Da Boyz
The Cutest Apocalypse.
@Academia Nut can we ask Dagwood to send part of his crew with us as bodyguards? That way we can keep working on them even after Az gets his ship.
Dark Lord Accidental Lieutenant Quest
- Thread starter Academia Nut
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sadly the crew cannot go more than a few miles from the ship before their souls are forcibly dragged back. Not a bad idea though.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
No, that won't work.
Da Boyz
The Cutest Apocalypse.
And similarly I imagine we can't take part of the ship with us so that they can stay connected that way. Though that'd be dependent on Dagwood being willing to let us saw off a "limb" or two of his in the first place. Oh well.
[X] Go over the entire crew as best you can
- Location
- Germany
We don't, it's been stated in the chapter and the following discussion, which isn't impossible to follow considering it was directly below the chapter
You see the thing is, that this is our main project for the moment, since we can hardly do anything else as long as we are stuck on the boat
We can't mediate without receiving a mental backlash and doing so in a setting that make character incredible uncomfortable is just asking for it
We can't interact with Az without either playing 20 questions or lowering our standing in his eyes
Can't interact with Dagwood since we just did that and that actually lead towards the very thing you don't want 'to waste time on'
Can't hone our other skills since these run the risk of angering our host or worse triggering the ship
Literally the best option is helping the crew as long as long as we have time in order to grind our skill and get people indebted to us a.k.a. [] Surface repair the worst off of the crew
just 'fixing' or 'helping' marcus just means we get more 'action/interaction encounters for our stay on the ship in exchange for less skill in our magic which doesn't strike me as what you are trying to archieve here
Da Boyz
The Cutest Apocalypse.
@Academia Nut if we go with Surface Repair will we essentially just be doing as much as we can before it comes time for us to leave with Az? Because leaving after taking care of the worst of the damage with the understanding that we'll come back to finish the job next time we're with Dagwood sounds like a decent idea.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The idea is that you will do what you can with the time you have, with telling everyone that the expectation is that you will be trying to smooth over the worst damage. At certain times it might come up for you to take the time to do more work as an option for things to do.
Da Boyz
The Cutest Apocalypse.
Alright then, might eat into actions more then we'd like later but I'm sure we'll get some significant downtime eventually.
[X] Surface repair the worst off of the crew
Also, this is a good opportunity to practice and, hopefully, level up this particular skill in a safe(ish), controlled environment.
- Location
- Brazil
[X] Surface repair the worst off of the crew
Pandemonious Ivy
Panties, Revolution. Big Drawers. Parachute.
[X] Surface repair the worst off of the crew
Efforts and rewards
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You consider what to do over the night, before you come to the conclusion that you should do as much as you possibly can for as many people as you can, within the time you have before parting from the Spritely Sinner to stick with Az. You get the distinct feeling that you don't want him to think that you are trying to work against him, since while Dagwood definitely has a chance of dealing with the Tyrant God, you don't think it is a good enough chance to gamble on it. Still, in the time you have, you'll do what you can.
Of course, before you get to the better off crew, you're going to finish up with Marcus, which remains a long and complicated job that consumes several days in of itself. You note with some interest and annoyance that the cancerous sections grow back several times before you realize that they are only in part caused by supernatural means. Deep roots of malaise from the trauma remain, and until you deal with those your work can be undone. Eventually you think that you realize that some sections of growth are best thought of as scabs that turn to scar tissue: the mind trying to heal itself but creating a new problem. You have to dive in deeper to try to find the root issues, and to avoid just tearing Marcus' mind apart that means that it is slow and exhausting. Multiple times your magic runs out while you are trying to do something, and you have to just lay on the deck for an hour or so to refill your reserves before starting over again. Sometimes you find an odious memory or emotional pattern that you feel confident that you can simply excise and consume for energy, but a lot of time the more damaging parts of the mind are interwoven with deep parts integral to Marcus' identity.
The shame of failure to his captain from falling in battle can't really be excised without removing the entire memory or the feeling of loyalty to said captain, and unfortunately you are learning that memories aren't nice neat packages. They intertwine with each other and are tied to multiple emotional contexts and the whole thing is just hard. You are somewhat frightened by the combination of pure skill and brutal, callus disregard for the sanctity of others the demon had to have had to do its job so quickly and efficiently.
