"Hey, boss!" say Petey and Whitey. They've gotten some sunglasses, somewhere, and are wearing them. Even with that, and even with their hoods up, they still look like they're squinting behind their shades, and are shading their faces with their hands. "How's it going?"

Jaranth and the riders stare at Petey and Whitey, but then shrug. This is clearly a foreign land-- why shouldn't there be foreign-looking people in it? "We shall make camp, your majesty..."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Mon 15 June 2020.

Janessa sighs in relief to be back without too much of a hitch. She'd take a moment, while Jack was getting things set up to text her mother that she was home and to inform her what was happening in Janessa's part of the ranch. She also texts that there be little to no visiting, she'd come to them.

Michelle gets the texts a few moments later. She lets her husband know and informs William to not bother Janessa. Mike sighs, it's been a lot to take in but he's trying. William says fine as he goes back to his chores. Michelle lets Janessa know that Janessa should be visitor free, but should try to come by the main house soon.

"Janessa, we need to arrange for things here. With the gold we can hire someone to build proper barracks and everything, yes?" Jack questions, looking over at her. "I believe your world also allows for firearms, so perhaps we could hire someone to teach our people to use them, and buy some," he proposes. "I will hold off on mercenaries in the short term."

Janessa puts her phone back in her pocket and turns to Jack. "Yes. That would be best. I could teach them since I know how to shoot." She steps closer and lowers her voice. "That would also give me time with them, to win them over."

"As can I," Jack points out and idly pats the machine gun slung to his side the whole while. "I simply meant that we might hire someone that could train them in our absence, but perhaps training them ourselves until we get someone hired is a wise move? If you're going to stay here, do you want to also look into paying off and getting the local constables and magistrates in your pocket?" he thinks out loud. "We should also look into hiring someone to build our fortifications to advanced standards, I might want to look for someone else-where in Shadow."

It's clear that Jack wants to be doing a dozen things but can only handle so much by himself, so he's trying to find a way to put some of the responsibilities on others.

Turning his attention to Whitey and Petey, he says, "Whitey, Petey, you'll be learning with and continuing as night watch with the new troops, I'll have you introduce yourselves to Jaranth and explain how you are best at night."

"Exactly. That way they're at least semi-trained when we find someone. I plan on keeping this my primary home, but I still want to travel. Since the ranch is far enough out of town, I don't really have to deal with the cops or politicians, just family. Especially since this is my adoptive dad's ranch..." Janessa trails off, lost in thought as Jack addresses Petey and Whitey. She then snaps back to attention and steps closer to Jack, smiling at the night watchmen. "Gentlemen." She says with a nod in a way of greeting before looking at Jack. "I might have an idea on who could train them in shootin'."

"Sure thing!" says Whitey.

"Rider approaching fast..." says Jaranth, pointing at dust on the road. She revises it: "Carriage... magic carriage approaching..." The riders gather arms...

...But the car stops, and a figure familiar to some gets out. "Ralph Spoilsport, formerly of Ralph Spoilsport Motors, now Ralph Spoilsport of Ralph Spoilsport Solutions. Easy there, amigos, I work around here. Your bosses there know me... You lovely kids haven't forgotten old Ralph, have you? I've been loading up on the ways and means and mores and lingo of this lovely little world we live in, here, and I see you've been busy too..."

When Jack and Janessa don't seem alarmed by Ralph's presence, they (mostly) stand down...

Jack walks over toward Ralph and gives him a nod of the head in greeting, "Ralph: I assumed David had you off with him. But since you're here, we need to purchase firearms for the new troops. I am not sure what the local laws are for that, you might want to talk with Janessa's people about that, and you'll also need to convert some gems and gold into the local currency," he says to the shrewd dealer of things.

Walking over to the carriage, he pulls open one of the chests, and then delivers a large gold bar to Ralph. "See how this spends. We'll also probably end up needing what makes for construction equipment."

A pause.

Looking toward Jaranth, he says, "Jaranth, are any of our people here good with numbers and accounting, by chance? To help Ralph here keep track of things."

"Sure, sure! Just hand it over! You want pistols, rifles, rapid-fire machine-guns, a mix?"




"I'll see how much firearms I can get for this... Probably gonna need to carve it up, but I think I know people who know people who can get that done..."





"Yes, let me talk to..." Jaranth heads over to a cluster of guards and starts talking to one of them...

"A mix, along with ammunition--we're also going to need transportation and land that isn't attached to Janessa's family, maybe there is a mountain somewhere within a day's travel we can buy? Jaranth will be the keeper of the purse unless I'm around," Jack confirms. Of course, leave it to Ralph to have already met and started building a rapport with the locals. He can't oversee all of this himself or he'll be stuck here for months.

