Carina stands in the crow's nest, her hair hanging loose and whipping in the wind. Even after years in her family's fleet and now on the Memelesi, standing at the tallest point on the ship never gets old. Up here, the world is nothing but blue sky, white clouds and open ocean in every direction out to the line where they meet. It feels less like being on a ship and more like flying.

The moment passes and she looks down over the ship, spying Finn far below, making his daily rounds. With practiced ease, she grabs a line, swings down to the starboard shroud and drops down from there to the deck in front of him.

"No signs of trouble topside," she says, skipping straight from dramatic landing to business. "How's everything holding up below decks?"

Finn is barely surprised to have Carina drop out of the sky in front of him, used to her antics by this point. He remembers scolding her a few times when they were still knowing each other, but by this point she had proven that she knew what she was doing, and had earned the right for Finn to stop pestering her about doing acrobatics on the ship.

"No damage or significant wear and tear, as expected from the Memelesi. The weather is also being merciful with us, which helps"

Orlov stood on the poop deck surveying the ship and the crew with a severe expression. Then he took all his clothes off and leapt down onto the quarter deck. Completely naked and uncaring, he strode across the wooden planks heading towards the prow, head held high, long blond hair flapping lazily.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:30, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

You have the following leads.


Lead 1:

While Finn was working some side jobs in the last port you docked at, he overheard some pirates belonging to the crew of The Falcon. Apparently, their leaders were discussing some kind of possible score in the Revellan city of Puerto Serena located on one of the islands in Greater Cuiverra. Apparently, Puerto Serena is preparing for a week of festivities that's to precede the governor's daughter wedding to some high-ranking Revellian noble. Apparently, the dowry is going to be incredibly great, as the rich governor tried to increase his social standing by marrying his daughter into high nobility of Revelle.

The crew of the Falcon got pretty banged up after they bit a bigger target then they could chew a few days ago and thus they had to spend some days recuperating before they would consider tackling on this challenge. This gives you the opportunity to beat them to the punch and get the dowry and maybe also something more from the treasury of the governor in the process. Puerto Serena is about 3 days of travel from your current location.


Lead 2:

You've heard from Jaabir's friend Tabitha, a curio shop owner, that apparently the Hangman's Noose had some kind of ancient and powerful artifact at their disposal they got after raiding some other pirate crew that found it in the Hollows. Tabitha was to identify it for them. In the end, the crew of the Hangman's Noose ended up selling the artifact to the Sisterhood, who took it to some small sanctum of theirs located on a remote island in the Greater Cuiverra archipelago. Tabitha was aware of the general location of the sanctum and provided it to you as a favor to Jaabir.

The small archipelago among which the island hosting the sanctum is hidden is about a day of travel from your location, but you'll need to find out which island hosts the Sisterhood's hidden sanctum, which might take some more time.


Lead 3:

The Redcliff Company is looking for dependable (and discreet) crews that will raid Sallician merchant ships along the trading routes in the region of Agostine Islands in order to weaken their competition. Your contact, the businessman Trelawney offered to introduce you to a high ranking member of the Redcliff Company, should you wish to take them up on the offer. There might be a letter of marque from Valdesia in it for you.




You might be able to tackle on all three of these challenges, but time will elapse and that could mean things change, additional complications arise, so whatever you choose to do first will probably be easier and more likely to result in a payout.

Alternatively, you may choose to abandon all three leads and simply either try to hunt for ships, try to go to the nearest port and try to find out some other leads and rumors, travel to another region and try your luck there or anything else you can think of.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:39, Tue 07 Nov 2023.

Orlov jumped on the forecastle gunwhale and stood staring at the horizen before leaping into the sea. He swam lazily in the ocean as the ship passed him by, finally getting swept into the wake where he caught a rope he had tied on beforehand. He let himself be towed along for a while, picking up the feel of the termperature, currents and mood of the sea, before finally pulling himself hand over hand up the rope to the ship and then walking up the stern.

Once back on deck he dried and dressed himself, and then made his way to the quarterdeck where a knot of people had formed and a discussion appeared to be taking place.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:22, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

"The governor of Puerto Serena is trying to marry into Cuiverran nobility with a hefty dowry" Orlov summed up, continuing "If that dowry is taken then both sides are likely to be angry. We could lose favour with Cuiverra and have the port closed to us.