Still, after a solid four days not only is Marcus able to function on his own like some of the more damaged members of the crew, but there is a definite spark in his eyes and he actually starts to take initiative in things.
By the fifth day he is looking at Nathaniel curiously and asks, "Captain?"
It's quite the thing to see the dread pirate Captain Deadwood break down into sobbing tears, clutching at the shirt of one of his crew and profusely apologizing while the God of All Tyrants pats him on the back, their little sparring session interrupted by the question.
By the sixth day Marcus is holding conversations, and while its obvious that a lot of his personality isn't what it was thirty or so years, the fact that he has a personality and it isn't something that you stuck there is a massive boon to morale, such as it is. You're not sure how much more you can actually do for him, but the effort you have already put in has taxed you greatly, and as much as you have learned you don't think any further effort will be of benefit. You'll probably do more damage than you can undo at this point.
And then you start in on the rest of the crew. You make it definite that you don't know how much you can do, but that you will try to help the worst off members and get them functional, and start working your way from case to case from the bottom up, and that you will honestly probably run out of time before you can get to everyone. This still definitely buys you significant benefit, and much to your surprise when the Spritely Sinner moves into the Main Stream area and it sails right past the sort of sloop that the average pirate crew would favour, only for the Captain to mention to Az, "Not good enough."
You've apparently impressed Dagwood with your efforts and he intends to pay you back for that by putting more effort into this alliance himself. The look from Az is... impressive. Honestly, you feel your heart flutter a bit at that earnest look of gratitude and pride at your work, although you do have to ask what exactly he's been doing while you've been hard at work.
The enigmatic look he gives sort of makes you wonder why you asked.
As the second week at sea turns into the third and Nathaniel has passed up several small, isolated ships, he finally seems to have found what he wants. Handing his telescope over to Az one day, he gestures to the horizon. After scanning for a few heartbeats Az whistles and says, "That's a lot of ships."
Taking back the spyglass, Dagwood nods and says while scanning the distant formation once more, "Semish treasure fleet. They don't let their galleons loaded with luxuries from their colonies go unguarded and the Main Stream is fast enough that they can wait to bunch up and sail all at once and still get their goods to market in good time. We're obviously not going directly for that flock... ah! Perfect."
"Are you going after a galleon?" You ask incredulously. Your memory is spotty, but even you know enough pirate lore to know that while catching a treasure ship out of formation is the ultimate prize, both for the goods in its hold and for the fact that the huge ships were built to have swap out cargo space for guns and can outfight almost everything smaller than them.
"Nope. Frigate escort," Dagwood replies nonchalantly.
Your brain freezes as you roll over the fact that the 'almost everything smaller than them' in your last thought excludes the few ships custom built and always rigged for war, like the frigates that prowl among the treasure fleets to add speed and firepower to numbers for the cargo rigged galleons. The Sinner was a custom built warship to be sure, and had supernatural advantages besides, but going after a frigate of all things was a bit much. If nothing else the rest of the fleet would be able to pound them into retreat while the struggled with the warship.
"Mr. Beckworth, please adjust our heading three degrees to starboard. Mr. Grigor, full sail please," Dagwood orders, and the two men named immediately begin issuing their own orders on carrying out the task.
As the crew jumps to motion and the ship itself changes how it moves across the sea, Az comments, "I can't help but notice we're turning away from the target."
"Of course. We need to get in front of them without them seeing that we're getting in front of them," Dagwood answers.
Despite the chase being on, it actually takes days for it to occur, Dagwood carefully judging the distances involved frequently, and you find that you have no idea when things will happen. Sometimes you think that everything is going to happen and you hold onto your magical energies just in case you will need them only for the day to end, while other times you drain yourself in your work only to briefly feel like you have timed it incorrectly as there is a flurry of activity. You ask Nathaniel a few times and he says that he can't predict when the moment will come, just that it will.
As such, you're more than a little perturbed when the moment comes late in the day on a day when nothing seems like it will be happening. You are resting in your hammock, utterly exhausted, when suddenly someone starts calling out, "All hands, prepare to flood! All hands, prepare to flood!"
Scrambling out of the hammock with what energy is left to you, you head up to deck to find Dagwood sitting on a stool with several buckets of seawater being held by sailors before him, assisting him in chugging them down to great discomfort, the ship lowering perilously in the water as he fills up. Rather curiously you also note that his arms are tightly wrapped in oilcloth and there are two sailors on each arm frantically working to apply oil and fan them dry. Scraps of memory that are neither your own nor the demon's suggest that the resonance between Nathaniel and the ship goes both ways, so this all serves some greater purpose.
