Of Winding Ways and Cunning Devices
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy Alt. History
OK, looks like we are not going to war but we are taking on Helgi
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
But there were no vote for "go to war", it was write-in iniciative.
Arc 1 Post 14: Familiar Dealings
Familiar Dealings
15th of May 867 A.D.
On the balance escorting a princeling loses you nothing and can gain you much so you take the deal. Truth be told you are also contemplating joining Rurik in battle against Vyacheslav. Just the thought of what a well prepared cavalry charge, even a small one could do to a shield wall unprepared for it...
No, you are not a cavalry commander anymore Eriol, you tell yourself, but you cannot help but wonder: What am I then? Not a noble of Numenor certainly, a scholar then, a student of the Music that rings in all things, of history, the lore of the elves and spirits? What good does all that knowledge do you here? You could not even see what was in front of your face.
It is that thought that carries you out of the king's hall before the last of the revelers have had their fill and into the marketplace. Late is the hour, but even now with naught but the moon and stars for light a handful of the merchants are still plying their trade, mostly those new-come from the south looking to unload their cargo on wealthy strangers
The heady scent of half-familiar spices rises into the cool air as merchants ply their trade by clink of clear glass and gleam of jewels. You have no idea where Venice might lie, but surely it must be wealthy to craft goblets and vases so fair. The images of gods... no holy men and women look back at you from icons haloed with gold perhaps with judging eyes.
Shaking off the thought you notice one of the less well guarded tables staked out by a fellow whose features and dress remind you of Tzitzak, one of the Khazars then, masters of the eastern steppe. In place of flax he boasts rolls of silk and in place of books bound between wood or leather covers tightly bound scrolls.
No doubt the markets of Miklagard will be richer, but you still have quite a bit of coin in your purse, and a chance to buy more local goods before you set off, the hold is far from full after all. Even all the wine you had gifted Rurik and all that had been drunk already barely comes down to a single ton.
Yet for all these fair showings you know it would be folly to carry any of this back down south, a poor use of your vast hold. No it is the fruit of this deep forested land which can make you a profit: timber and furs, honey and wax, amber mayhap if you can find it.
Coin:
- 66 Mithril Scepters
- 65 Golden Sails
- 209 Silver Trees
From Southern Traders (low resale value where you are heading):
[] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
Cost 10 Golden Sails
Effect +1 Morale
[] Silk, such wares would allow you to show up in Miklagard more than common sailor's garb
Cost 15 Golden Sails
Effect: A much more impressive showing in any ports along the way and at your destination
[] Fine cloth, not a princely as silk perhaps, but it also does not pinch the ship's purse near as much
Cost: 20 Silver Trees
Effect: A somewhat more impressive showing in any ports along the way and at your destination
[] Wine, something to drink and make merry with that does not cut into the supply of elven wine
Cost: 50 Silver Trees
Effect: +2 Morale; potential discipline problems
[] Books in Greek
Cost: 10 Golden Sails
Effect: Learn something more of the people into whose lands you are sailing, it nothing else it will be a challenge to puzzle them out with only Liv's knowledge of the tongue and the script
[] Scrolls in Sogdian and Chinese
Cost: 20 Golden Sails
Effect: Information on the Silk Road, assuming you find someone who can actually reads the language
From the Local Traders to sell on:
A Unit of Goods is worth 1/10th of a ton , these goods are designed to be carried by smaller ships than the Darring Wanderer. Does not apply to Amber
[] Furs, they sell well in the south, not so much for their warmth as for the luster they hold and the prestige of wearing them
Cost: 2 Golden Sails
Quantity: x10
[] Timber, by far the most plentiful thing available and you have some men aboard with an eye for ship's timbers
Cost: 10 Silver Trees/1 Golden Sail
Quantity: x55
[] Honey and Wax, valued as both a treat for the palettes of the nobility and a raw material for the making of fine candle-making
Cost: 4 Golden Sails
Quantity: x7
[] Amber, by far the most precious thing on offer for its volume, you can only buy a a score or so shards in all, but they are sure to be valuable to the right buyer
Cost 10 Golden Sails
Quantity: Special
OOC: Since it will take days to get all the goods actually delivered I figured it would make sense to have the trading vote now and then do the rest of the actions here in port while stuff is being delivered.
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Yes, but it was one that would have a considerable cost in time and effort rather than a way to do the main vote.
