeting with our clients.

    We met the Ulthwé fleet half a light year away from New Oldenfaith VIII. Close enough to be ready to respond if trouble emerged, but well out of range of any of the humans. Despite the fact we were on the same side, it was hard not to be a little intimidated by the massive Void Stalker-class battleship anchoring the Ulthwé strike force, bristling with enough weapons to easily swat down the Shadow Blade if it came to a fight.

    There was no reason for us to be afraid of them, though. Even at their worst, our Craftworld kin would treat us as expendable pawns, not outright enemies. I glanced at the communication officer's way. "Inform the Craftworlders that we've arrived, and are ready to meet with them to discuss the details of our job and payment."

    "Yes, captain." After a minute of back and forth her eyes widened and she looked my way. "They've invited you to send a shuttle to their aft portside bay for the meeting with Autarch Eldorath and Fareseer Tuathatellayen."

    Trix'll let out a sharp hiss at the later name. "I should've known he would show up."

    "Your father?" I asked, just for confirmation. When she nodded, I sighed. "Is that going to be a problem?"

    "Yes, I'm just not sure what kind of problem it will be." She groaned and rubbed her forehead. "There's no way he's not going to do something. I should've known I was in for trouble as soon as we had anything to do with Ulthwé, but I was hoping we could slip past him unnoticed. He let me live my life for this long without bothering me, I'd hoped he might've forgotten..."

    Wonderful. We hadn't even met the client yet, and this job was already getting complicated.

    * * *​

    Who does Iranni take with her to meet with the Ulthwé leaders?

    Choose as many of you want, bearing in mind that including some people in the diplomatic party could create complications and you might want to leave some people on the ship.

    Please use a plan format.

    [ ] Trix'll
    Trix'll's father is apparently the leader of the Ulthwé delegation, and considering he's a farseer he almost certainly knows his daughter is here. Plus Trix'll will probably have valuable into how her father's mind works.

    [ ] Fanya Tal
    My first officer knows a lot about how the ship operates. Probably more than I do when it comes to some of the technical details. If we're discussing the best place to deploy the Shadow Blade in the coming campaign, it would only make sense to include her in the meeting.

    [ ] Rathnait
    The second officer is probably the closest thing we have to a proper diplomat on the ship, considering she's usually the one in charge of handling most of our negotiations for contracts and selling our plunder. She'd be perfect to bring a tense diplomatic meeting.

    [ ] Nacinde
    Bringing my security officer along on any mission where I leave the ship would be fairly standard operating procedure. Calima always brought a few of Nacinde's soldiers with her for meetings with other eldar. Though obviously we should leave any of the more questionable ones like Saim'shlareen behind.

    [ ] Nillie
    It's possible Nillie could have some valuable insights into the Craftworlders, though her extra limbs with instantly identify her as a haemonculus and could potentially cause problems.

    [ ] Cy'trya
    Bringing Cy'trya along for these sorts of meetings could provide her with useful experience. Even if she's not in a command position yet, Calima would probably like it if I kept molding her into someone who could eventually become captain.
     
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    • Oh, nice turn! I'm quietly rooting for the wytch and I'm glad that the management roll was so high.

    I'm not as happy with Trix'll's dad showing up. This means that we aren't just another Corsair any more, we are a ship that the high command is keeping a personal eye on. Plus, having said high command looking to poach subordinates/interfere with our chain of command, I think.

    That said, I think that keeping the two of them separated will be doing Trix'll a solid, and annoy him, so I don't want to vote to bring her. I also don't want to bring Nacinde along because this sort of game playing makes me feel like she'd be used as leverage in some way by a farseer with a personal agenda, and trying to insulate her from that would protect us both. Again, just my thoughts, I may be being too cynical or not aggressive enough.

    So I'm going to vote for
    [ ] Fanya Tal
    And
    [ ] Rathnait

    I think Fanya and Irani can handle stoic blankness and professionalism, while Rathnait handles most of the small interactions.

    I think Fanya 's backstory will help here, what with being exposed to druuchi politics, and with being the classically 'reformed' type for the craftworlders. Does Rathnait have any baggage with craftworlders, or they with her?
     
    I'm thinking
    [ ] Fanya Tal
    [ ] Rathnait
    [ ] Cy'trya
    as a vote.
    Bringing Trix'll seems like it'll only cause trouble with her dad possibly even trying to seize her back via force of arms while she's on the other ship, probably better for her to stay home.
    Fanya would be good to have for operational planning, as pointed out in her blurb.
    Same thing goes for Rathnait.
    Nacinde should stay home and keep an eye out for any fuckery by Trix'll's dad, it's not like we have great odds if we had to fight our way off the ship for whatever reason anyway, and I assume we bring some mooks along either way, so personally I'd rather have her back on the ship.
    Nillie doesn't offer a clear benefit to me and it's probably easier to not advertise too hard that we have non-Ynarri Druchii onboard.
    And Cy'trya can come along for the reasons outlined in her blurb.
     
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