"Our target has broken away from the main group, our sails having finally caught their attention in just the right way. They'll see us low in the water shortly after sunset, and assume that we're either much smaller than we are, or are in distress. Either way, easy prey for a frigate thinking that they're seeing a pirate nipping at the edges and hoping that bad weather blows something expensive away from the flock," Nathaniel explains between gulping water and judging the sinking of the ship.
The sun is indeed down below the horizon when the lights on the horizon move closer to the tiny pools of light cast by the intentionally few lanterns strung up on the Sinner, and you're only partially recovered from your work during the day. Az has disappeared, dispersed among a number of longboats scattered about the surrounding waters, ready to swarm about the target ship in the dark. You feel incredibly tense at the way the ship is so dangerously low in the water and all but one of its sails is neatly packed away, the one actually out fluttering listlessly from its intentional ill trim. You feel like a sitting duck, the approaching warship all too capable of finishing off the job you've already started, but from the easy way that Nathaniel is sitting on his stool with ropes tied around his swollen gut and a dozen sailors ready to pull and squeeze, you get the feeling that they've done this before.
Before the plan can actually be implemented, the tense silence of the night is broken by the Az's voice booming across the mostly still sea, a cannon loud but whipcrack clear announcement of, "HALT! Prepare to stand to for boarding and inspection!"
The line is both unexpected by you and Nathaniel, and draws everyone's attention towards Az standing out in the darkness, barely illuminated by a lantern he holds aloft. You just sort of stare at him in utterly confusion for a time before someone from the frigate fires at him, the results on Az unknown in the darkness, but the results on the frigate obvious as crossbow bolts whistle in from the darkness, striking true more often than not and picking off sailors and marines while not revealing where in the dark the shots are coming from. Realizing that they are surrounded by pirates, the frigate crew begins to shutter their own lanterns so that they are not providing easy targets. Nathaniel orders something similar for their own lanterns even as he orders his crew to begin tightening the ropes around his belly, causing him to vomit up seawater, which fountains out of the flooded hold in sympathy.
Guns and cannons go off on the frigate and there is the sounds of confusion and battle as the Spritely Sinner rises from the waves in the dark, and somehow moves almost like an oared ship using some sort of supernatural method, coming quietly alongside the embattled frigate even as the conflict on the decks comes to a close. A lantern is unshuttered and Az can be seen standing almost alone on the deck surrounded by the dead and wounded, the mannequin sailors of the Spritely Sinner quietly retreating from the light to give Az sole prominence. Long gone are the rags and cultist robe from weeks ago, replaced by proper attire for the environment, although Az has supplemented it with a luridly carved mask that you hadn't realized he had been making. While not exactly ostentatious, there was something distinctly sinister about the design that definitely drew the eyes towards the face concealing design above everything else.
"Right then, that was entirely unnecessary, now wasn't it?" Az chides as if talking to children. "As a legal representative of the Xoiharl Confederacy I have the authority to conduct the inspection of trade vessels within our territory and the territory of allied groups, claimed territorial waters included. Now, who is in charge here?"
The cowed sailors, realizing that enemy reinforcements have arrived to assist the madman in their midst, all point to a man in plate lying in a heap on the deck at Az's feet. Leaning over, Az inspects him and asks, "Right then, he won't be up for a while. Next in line?"
There is a murmuring from the crew before a woman's voice chides them all in a Semish accent, "Right then, if none of you have the balls to step up! Madman, I am Kattarin d'Jauney del Torros, daughter of Representative d'Jauney, whom you stand victorious over."
"Very well then, then I find this ship in violation of the Treaty of Thirteen Cities and shall seize it and all of its contents for attacking a lawful inspection under that treaty. A representative may join me to petition the Council of Confederacies over the return of the ship after the payment of an appropriate penalty, while the rest of the crew shall be left with adequate supplies to return to their nearest confederates, which in this case shall mean longboats with food and water and some means of signalling the rest of your fleet. As the one who has assumed responsibility, I ask that you provide a ship's manifest so that a receipt for seizure of goods may be provided, and nominate a representative to be taken to answer to the Council," Az explains in detail, much to the dumbfounded confusion of all in attendance.
