Yeah, I'm going to more or less be out of it for a couple more days. I fly back to Houston tomorrow morning and then I'm running around getting my apartment sorted. Throughout August I'll be back and forth between Calgary and Houston, so I may be intermittent in responding.

Good luck with your move.

So I'm in my new apartment in Houston; just me, some clothes, a sleeping bag and a chair for now. But I have 75mbps internet that was setup as soon as I arrived. I must say AT&T's service here has been stellar.

So I'll be able to keep up with stuff until near the end of August, at which point I'll be moving my stuff down here, and thus be on the road for a bit.

Just want to know if the PCs are going to bed now or not; if so we'll just jump ahead to the morning and the search for transportation.

I think we'll go to bed now, tomorrow Vanyra wanted to run around do something, Zelpuz wanted to go swim and relax another day and that's about it, so we can kind of skip to 2 days from now when we start looking for boats.

And welcome back to the world of internet. You should consider buying a table for the computer.

I'm dealing with a lot of crazy myself right now.  We got our stuff brought to the house only to find that both of our containers had been flooded with over an inch of water.

So we basically lost nearly all of our furniture and are dealing with damages to a bunch of other stuff as well.  In the meantime, I also had to unload two shipping containers in one day and we are now trying to unpack everything into the house in a totally disorganized and hectic fashion.  So... still moving.

Anyway, I will be trying to continue this as I can, but moving like this has been difficult to say the least.

That sucks, sorry to hear that Erik. Hopefully things are smoother from now. Seems everyone's planting roots anew.

Yuu will probably be too antsy to sleep, so may go for a late night stroll, sit on a wall and watch the waves and stars.

Btw, Netflix has a new series out, Stranger Things. It's a mix of Goonies and ET, if written by Stephen King.... VERY worth watching. They set it back in 1983, and nail the era perfectly. Even starts with some kids sitting around playing old school D&D.

Yeah, Stranger Things is kick-ass. Essentially throwing a ton of classic 80s tropes into one solid show. In some ways the premise is not that far off of numerous RPGs. 100% recommended.

Erik; that uber sucks. Was your stuff insured with the moving company? Seems like a major screw-up on their part.

Sure sucks. On the bright side, you get to have all new furniture.
Good luck getting everything organized again.

Should we just jump a day ahead to the ship search? I assume we can do that without Eric, or even without me, Zelpuz would be fine with nearly anything. And I assume until we get closer to the city there is not too much action that requires constant input from all of us.

That poor breakfast... being scoffed at like that. ;)

I'm still checking periodically. I'm back in Houston for a week and then I'll be out of touch for about 10 days while I move down my stuff from Canada.

Just waiting on Brett to move along the securing of a vessel. If we could get that done before I start to move down then I think we'll close this current chapter there, and open a new one once I get back down here.

Would it be dangerous for Yuu to use his real identity going back?

I'm going to assume very dangerous, as he has no idea what power shifts have occurred, or who might still want to use him to leverage his family.

It would be best for him to use a different travel name for sure, which would also mean travelling without using family funds. There are number of possible avenues there, like working on the ship, protection services, etc.

In Khahlyun the banking and credit system is advanced enough that you can use your accounts across nations, but just like today it will leave a trail for those who may want to track it. Up to you on how best to proceed; it is a relatively small port for spies to be looking for a credit check on a ticket, but you never know.

Another option is to do a inter-family transfer, grab some cash and move from there. Purchasing big ticket items with cash draws its own attention, but there's no trail really.

Ya, he'll definitely change his name, combine something local.

Another option is sell some magical services. Maybe he can build or pawn off an ether device for some travel funds. That way he's not digging into any traceable accounts, but still leaves him some liquid cash.

Yes, that's also a good option. It would also be a marketable trade skill for certain types of vessels with nether-powered engines. While such ships would certainly have a nether-engineer on board to troubleshoot any issues and provide the necessary power, Yuu may be able to offer design upgrades for enhanced performance.

Not a bad idea. Though I may want to avoid pushing that too far, as Yuu I'm sure has a reputation somewhat for nether devices.

I am not sure how much money we are talking about here, but I think Zelpuz has some, and Vanyra probably too, so we could also use our 'available' funds that I doubt people here would be looking for before we go crazy on how to obtain enough money for the trip.

Yeah, it's not the money that would be the issue as much as the trail. Prices for passage will be higher than normal because of the closure of Ossylia and the queue for entry, but nothing you guys couldn't manage. What's more important is a plausible story.

My point was, if Zelpuz for example uses his money to buy tickets, there would be no trail connecting that money to Yuu, right?
And we could make up some strange story about Zelpuz being some rich boy from somewhere with his entourage. Or some local story, or just say we hear there is money to be made for mercenaries.

Indeed, that is a possibility. But given the current situation that Yuu is with ZhuLi buying tickets, it may be a little late for a change of course.

Another thing to consider is what you're going to do when you get there. It may be much more difficult to enter than it was to leave.

That's why I figure, if I can skirt as close to the truth as possible, then it's probably a solid enough alibi. Which also means I may forge an Academy acceptance letter, or some other documents to show Yuu actually is a student. Maybe forge what he already has for himself, and simply alter the name. From Yuu's point, he's assuming no one would think him dumb enough to walk around claiming he is what he actually is... minus the name.

I think Zelpuz and Vanyra could simply play the merc card, because it's pretty much what they can do. And if Ossylia is in a bit of turmoil, there's bound to be good paying work.

Yep, the best lie is usually the one closest to the truth.

All good with me, I'll stay out of the conversation until they are back ;)