Furs are probably the best investment though it might be worth diversifying a little bit. We probably also don't want to appear as beggars so some level of cloth might be worth it though we could always were some of the elvish cloth. Timber is also tempting because we're one of the few ships with the cargo capacity to actually make it worth it.
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
I'd like at least the books, because ignorance of the locals is a weakness we can't afford.
[X] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
Cost 10 Golden Sails
Effect +1 Morale
[X] Books in Greek
Cost: 10 Golden Sails
Effect: Learn something more of the people into whose lands you are sailing, it nothing else it will be a challenge to puzzle them out with only Liv's knowledge of the tongue and the script
Separating what we're buying for ourselves and what we're buying to sell.
[X] Selling Stuff
-[X] Furs, they sell well in the south, not so much for their warmth as for the luster they hold and the prestige of wearing them [Quantity: x5] [10 Golden Sails]
-[X] Amber, by far the most precious thing on offer for its volume, you can only buy a a score or so shards in all, but they are sure to be valuable to the right buyer [10 Golden Sails]
-[X] Honey and Wax, valued as both a treat for the palettes of the nobility and a raw material for the making of fine candle-making [Quantity: x5] [20 Golden Sails]
For a grand total of 40 golden sails from the sell on goods. 60 is you include the books and spices. Am also really curious what we could get for a mithril coin, something to explore in the future.
Cost 10 Golden Sails
Effect +1 Morale
[X] Books in Greek
Cost: 10 Golden Sails
Effect: Learn something more of the people into whose lands you are sailing, it nothing else it will be a challenge to puzzle them out with only Liv's knowledge of the tongue and the script
Separating what we're buying for ourselves and what we're buying to sell.
[X] Selling Stuff
-[X] Furs, they sell well in the south, not so much for their warmth as for the luster they hold and the prestige of wearing them [Quantity: x5] [10 Golden Sails]
-[X] Amber, by far the most precious thing on offer for its volume, you can only buy a a score or so shards in all, but they are sure to be valuable to the right buyer [10 Golden Sails]
-[X] Honey and Wax, valued as both a treat for the palettes of the nobility and a raw material for the making of fine candle-making [Quantity: x5] [20 Golden Sails]
For a grand total of 40 golden sails from the sell on goods. 60 is you include the books and spices. Am also really curious what we could get for a mithril coin, something to explore in the future.
Do you think it's worth getting some timber as well to make use of our cargo space?
Maybe but I'm more so getting things that are not so easily available everywhere. The amber for one very valuable everywhere, furs are likewise a good trade good to sell to anyone with money, and the wax and hone is also a good bet in regards to the church or any noble. I wouldn't be against spending a couple silver on them though but I'm not really sold on it.
Fair enough, that seems reasonable.
[X] Selling Stuff
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Books in Greek
- Location
- Over the next hill.
[X] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
[X] Books in Greek
[X] Selling Stuff
All these sound good. We need the morale buff. Once we get to the Mediterranean, Greek is going to be the lingua franca. More books are going to be written in Greek than anything other than Latin or Arabic that we might encounter. We're not going to have unlimited cargo space so we should prioritize luxury goods going forward.
[X] Wine, something to drink and make merry with that does not cut into the supply of elven wine
Going to put forward wine as well, so we don't eat into the elven wine stores on the ship. They're literally the last examples of the kind anywhere on Earth and to certain persons, could sell for a very high price. This is not even mentioning how they're probably of finer make than anything else you could find in Europe, or perhaps even the world.
[X] Books in Greek
[X] Selling Stuff
All these sound good. We need the morale buff. Once we get to the Mediterranean, Greek is going to be the lingua franca. More books are going to be written in Greek than anything other than Latin or Arabic that we might encounter. We're not going to have unlimited cargo space so we should prioritize luxury goods going forward.
[X] Wine, something to drink and make merry with that does not cut into the supply of elven wine
Going to put forward wine as well, so we don't eat into the elven wine stores on the ship. They're literally the last examples of the kind anywhere on Earth and to certain persons, could sell for a very high price. This is not even mentioning how they're probably of finer make than anything else you could find in Europe, or perhaps even the world.
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Rolen von Keng
Sleeping Green Bear
- Location
- The Wilderness
[X] Selling Stuff
[X] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
[X] Books in Greek
[X] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
[X] Books in Greek
- Location
- Germany
[X] New Spices, those should cheer the men a bit
[X] Books in Greek
[X] Selling Stuff
[X] Books in Greek
[X] Selling Stuff
Ok, vote closed. I thought about doing Rim and Hammer today, but I am a bit busy for all the calculations that come with a new turn for that one today so it's this quest again
Arc 1 Post 15: Secrets Softly Spoken
Secrets Softly Spoken
18th of May 867 A.D.