Blinking repeatedly, Kattarin looks at Az for a long, pregnant moment before she asks, "You're... seizing the ship... under some law and treaty I have never heard of... and you want to write us a receipt?"
"Yes, of course, I would be in violation of the agreement between our governments if I did anything less, and a treaty violation is why we are speaking here, so that would be right hypocritical of me if I didn't do things properly, now wouldn't it," Az responds seriously.
Kattarin seems to want to say something but keeps aborting what she might want to say until finally she says, "Right then. And you want someone to go with you to answer for this."
"Yes, that was what I said," Az replies with a solemn nod.
The woman looks around at the ship and the undoubtedly dark figures lurking aboard the silhouette of the Spritely Sinner and then straightens up, obviously deciding to play along as she booms out, "I demand a guarantee of safety for the representative, and their safe return after discussion is concluded."
"Absolutely! It would be a grave offence should the representative be brought to harm, and even attack by an outside element -including an ally- would bring shame should the representative not be protected," Az proclaims.
"Then I nominate myself as representative, the receipt to be given to my father, who shall remain to command his crew once his faculties return," Kattarin declares.
Nodding, Az says, "Most excellent. I ask the surviving crew to attend to those caught up in the fighting and to prepare adequate supplies to be set adrift while I converse with my allies on the preparation of a prize crew. Lady del Torros, if you might prepare the records for my examination after, that will greatly smooth things over."
Everyone just sort of mills around in shock for a moment before Kattarin barks at them all to get moving before the maniac in their midst starts killing again, at which point they begin the process of evacuation with remarkable alacrity. Strolling across a gangplank extended between the now roped together ships, Az comes up to you and says in all seriousness, "I'm glad this is a Semish ship or I would have had to have jumped through a lot more hoops to justify that."
You and Dagwood just look at him dumbfounded before it dawns on you that the Semish claim political continuity to the time of the First Emperor. An appalled look crosses your face as you realize that you have no idea how the First Empire was actually arranged, and that there is the distinct possibility of everything he just said being technically true!
"You're... you're evil, you know that," you accuse the God of All Tyrants.
Az nods and says, "I get that a lot, yes." He then runs his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully across his chin and asks, "What do you think of the Lady del Torros there?"
"What do I think? I think she's an upper class Semish noble," you reply, summing up everything you in fact know about here.
"Well Councillor, you should form an opinion before we reach a suitable port," Az says, leaning in close enough that you can see him wink behind his mask.
For the return trip you spend most of your time with...
[] Kattarin
[] Az
[] The crew
Of course, before you get to the better off crew, you're going to finish up with Marcus, which remains a long and complicated job that consumes several days in of itself. You note with some interest and annoyance that the cancerous sections grow back several times before you realize that they are only in part caused by supernatural means. Deep roots of malaise from the trauma remain, and until you deal with those your work can be undone. Eventually you think that you realize that some sections of growth are best thought of as scabs that turn to scar tissue: the mind trying to heal itself but creating a new problem. You have to dive in deeper to try to find the root issues, and to avoid just tearing Marcus' mind apart that means that it is slow and exhausting. Multiple times your magic runs out while you are trying to do something, and you have to just lay on the deck for an hour or so to refill your reserves before starting over again. Sometimes you find an odious memory or emotional pattern that you feel confident that you can simply excise and consume for energy, but a lot of time the more damaging parts of the mind are interwoven with deep parts integral to Marcus' identity.
The shame of failure to his captain from falling in battle can't really be excised without removing the entire memory or the feeling of loyalty to said captain, and unfortunately you are learning that memories aren't nice neat packages. They intertwine with each other and are tied to multiple emotional contexts and the whole thing is just hard. You are somewhat frightened by the combination of pure skill and brutal, callus disregard for the sanctity of others the demon had to have had to do its job so quickly and efficiently.
Still, after a solid four days not only is Marcus able to function on his own like some of the more damaged members of the crew, but there is a definite spark in his eyes and he actually starts to take initiative in things.
By the fifth day he is looking at Nathaniel curiously and asks, "Captain?"
It's quite the thing to see the dread pirate Captain Deadwood break down into sobbing tears, clutching at the shirt of one of his crew and profusely apologizing while the God of All Tyrants pats him on the back, their little sparring session interrupted by the question.
