[Last time on Seekers, never come inbetween a Dunlorian and his money. After an infuriating confrontation with the harbormaster, Lucas Smithson, cannonsmith extraordinaire, found himself bargaining with our crew for safe passage. While they agreed reluctantly, Shan is unconvinced about his helper crew. So what better way to meet them than in a dank pit of alcoholic consumption?] [Actually, this tavern isn't quite that bad. It's got a nice balcony to it. Lucas's men are doing whatever it is they do. And where's Virgil during all this? You left him on the poor boat.] [Session Start.] (*appears!*) (What do you do?) (...appear? 9-9) (!) (Fight, Magic, Item, Flee) * Shan walks into the tavern, observing the dank. That's some dank. "Which are yours?" She asks Lucas. 8:20:07:* Lucas points to a table with three tall blond men, and a slightly shorter man with no hair. "This way please." (Lucas is a large proponent of the Aryan nation.) [Said men are currently drinking and and and the tallest of the blonds seems to be telling a story as the others are leaning twords him.] * Enzo follows, looking around. * Shan follows! Exciting following action! * Nasira isn't there! She went to get Virgil, because it's his boat, too. [There's a large share of sailor types around the tavern. The bartender and maids seem to have their hands full. But they do manage to give you a quick smile and welcome as you enter in.] * Lucas walks to them and calls out, "Emillio! I may have gotten us passage!" The tallest of them looks up and over. "Oh?" * Lucas gestures at Shan. "Make yourselves presentable." There's a bit of scrambling afterwhich four men are standing next to the table. Lucas names them all in turn. Emillio is the tallest, and the one nudgeing the others around. Arnold slouches slightly, and has a tattoo of a ship on his right arm. Alexander is the bald man and posseses an emaculatly waxed mustache. And Johanas is the other guy. None of them will be winning any beuty contests, but they don't resemeble serial killers either. [The serial killers are towards the back, at a small round table, discussing things over frothy grog.] ( Who's at the table in the dark corner? ) (Those would be the quest givers, you can tell by the question marks floating over their heads) [All eyes turn to the presentation. Some of them are trying not to. Like most taverns, people in it enjoy a show.] * Shan has a big hat. * Enzo has a vest! Is this all of them? * Nasira bursts down the door! Er, opens it, but she does so loudly. "Got 'im, boss!" she calls, half-pushing Virgil in. * Shan casts her gaze over her shoulder and nods. * Lucas nods. "Yes, I could tell you that' the..." He trails off and looks over at the door. "Perhaps I should wait for the rest of your crew." * Enzo waves. "Hi Nasira! Hi Virgil!" * Virgil is half-pushed in, with his book (with papers) and trying to adjust his glasses as he stumbles with holding his walking stick. Got'em?" Hey Kid! How's it going? We're meeting the cannon guy's guys. Cannon guy? Ah, okay... So, someone care to fill me in why? * Shan gestures to Lucas. "The good sir here would like to accompany us to Zaxon, along with his men." * Lucas nods. ( Meanwhile, the GM turned into a place of worship. ) : (He should be a place of warship in this game.) Okay, I don't see any real problem with that...Lucas, was it?* Nasira peers at the guys with one eye because the other eye is out of order. * Lucas nods. "Yes, there was some question as to the character of my men, but I can assure you as to their quality." * Virgil nods. "They can do all necessary shipwork to make sure a vessle is and stays seaworthy?" You say they're all men of character, yes? I dunno, they look sort of wimpy to me. * Nasira pokes the biggest one in the chest. We don't need you starting another fight, Nasira. Why not? [Emillio, blinks and looks down at Nasira. "Yaas?"] What do you guys know how to do on a boat? * Nasira grins up at the big guy, a gleam back in her eye. "I just said you look sort of wimpy. You're not going to do anything about that, right?" Nawt supposed to get inta fights. *Lucas rubs his head. "They have served on ships for several years before coming to work for my father." And they still follow that don't get into fights rule? They're a lot better behaved than I am. Then will you take responsibility for them while they are