[Private to GM: Etzagith as pirate lady, entertaining an old sailor]


He rambled on endlessly., this old man she'd picked up.

He was already half out of his gourd with drink or Ekwesh fire.  And it had wasted him down to skin and bones.  But he was tough old codger and when the drink came, he put it back right quick..

He went on and on about the legendary treasure on Bull's Isle.  Of course, it was a fable, a story conjured up to draw men in and seduce them with promises of fabulous wealth for little to no effort.   A casual listening in at any of the dockward rum-houses would tell that it was a frequent story, met with equal amounts of derision and speculation.

He was a rigger, back in the day.   Fought the Ekwesh on their last raids on Cyren.   But one thing led to another and there was a woman involved.  Or a boy.  or maybe a hijira. His accounts wandered all over the place.

But, apparently, he once did a solid for Winsigh, and that ignratiated him to the Ember Blades.  So, now he works the docks when he can.  He's got a litter n one of the flophouses, and his rent is paid...

What's unspoken about it all is that he's just waiting out his end.  He's not fit to sail anymore...



* Ekwesh fire.... basically syphilis.  Common names were to blame the crotch-rot on foreign nations...

This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Sun 26 Apr 2020.

Liza Gallim smiled at the old man in an affectionate but long-suffering way.  "Oh, Pops, you do go on."  She tried to walk a thin line between letting anyone who barely knew the man think that she might be his daughter, and letting anyone who did know the man think she just called him Pops because he's an old man.  She bought a second round, but barely sipped hers.  When he looked away, she poured her drink into his glass.

"Say, Pops, you probably know the answer to this.  We're looking for a warehouse near the docks here, that can hold something for us for a couple of weeks.  We need a place where the help can keep their mouths shut and nobody opens any of the crates, you know what I'm saying?"  She smiled sweetly and resisted the urge to scratch where the wig itched.

"I shaw it, I tell ya.  The map wash the gen-you-eeeen thing, it wash all shtained, but ye could shtill ..."  He paused mid sentence to ponder the very difficult question she had asked.  Screwing his face up, "There'sh old Parky's place, he would ... No, wait, he'sh been dead for yearsh now.  You could, umm, you could try the Lockbox.  It'sh over, umm, that way, 'bout 4 blocks."  He gestured vaguely with his hand in a direction that could not have been interpreted by a psychic.

Liza glanced around the place for O'la, Cara, or Garland, but they still hadn't arrived.  She shifted her stool a bit to have a better view of the entrance, and only pretended to listen to the old man, who had returned to his tale of the lost treasure while seeming to melt towards the table.  Etz decided that he would give his comrades another 5 minutes, then head out to see if they were waylaid by the guard, or maybe by the Blades.  I'm sure we agreed that we would meet here.  Where ARE they?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Sun 26 Apr 2020.

"Miss." Etzagith was approached by a young boy--he couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old.  He was thin, and wore clothing in fairly good repair, albeit too large for him.  He'd had to roll up his sleeves so they didn't cover his scrawny little hands.

"Miss, are you a real pirate?"  He said again, standing right near her table.  A little too close for Etzagith's tastes. The boy's eyes were wide in the manner only young boys who rtade on their innocent looks could pull off.  "I ain't ever seen a lady pirate afore."

Please roll an appropriate roll to defend or overcome a pickpocket attempt from the little kid...  he came up with a Burglary Result of +2.

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:30, Sun 03 May 2020.

17:36, Today: Etzagith rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Notice (+3) to defend against a pickpocket  for a result of 4
17:38, Today: Etzagith rolled -4 using 4 Fudge dice.  Counter pickpocket (+3)  Oops!  For a result of -1

"Lad," Liza whispered as she gently nudged his hand away from her pocket, "you're doing it wrong.  Don't come up and draw attention to yourself.  Come out with a rag and start wiping down the tables, looking bored and annoyed that you don't get paid enough to clean up after the slobs that drink here, and make a hit on someone who doesn't even look at you, who doesn't think that a pub boy is worth a second glance.  Once you make eye contact, they might remember you, so it's harder to get away if you have to."  She made an attempt to relieve the boy of the contents of his pocket, just to show him how it's done, but was surprised that he had several coins there, and she accidentally caused a small clink.