By the sixth day Marcus is holding conversations, and while its obvious that a lot of his personality isn't what it was thirty or so years, the fact that he has a personality and it isn't something that you stuck there is a massive boon to morale, such as it is. You're not sure how much more you can actually do for him, but the effort you have already put in has taxed you greatly, and as much as you have learned you don't think any further effort will be of benefit. You'll probably do more damage than you can undo at this point.
And then you start in on the rest of the crew. You make it definite that you don't know how much you can do, but that you will try to help the worst off members and get them functional, and start working your way from case to case from the bottom up, and that you will honestly probably run out of time before you can get to everyone. This still definitely buys you significant benefit, and much to your surprise when the Spritely Sinner moves into the Main Stream area and it sails right past the sort of sloop that the average pirate crew would favour, only for the Captain to mention to Az, "Not good enough."
You've apparently impressed Dagwood with your efforts and he intends to pay you back for that by putting more effort into this alliance himself. The look from Az is... impressive. Honestly, you feel your heart flutter a bit at that earnest look of gratitude and pride at your work, although you do have to ask what exactly he's been doing while you've been hard at work.
The enigmatic look he gives sort of makes you wonder why you asked.
As the second week at sea turns into the third and Nathaniel has passed up several small, isolated ships, he finally seems to have found what he wants. Handing his telescope over to Az one day, he gestures to the horizon. After scanning for a few heartbeats Az whistles and says, "That's a lot of ships."
Taking back the spyglass, Dagwood nods and says while scanning the distant formation once more, "Semish treasure fleet. They don't let their galleons loaded with luxuries from their colonies go unguarded and the Main Stream is fast enough that they can wait to bunch up and sail all at once and still get their goods to market in good time. We're obviously not going directly for that flock... ah! Perfect."
"Are you going after a galleon?" You ask incredulously. Your memory is spotty, but even you know enough pirate lore to know that while catching a treasure ship out of formation is the ultimate prize, both for the goods in its hold and for the fact that the huge ships were built to have swap out cargo space for guns and can outfight almost everything smaller than them.
"Nope. Frigate escort," Dagwood replies nonchalantly.
Your brain freezes as you roll over the fact that the 'almost everything smaller than them' in your last thought excludes the few ships custom built and always rigged for war, like the frigates that prowl among the treasure fleets to add speed and firepower to numbers for the cargo rigged galleons. The Sinner was a custom built warship to be sure, and had supernatural advantages besides, but going after a frigate of all things was a bit much. If nothing else the rest of the fleet would be able to pound them into retreat while the struggled with the warship.
"Mr. Beckworth, please adjust our heading three degrees to starboard. Mr. Grigor, full sail please," Dagwood orders, and the two men named immediately begin issuing their own orders on carrying out the task.
As the crew jumps to motion and the ship itself changes how it moves across the sea, Az comments, "I can't help but notice we're turning away from the target."
"Of course. We need to get in front of them without them seeing that we're getting in front of them," Dagwood answers.
Despite the chase being on, it actually takes days for it to occur, Dagwood carefully judging the distances involved frequently, and you find that you have no idea when things will happen. Sometimes you think that everything is going to happen and you hold onto your magical energies just in case you will need them only for the day to end, while other times you drain yourself in your work only to briefly feel like you have timed it incorrectly as there is a flurry of activity. You ask Nathaniel a few times and he says that he can't predict when the moment will come, just that it will.
As such, you're more than a little perturbed when the moment comes late in the day on a day when nothing seems like it will be happening. You are resting in your hammock, utterly exhausted, when suddenly someone starts calling out, "All hands, prepare to flood! All hands, prepare to flood!"
Scrambling out of the hammock with what energy is left to you, you head up to deck to find Dagwood sitting on a stool with several buckets of seawater being held by sailors before him, assisting him in chugging them down to great discomfort, the ship lowering perilously in the water as he fills up. Rather curiously you also note that his arms are tightly wrapped in oilcloth and there are two sailors on each arm frantically working to apply oil and fan them dry. Scraps of memory that are neither your own nor the demon's suggest that the resonance between Nathaniel and the ship goes both ways, so this all serves some greater purpose.
"Our target has broken away from the main group, our sails having finally caught their attention in just the right way. They'll see us low in the water shortly after sunset, and assume that we're either much smaller than we are, or are in distress. Either way, easy prey for a frigate thinking that they're seeing a pirate nipping at the edges and hoping that bad weather blows something expensive away from the flock," Nathaniel explains between gulping water and judging the sinking of the ship.