aboard our ship? Well, if they get into fights, none of get paid. ... Remind me not to work for you. * Lucas smiles. "I will." Great! That's settled. * Nasira goes to get a drink. * Shan nods. "So it seems, yes." [Since this port is further south, it seems they carry more Zaxon and Caladeem style drinks on top of the usual Maltan flair.] Thank you very much, please allow me to buy your crew a round. * Virgil mmmms. * Shan nods. "Very well." * Enzo tilts his head. "What else do they do, other than not get into fights?" * Lucas waves and they go back to their drinking, but they do seem to be keeping an ear out. "They help me move the cannons, know how to maintain and fire them, have some knowledge of sailing, although there has been precious little call for it before now." * Nasira returns with a mug of ale. Standard stuff around there. * Enzo scratches his head. "...huh. Better'n nothing, I guess. How much weight, those cannons and stuff of yours?" * Lucas names a number, it's fairly large, but not enough to sink the ship. * Enzo nods. "...okay. That's workable, I guess." We could leave some more of it here, but I think you'd be much happier with as many of our cannon on board as possible. * Enzo glances at Shan, eyebrows raised. * Nasira gulps some booze. Rawk. * Lucas goes to get his own booze, if everybody else is drinking on his drach he's getting in on it too. 9:12:07:* Shan is glanced at as she leaves to get her own ale. She raises an eyebrow at Enzo. 9:12:43:* Enzo shrugs, then. 9:13:11:* Shan shrugs back, and heads to the bar. 9:14:20:* Nasira sits next to the guys and puts her chin on her hand, sizing them up again. "You're sure you don't fight?" 9:14:43: Actually, as much as I'd like to have a drink, I need to do some merchantile work while we're on land. 9:15:32: ... Why don't you just say you're going to sell stuff? 9:15:47: Oh yeah. And I should go for those supplies. 9:16:26: We're just there the help out. Selling stuff is his job. * He points at Lucas. 9:17:54: Because I like saying big words. 9:18:40:* Lucas returns with beerlike. 9:19:21:* Shan returns at about the same time with about the same merchandise. 9:20:10:* Nasira sighs at the lack of answer to her question. "Where do they get sailors these days." She goes back to drinking but not getting drunk. 9:20:29: (Um, I answered it.) 9:20:36: (Because I like saying big words.) 9:20:37: ( From the sea, duh ) 9:33:06: [Everyone gets back to the ship without much incident and sails away. The patrol boats are still in the harbor. Talking with Lucas's crew brings some of the story, but mostly scattered tales. There've been rumors about what happened at Port Rio, but no solid reports have come out of there. All that could be confirmed haven't been the most optimistic.] 9:35:06: [Other reports have been of possible pirate activity around Maltan ports (heightened by the fact that Port Rio was attacked). No one out here knows if the Council is doing anything about it, though.] 9:35:32: (Nobody out here knows what the Council is doing period. >_>) 9:35:46: (Exactly!) 9:37:12: [The seas are fine for a while heading south. But a nasty storm front seems to be gathering.] 9:40:25:* Nasira is walking on the deck, because she doesn't feel like being below deck, but she's not doing anything useful. There's nothing to stab. 9:41:46:* Lucas leans on the railing and 'supervises' Arnold and Alexander swabbing the deck. 9:41:48:* Enzo is on the rigging, eyeing the approaching front with some apprehension. 9:42:21: [Cecilia is helping! Because that's her job. She doesn't seem to know what to think of the burly men and keeps bumping into them.] 9:43:31:* Virgil looks at the storm and frowns. "I hate bad weather." He concentrates for a few moments while murmering under his breath, ending by point his staff at the stormfront after a few moments. 9:43:38: [Alexander apologises every time they bump, Arnold, not so much.] 9:46:22:*** Jexlerr (MALLET@pool-68-238-142-116.sea.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined the channel 9:46:47:*** Jex has quit IRC (SVSKilled: GHOST command used by Jexlerr) 9:46:50:*** Jexlerr is now known as Jex 9:46:51: [There's not really a beam so much as a faint "bubble" that surrounds the ship. As the clouds touch the "bubble", they seem to swirl around it, like a knife cutting through its surface. Pretty soon, they're engulfed in the storm, but the storm is happening to other people. It moves along with the ship, a pocket of calm water amongst a sea of storm.] 