"It would be better if we let the Falcon get the score and then raided them as they were leaving. Or simply blockaded them and stopped their escape, and earn favour and some reward from the Governer."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:38, Tue 07 Nov 2023.

Carina just smirks to herself as Orlov predictably chooses chaos.

"Man overbdoard," she says in a very conversational, unconcerned tone. She knows full well that Orlov will show back up soon enough. He either has some wild plan or went to make friends with some terror of the deep that lesser men would avoid. When he does return, she hears out his plan with a wry smile.

"I feel like you're overlooking the real prize."

Carina pauses a moment for dramatic effect, her smile taking on a distinctly mischievous slant.

"The governor's daughter isn't just some willing waif. She's being sold like so much cattle and shipped back to the homeland to fatten daddy's bottom line. Someone. . ." she pauses, taking a moment to tug on the lapels of her coat, "should convince her that a life free from the nobles of the homeland is better than a life as purchased goods. We could focus on getting her out and grabbing whatever silver and documents are in the governor's mansion. Hell, we could even tip off the authorities to the Falcon's plan. Let both sides fight it out and no one will even know we were there."

Craina's eyes widen, gesturing broadly as her excitement with the spur-of-the-moment idea grows. She had started down this line of thought wanting to save someone the horrors of an arranged marriage but now is starting to see the potential as a real score. "Just think, Revellan shipping lanes, expansion plans, ship names, letters from spies, locations of mysterious ruins and artifacts. We'd have the whole fleet in the palm of our hands, at least until they have time to change things up. We'd have a new revolutionary leader in our debt. We might not score as much coin but we'll open a whole lot of lucrative doors wile The Falcon takes the fall."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

"I'm not sure that there is much favor we can win in our line of work, but I like the idea of forcing the Falcon crew to lose their bargaining chip after they start bargaining."

At Carina's idea, Finn expresses some doubts.

"That is a big if. I don't doubt that some young noble ladies recent being married off for political favors, but the truth is that there is many that have been indoctrinated with a sense of loyalty to their families. Are we sure the governor's daughter fits the bill?"

Carina laughs softly and nods. Even she can see that this is more of an idea than a plan but it does seem to be an idea with very few downsides.  "You may be right but look at the ways this goes down. Either she's already willing and the whole operation is trivial or she's not and we have to tie her up and have her as a 'guest' for a bit. Then either Bella, the Captain and I can convince her a life on the seas is a better option or we can't. Worst case scenario, we ransom her back and hit the dowry during the talks without having to worry about competition from The Falcon. Then we've got the governor's personal stash, a ton of useful information and the dowry."

"Her value is the dowry," Orlov pointed out. "Without the dowry, the Cuiverrans don't want her. Without the dowry, the governer can't pay the ransom. And both of us hate us, because the Falcon will blame us, say they were played for dupes, we were the masterminds."

"And that's if the plan works."

"Also, we don't know who is getting married. Is it a beautiful young maiden being married to a fat old man against her will? Or a fat ugly girl being married off for Daddy's money? Or is the prospective husband a young energetic idiot noble who will chase us to the ends of the earth for honour and true love?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Sun 05 Nov 2023.

"Orlov, would you please put some pants on."

Jaabir emerges from the group. "I don't like the idea of taking on a non-sailor woman. It's bad luck. Gold on the other hand is always welcome."

Orlov, fully dressed, looked down at his pants and then stared at Gibber as if the witch doctor had sprouted horns.

Sorry, force of habit. Jaabir says, with a chuckle as he takes a swig from a bottle filled with little red flowers suspended in an amber liquid.

"Do any of the other options appeal to anyone?"  Orlov asked. "The artifact is closer,but we need more information. We could perhaps spend a say seeking information on all three options before deciding."