The sun is indeed down below the horizon when the lights on the horizon move closer to the tiny pools of light cast by the intentionally few lanterns strung up on the Sinner, and you're only partially recovered from your work during the day. Az has disappeared, dispersed among a number of longboats scattered about the surrounding waters, ready to swarm about the target ship in the dark. You feel incredibly tense at the way the ship is so dangerously low in the water and all but one of its sails is neatly packed away, the one actually out fluttering listlessly from its intentional ill trim. You feel like a sitting duck, the approaching warship all too capable of finishing off the job you've already started, but from the easy way that Nathaniel is sitting on his stool with ropes tied around his swollen gut and a dozen sailors ready to pull and squeeze, you get the feeling that they've done this before.
Before the plan can actually be implemented, the tense silence of the night is broken by the Az's voice booming across the mostly still sea, a cannon loud but whipcrack clear announcement of, "HALT! Prepare to stand to for boarding and inspection!"
The line is both unexpected by you and Nathaniel, and draws everyone's attention towards Az standing out in the darkness, barely illuminated by a lantern he holds aloft. You just sort of stare at him in utterly confusion for a time before someone from the frigate fires at him, the results on Az unknown in the darkness, but the results on the frigate obvious as crossbow bolts whistle in from the darkness, striking true more often than not and picking off sailors and marines while not revealing where in the dark the shots are coming from. Realizing that they are surrounded by pirates, the frigate crew begins to shutter their own lanterns so that they are not providing easy targets. Nathaniel orders something similar for their own lanterns even as he orders his crew to begin tightening the ropes around his belly, causing him to vomit up seawater, which fountains out of the flooded hold in sympathy.
Guns and cannons go off on the frigate and there is the sounds of confusion and battle as the Spritely Sinner rises from the waves in the dark, and somehow moves almost like an oared ship using some sort of supernatural method, coming quietly alongside the embattled frigate even as the conflict on the decks comes to a close. A lantern is unshuttered and Az can be seen standing almost alone on the deck surrounded by the dead and wounded, the mannequin sailors of the Spritely Sinner quietly retreating from the light to give Az sole prominence. Long gone are the rags and cultist robe from weeks ago, replaced by proper attire for the environment, although Az has supplemented it with a luridly carved mask that you hadn't realized he had been making. While not exactly ostentatious, there was something distinctly sinister about the design that definitely drew the eyes towards the face concealing design above everything else.
"Right then, that was entirely unnecessary, now wasn't it?" Az chides as if talking to children. "As a legal representative of the Xoiharl Confederacy I have the authority to conduct the inspection of trade vessels within our territory and the territory of allied groups, claimed territorial waters included. Now, who is in charge here?"
The cowed sailors, realizing that enemy reinforcements have arrived to assist the madman in their midst, all point to a man in plate lying in a heap on the deck at Az's feet. Leaning over, Az inspects him and asks, "Right then, he won't be up for a while. Next in line?"
There is a murmuring from the crew before a woman's voice chides them all in a Semish accent, "Right then, if none of you have the balls to step up! Madman, I am Kattarin d'Jauney del Torros, daughter of Representative d'Jauney, whom you stand victorious over."
"Very well then, then I find this ship in violation of the Treaty of Thirteen Cities and shall seize it and all of its contents for attacking a lawful inspection under that treaty. A representative may join me to petition the Council of Confederacies over the return of the ship after the payment of an appropriate penalty, while the rest of the crew shall be left with adequate supplies to return to their nearest confederates, which in this case shall mean longboats with food and water and some means of signalling the rest of your fleet. As the one who has assumed responsibility, I ask that you provide a ship's manifest so that a receipt for seizure of goods may be provided, and nominate a representative to be taken to answer to the Council," Az explains in detail, much to the dumbfounded confusion of all in attendance.
Blinking repeatedly, Kattarin looks at Az for a long, pregnant moment before she asks, "You're... seizing the ship... under some law and treaty I have never heard of... and you want to write us a receipt?"
"Yes, of course, I would be in violation of the agreement between our governments if I did anything less, and a treaty violation is why we are speaking here, so that would be right hypocritical of me if I didn't do things properly, now wouldn't it," Az responds seriously.