And what she actually came up with wasn't coin but a sailor's chit, a metal-cast token that was essentially a promisory--an advance on pay from a hired sailor who hadn't yet been to sea.

The boy grinned and his eyes grew impossibly wider.   "You are a pirate!" He whispered. "Are there really mermaids?  What is shaking a cloth in the wind, and why is there a girl on the front of every ship?  DO you really have a skull and bones set into the bow-wood of every ship?"

"My mamma says that there aren't any girl pirates around here on account of the boy pirates get too jealous." He said without actually letting Etzagith answer.  "So you must be afrom a long long way away.  Like... From the Khunic sea!"

Liza laughed at the lad's exuberance.  "Oh sure, lad.  The mermaids are a lot prettier 'n me.  They got great big tatas, but no cunny, so they're no good after all."  She heard a snort of laughter from the next table.  Maybe they're just eavesdropping, maybe they're with the boy, but maybe something worse.  I gotta get out of here.  "Listen, lad, you see this old rummy, here, Pops, passed our on my table.  He's not a bad bloke, but he's not so steady on his feet anymore.  Here's two coppers if you'll help him walk back to the docks when he wakes up."  She didn't care if he helped the man or not, but she knew that this would at least keep him here so she can get away.  She did not want the lad following her and getting caught up in troubles.

Liza Gallim tossed a few coins to the bartender and left the bar by the back door, towards the outhouses.  As soon as she was outside, she stepped to the side and quickly but silently climbed up on top of the building.  She was careful to step on the strong part of the roof, right above the wall -- these old ramshackle buildings often had barely enough strength to hold up the rats -- and she waited to see if there was any pursuit.

There was no direct pursuit after her, but something had stirred up some activity.

A trio of armed men were running down from Station Park, where the recruitment drives always went down.  Press-gangs and auditions, the ships get their sailors by hook or by crook.

Another young boy--gods, they were everywhere!--had run out from the direction of the Blue Sails warehouse, and stopped a couple of blue coats, who promptly followed him back, not running exactly, but certainly walking more briskly.

And one of the stone gargoyles over the precipe of the Blue Sails warehouse was missing.  A sure sign that something magical was afoot.

Etzagith kept the wig on, for now, but pulled off the earrings, since they could flash in the light.  Stashing them in a hidden pocket, he headed across the rooftops towards the Blue Sails.  Coming to the street, he stayed in cover behind a chimney while scanning the street.

OOC:  Sorry, what time of day is it?  It's still daylight, right?

Still daylight.

Let's say that sunset is about two hours off...

Well, no darkness, no cover.  Nothing for it, then.  Etzagith dropped to the ground on the alley side of the chimney, replace the earrings and reclaimed Liza Gallim and her top-of-the-food-chain walk.  Striding forward, she followed the path that the guards took into the Blue Sails warehouse, and walked in confidently.  However, if a quick glance showed that no one had observed her, she was ready to move silently to the side and into cover.

I haven't been reading the other threads, on the theory that I wasn't there so wouldn't know what was going on.  Can you tell me what I see?  Or would you rather I go get caught up on my own?

There are three doors into the Blue Sails Warehouse.

the side door is boarded up and guarded by another youth.  Garland is nearby...

The rear door is barred from within.  The front door is currently blocked as a number of people are arguing/fighting.

So, you don't actually make it into the Blue Sails Warehouse.  But you do make it to the courtyard where a number of people are starting to gather to watch...  There's a little boarding-house/& tavern across the courtyard, called the Harpy's Last Note.  Cara and Manaolama are there.

If you're going to continue on your own, you're okay to post here.

If you're going to get involved with Cara & Manaolama  or Garland, you can start posting in https://www.rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=65114&ti=61">01.02: Dockward.

If you want to enter the Blue Sails Warehouse, you can start posting in 01.03: The Blue Sails Warehouse.  But you will need to manage the fighting there... whether it's getting involved or sneaking past...

Also note that I ascribe to the belief that it is better to be more aware of what's going on  in other threads so that you can offer compels and insights/Aspects that have some ties to what's happened...  You are not obligated to read other threads, of course.  I certainly can't compel you to do so.   But it does open up the possibilities for better metagame stories.