"The way I see it, neither the artifact nor the Sallician merchants are going anywhere. But if we let the opportunity pass, we won't be able to act on the tip about the governor's daughter, so it may serve us best to focus on attention solely on that one, until we decide if we want to make a move there or not"

Carina shrugs. "We should definitely find out what's going on with the artifact. A bunch of witches sitting on a powerful artifact aren't going to stick it on a shelf. They're going to want to use it but we have no idea what for. If we end up not hitting the artifact, it might still be good to swing by the Sisterhood's sanctum. A bunch of noblewomen who are also witches would be good friends to have when we hit the dowry."

OOC notes: Not that we need a scene for stopping by the sanctum. I'm just marking that out for potential flashbacks if we do the dowry job.

"The problem with the Sanctum is that we don't know where it is. We could spend days looking for it." Orlov commented. "And Finn's right, the artifacts not going anywhere.

"It seems everyone is keen on the dowry. Do we raid the mansion, do we hit the wedding, do we try to kidnap the bride, or do we just tip them off?

"Now, if we want more information on that, do we just sail into Harbour and start asking questions? Or have the ship sail by and drop us off in a jolly boat? I don't think we will find out much more from here. We aren't going to get plans of the mansion or details of the wedding.

I think I'd like to get the dowry and blame the falcon. Which means not letting our ship be seen."

In the end, you have decided to sail to Puerto Serena and gather some information there about the possibility to seize the dowry. You gain favorable winds and make the 3 day journey there without incident.

The Admiral rolled 6 using 3d6 with rolls of 2,2,2. Travel roll.

Highest number was 2, so the voyage goes smoothly.

Below deck Sean was busy playing cards and winning other crew's money. "Why Bobby,  you haven't more than called this whole game, and now you raise a hundred. Must be a ripe peach of a hand." Others at the table were getting antsy telling him to play. "I just don't know. He has to have a real peach. Hmmm."

Sean looked at his cards. "Well I may be a suckered but I think I'll just have to call." The other player grinned and dropped a full house. He was reaching for the money when Sean dropped his hand, four queens. The other player got angry, calling him names and saying no one is that lucky. Sean leaned back in his chair and drummed the hilt of his sword with his fingers. "Why Bobby are you cross with me? If we aren't friends I don't think I could bear it."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:04, Sat 11 May.

"Settle down, you lot. Save it for the enemy." Orlov said, sitting down at the table. "Yo<DarkBlue>u lost" he said to the crewman. "And it's not wise to think about calling someone a cheat when he's better with a blade than you."

"Deal me in."

"What do you likely lads think we should do with the booty? If we start spending up big, it makes it easy for those hunting us to get on our trail."

"Bury it on an island somewhere?"

"We could give a good chunk of it to Trelawney, and have him arrange to outfit the ship, more guns, maybe, trade it in for something a bit bigger and faster, maybe. We go for a score and lie low somewhere and come back at the right place and time and get it done fast and easy."

"What are your thoughts?"</DarkBlue>

Sean laughed at Orlov, "Oh hey, you wanna lose your money, I'll be glad to take it." He thought throughout dealing the cards. "Invest it says I. Buy another ship, sail it under the same flag. We can hit two places at once, and nobody is the wiser.. Antenna it 25 and 50."

"What do you mean, "antenna it"?" Orlov asked, frowning.

"Buy an extra ship, eh...?" he said, considering the proposition.

Sean slowed his words down to be understood, "Antie in, lowest bet. Could always buy land and bury it, but that is cliché. Money dhould be spent, gambled, or gotten stolen. In this case I prefer the first choice."

"And if we buy another ship, we've still got the coin in value, and it's is a lot harder to steal from. Us than if it were buried on an unguarded island" Orlov considered. "And we've got the manpower now for another crew. Green landlubbers to be sure, but split the experienced crew in two and we have well seasoned men on both, and the lubbers should pick it up soon enough."

He pitched coins into the middle of the table and picked up his hand of cards, reordering them and moving them about.

"The other question is where to go next. I was thinking sailing through Meghara waters. Any Revellan ships will have to contend with Meghara corsairs, who aren't too friendly ro them, and with any luck they will think we are a corsair ourselves."

"As s far as I know, nobody on that island saw our ship, or knows the name of it. I got bailed up by some guards, and I said I was from the Falcon, hopefully they cop some heat and run a distraction."

Everyone else antied up as well. "Honestly one port is as good as another to me."