Kattarin seems to want to say something but keeps aborting what she might want to say until finally she says, "Right then. And you want someone to go with you to answer for this."
"Yes, that was what I said," Az replies with a solemn nod.
The woman looks around at the ship and the undoubtedly dark figures lurking aboard the silhouette of the Spritely Sinner and then straightens up, obviously deciding to play along as she booms out, "I demand a guarantee of safety for the representative, and their safe return after discussion is concluded."
"Absolutely! It would be a grave offence should the representative be brought to harm, and even attack by an outside element -including an ally- would bring shame should the representative not be protected," Az proclaims.
"Then I nominate myself as representative, the receipt to be given to my father, who shall remain to command his crew once his faculties return," Kattarin declares.
Nodding, Az says, "Most excellent. I ask the surviving crew to attend to those caught up in the fighting and to prepare adequate supplies to be set adrift while I converse with my allies on the preparation of a prize crew. Lady del Torros, if you might prepare the records for my examination after, that will greatly smooth things over."
Everyone just sort of mills around in shock for a moment before Kattarin barks at them all to get moving before the maniac in their midst starts killing again, at which point they begin the process of evacuation with remarkable alacrity. Strolling across a gangplank extended between the now roped together ships, Az comes up to you and says in all seriousness, "I'm glad this is a Semish ship or I would have had to have jumped through a lot more hoops to justify that."
You and Dagwood just look at him dumbfounded before it dawns on you that the Semish claim political continuity to the time of the First Emperor. An appalled look crosses your face as you realize that you have no idea how the First Empire was actually arranged, and that there is the distinct possibility of everything he just said being technically true!
"You're... you're evil, you know that," you accuse the God of All Tyrants.
Az nods and says, "I get that a lot, yes." He then runs his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully across his chin and asks, "What do you think of the Lady del Torros there?"
"What do I think? I think she's an upper class Semish noble," you reply, summing up everything you in fact know about here.
"Well Councillor, you should form an opinion before we reach a suitable port," Az says, leaning in close enough that you can see him wink behind his mask.
For the return trip you spend most of your time with...
[] Kattarin
[] Az
[] The crew
- Location
- Germany
[] Kattarin
Would learn directly and learn the most, however has also the greatest risk of getting discovered, which would put us into deep shit, however if she actually lacks the mental protections we could Charm her and thus get all information we need, at the same time this could displease Az, since we maybe/kinda break the deal for protection he made,
Need to go over this later again in order to figure out on whether the deal of protection includes protection from us
[] Az
Has the smallest risk of getting discovered, but also gives the smallest boon, might come back to bite us, if we fail to discover critical information
[X] The crew
Here we could learn indirectly about the new girl and also has a rather low risk on discovery, as long as we do not something that need to be reported to Kattarin, since they are just as confused as we are, we might even be able to Charm into giving out more informations, since I doubtthey have the mental shields to fight it off
Would learn directly and learn the most, however has also the greatest risk of getting discovered, which would put us into deep shit, however if she actually lacks the mental protections we could Charm her and thus get all information we need, at the same time this could displease Az, since we maybe/kinda break the deal for protection he made,
Need to go over this later again in order to figure out on whether the deal of protection includes protection from us
[] Az
Has the smallest risk of getting discovered, but also gives the smallest boon, might come back to bite us, if we fail to discover critical information
[X] The crew
Here we could learn indirectly about the new girl and also has a rather low risk on discovery, as long as we do not something that need to be reported to Kattarin, since they are just as confused as we are, we might even be able to Charm into giving out more informations, since I doubtthey have the mental shields to fight it off
- Location
- Germany
AN should have our skill gone one up from the actions of this chapter?
Iit certainly felt/read like it
- Location
- Leeds
[X] Kattarin
We were told to form an opinion, hard to do that if we never interact with her.
E: Also perhaps we got away with it in the dark but I imagine she'll have a panic attack when she realises shes on the HMS Zombie.
We were told to form an opinion, hard to do that if we never interact with her.
E: Also perhaps we got away with it in the dark but I imagine she'll have a panic attack when she realises shes on the HMS Zombie.
- Location
- Earth
[X] The crew
I agree with @sidestory here; talking to the crew sounds like a nice middleground between risk and reward.
I agree with @sidestory here; talking to the crew sounds like a nice middleground between risk and reward.