He needs to propose a general direction of growth, and trust his people to figure it out.

He waits for Jaranth to finish up with her talk with her people. "Jaranth, Ralph here will act as quartermaster, when you need supplies, you let him know. As to the building of a fortification, I'm adding a full-fledged architect to my list of people to recruit so that we can get a proper fortification built. You may also be relocating when that all gets settled. I'm going to have Ralph find you the local 'magical carriages' which are called cars or truck, and I'd also like you all to learn to blend in with the locals. They dress differently and act differently," he explains scratching the back of his head.

He has almost covered everything.

"Lastly, I'll be leaving two of the chests with you, keep them guarded; have whoever is in charge of accounting is learning what things cost, also, to blend in, maybe learn to use a device called a 'computer,'" he gives a series of suggestions to point them in the right direction.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:29, Thu 18 June 2020.

Janessa chuckles. "Hey, Ralph. A good show of initiative." Janessa nods along with Jack, approving of his suggestions without actually saying so.

"Oh, sure, sure..."



"Mmm, that's gonna take a lot more money. I can mmmmmmaybe get you one for... 35, 45 million...?" Ralph hefts the gold bar. "Ten of these are probably about half a million, if that gives you any idea..."




"Oh, sure, sure, way ahead of you. I'm already working on that. I can get a really good one with this swag, though."

Jaranth nods at everything Jack says. "Don't worry," says Ralph, "I'll teach this lady to drive, and she can start teaching the rest of her people..."

Ralph looks over the chests. "Very nice, very nice... ah, jewels! Those'll be faster and easier to sell, I think... and worth more per ounce... And probably it'll make the authorities less nervous..."

Ralph looks up at Jack from behind his shades. "Er, is there more coming where this came from? Otherwise I think I should save about a third to invest it, start building up interest... It's just that, well, you kids dream big-- which I like, I like, don't get me wrong... but big dreams need big financing..."

Jack indicates Jaranth. "Jaranth will arrange for a book-keeper from her number, arrange to have her taught how to use a computer; I assume the cost is not something you know already. Once you have it, and an arrangement to sell the gold, you can work with these guys as security. Hopefully they'll have learned to use guns by then, if not, they're highly proficient with more medieval weapons," he explains to Ralph.

"No investments yet, that's a good plan for the future, but for now we have immediate training and building needs," he answers.

Ralph shrugs. "Okay then. I'll start with liquidating some of this stuff, then getting firearms, then teaching the new recruits how to use 'em, then work on computer stuff..."

Janessa looks at Ralph. "Have you met my adoptive Dad, Mike, yet? He can probably help you get the guns and help with training them. He's the one who taught me."

"Mm? No, I haven't-- can you call 'im over here? Sounds like just the kind of expert we could use... Er, if he wouldn't mind training a very small army... Is he, ah, in on you kids' plans...?"

(If you want me to make Mike an NPC and turn him over to you like Mom, let me know...)

"I can call him." Janessa says as she pulls out her phone. "Mom's filled him in on things. He might bring some of his ranch hands to assist with trainin', but they're all good too. Oh! I'll ask him to bring Cody. He's ex-military, Marine Corp sniper. Best shooter on the ranch."


(Works for me. I can do Cody too.)

"Hi, Mom. I actually need to talk to Mike, if he's available. Gotta question to put to him." Janessa says as she steps towards her front porch and the chairs. She sits down, watching her cousin and the big group from her seat.

(OOC: Have this in both threads. Takes her out of the action here so Jack can interact with people if he wants.)

Janessa covers the phone and shouts. "Jack, do Petey and Whitey know how to use guns?" She resumes talking on the phone while awaiting the response.

It turns out that Whitey and Petey know how to use guns in theory-- point long end, pull trigger, bang, death-- but in practice... Yeah, they really need training. They'll be especially alarmed by the size of the BANG...

"They were pretty handy with hand cross bows. I imagine they will pick it up quickly," Jack answers.

Janessa nods and returns to her phone call.

Janessa hangs up and walks over to Jack. "Mike's going to help. He's going to be bringing Cody, as well as my half brothers Robert and William. Will's a good shot with pretty much any gun, his rifle could use some work. Robert is good with bows. Guess Mike thinks they might benefit from learning different kinds. Also, Robert is a tech-head so he might be able to suggest tech stuff for them." She looks around her part of the ranch with all the people and shakes her head. "Just a couple months ago I was standing on my back porch looking at the stars, wishing I wasn't doin' it alone. Now..." Janessa makes a sweeping gesture. "I've got more company than I ever wished of having."

"That works well enough. Now that we've put everyone on a track forward, I feel content to venture away back into other shadows, do you wish to join me, or are you going to remain?" Jack asks.