Gold in hand may be a ward against misfortune, but the shine rather dulls on a coin gathering dust as the saying goes. Thankfully the local merchants are as unconcerned by the markings on coin as any other, giving lie to the pride of kings, be they even the Kings of Numenor. Granted it is not entirely prudent to spend a third of your coin at the first port of any note you had found, but circumstances are dire enough that prudence alone may not serve. At least that is what you tell yourself as you take possession of amber, fur, honey and wax carefully packed for the long journey, most importantly of all as you take possession of beautifully inscribed texts in a language you cannot even speak nor write in yet. Getting ahead of yourself aren't you Eriol? The mental chastisement comes at you in Abrazân's voice, though the man himself is rather too busy riding herd on the crew to say so himself.
Lost 60 Golden Sails
Gained
- Spices (+1 Morale)
- Tomes in Greek
- 0.5 Tones of Furs
- 0.5 Tones of Wax and Honey
- Amber
Loud is that voice in your ears as you walk along the shore one fateful eve looking out to the glimmer of unfamiliar stars rising from it like specks turned silver in the moonlight and to the mantle of the darkening sky affixed... when you realize that you are not walking alone. The steps behind you creaking along the pier are lighter true, but so too might an assassin walk.
"Good eve," you call back, not turning though your hand rests closer to the hilt of your sword.
"Fair meeting to you also my lord," a soft voice, just on the edge of being a whisper replies. You turn to see a lady garbed in a black cloak. Her dark hair uncovered in the stinging spray marks her as a widow, though one who had passed through the trial of her husband's parting with grace indeed. Fair of face she is certainly, though you are more intrigued by the directness of her gaze... and the fact that she had followed you here at all. Familiar circumstances indeed, but you remind yourself not to be hasty and try to place her in your mind... Ah that was it.
"Völva Thyyra," you incline your head slightly. You had met her while negotiating for amber, she had been wed to one of Rurik's companions come over the sea, though he had not lived to see the land taking. She is a midwife and a priestess of....
"Tell me, do you live the dusk because it so resembles you?"
The question is so sudden and so far from where your mind had gone a-wandering that you cannot hold back a start, though you quickly bring your expression under control and raise an eyebrow in askance.
Retort (Learning) : 89 + 18 = 107
"How pray fair servant of Mardöll am I like the dusk?" Purposefully you use the name of her Goddess that means 'sea brightener', a pun might not be the most respectful, but then neither is ambushing a stranger with sharp words on his walk.
"I do not know, only that you are." She places one delicate finger upon her chin in thought. "I am not such a fool as to demand answers of the gods, nor so prideful as to doubt them. I have seen you at counsel and your words are like heady wine swift to turn aside all ill judgement into good cheer and when you smile it is as bright as sea-foam, lacking in malice as Njord himself, but I have seen you also when you think no eyes are upon you and then the light seems to draw back from you and the darkness to gather close."
"The eye sees what it wills..." you begin, but she waves you off.
"Does the ear also hear what it wills, from the mouths of your own men who claimed you for one who practices seiðr, a teller and a binder of the future?"
Briefly you wonder which witness excuse of a Dunedain had let slip that in foreign port, likely as not blowing away the hay of a recent romp. Here and now it matters little, she knows enough to ask the question and so you must now answer. Near as you are able to tell among Rurik's folk magic is seen as more of an attribute of women than of men, the skill to bind enchant fate and bind it in knots rather than meet it head on. Yet she did not accuse you in the high hall, instead seeking you out in private to ask, so her purpose can hardly be simply to call you unmanly. Dare you confirm her suspicion to see what she means by it?
What do you answer?
[] Admit to being a magician
[] Deny being a magician
[] Write in
OOC: Turns out sailors just come into a friendly port, not the best people to be keeping secrets, especially when it comes to pillow-talk. also Eriol's lustful trait finally gets a chance to show itself in his first assumption of why the priestess is seeking him.
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Confimred, we are Roland lol. Also I don't think there is anything particularly wrong here with admitting to sorcery. Odin is a sorcerer as is her godess Freyja. The problem is that she will want to probably see it in person. So I'm torn on this choice.