9:47:13:*** Jex is now known as Naiya 9:47:23:* Nasira stops her pacing to watch that happen. She whistles. "Nice, Virgil." 9:47:25:* Virgil stays on deck to make sure the spell is mantained. 9:47:25:* Lucas whistles and looks at the crew to figure out who's doing that. 9:47:35:* Shan is driving. Oooo. 9:47:37:* Virgil smiles. "Thank you." 9:47:55: ...now that, that's pretty cool. 9:48:05:* Enzo grins and spares a hand to thumb's-up at Virgil. 9:48:40:* Naiya comes up abovedeck now that they're underway. She claps softly. "Impressive." 9:49:09: [Malta whistles, obviously impressed. Filis is quietly spying out from the crows nest.] 9:49:55: ( All of Malta is impressed with Virgil. ) 9:50:46:* Enzo rigs on the rigging, presumably done with briefing Lucas' men. 9:50:58:* Naiya looks around grandly at the bubble about them, then lets out a brief, depressed sigh. 9:51:19: I don't think Sarah could have done that better. 9:51:54: (That's supposed to be Marla. Stupid typo.) 9:53:19:* Nasira notices Naiya at the depressed sigh. She rolls her eye and goes back to her pacing for something to do. 9:53:44:* Virgil nods, taking a seat nearby. "So why are you looking to get to Zaxon, Lucas?" 9:53:58:* Naiya nods politely to all the newcomers. 9:54:59: [Cecilia gapes. "That's so cool! Can you do it again? Can you make it rain frogs?" 9:55:35:* Lucas gestures to one of his cannons, now mounted on a swivil on the foredeck. "I'm trying to expand the market for our cannons, so few away from Dunlor realize just what they're capable of." 9:55:43: I don't think we want him to rain frogs, Kid. Then we'd have to push them off the ship. 9:55:54:* Virgil hits his head. "No, I can't make it rain frogs, fire, or blood. I cannot turn the water red, and I can't part the seas. At least, I haven't tried yet. That could get messy." 9:55:55:* Enzo calls down. "And frogs hate being pushed around." 9:56:17: They do! They're stubborn guys! 9:56:17: [Cecilia pauses, then frowns. "But that's no fun."] 9:56:43: [Marla shakes her head at her sister. "Cecilia. Hush." 9:56:44:* Naiya narrows her eyes suddenly at Virgils response, then scrunches her eyes shut. 9:56:58: And what would you do with a bunch of frogs in the middle of the sea anyway? 9:57:02: Yeah, really. 9:57:09: I guess you could eat them? 9:57:56: Frogs are okay, but they don't keep very well, and anyway they're sorta small. 9:58:00:* Naiya frowns, then goes to the far end of the ship to look off that end. 9:58:14:* Enzo climbs down, and continues. "You'd have to eat a lot of 'em to get a meal, and then you'd just get sick of it." 9:58:32: [Filis snickers from up above. "You really should not be encouraging her." 9:58:34:* Virgil rubs his head. "Well, they're fine weapons if I say so. It'd be very interesting to see them in action." 9:58:35:* Lucas nods. 9:58:48: The frogs? 9:58:52: No, the cannon. 9:58:57: (cannons.) 9:59:00: Oh, right, them. Yeah! 9:59:14:* Shan snickers at that. 9:59:15: Hopefully you won't get your chance. 9:59:23: [Filis hmms. "Frogs would be interesting weapons, true."] 9:59:43: Hopefully. 9:59:50: ... Frogshot? 10:00:04: Would splatter too much. 10:00:05:* Lucas thinks about that. "It'd certainly be demoralizing." 10:00:17: What about firing cannon shot that turns into frogs, though? 10:00:18: Not really a bad thing, splatter. Right, Nasira? 10:00:30: [Malta shudders. "Can we please not talk about it? I hate frogs."] 10:00:39: (EARTHQUAKE!) 10:00:45:* Nasira thinks. 10:00:48: (GRAH) 10:00:49: How about exploding frogs? 10:01:02: (Marla. Marla. Gawd.) 10:01:09: You mean like artificial frogs that hop around then explode? 10:01:18: Frog bombs. 10:01:24: That's kind of freaky. 10:01:33:* Enzo eyes Marla. "Frogs, rats...not really into the non-flying animals, are you?" 10:01:39:* Lucas shakes his head. "The problem is keeping them from exploding before you want them to. It tooks years of research on our cannonballs before we perfected it." 10:01:51: Yeah, but cannonballs aren't *frogs*. 10:01:54: [Filis hmms. "You could possibly enchant a cannon ball to act like a frog. Though that would be somewhat difficult, I would think."] 10:02:20: Why would you wish to? 10:02:35: Well, for one it could swim back to you. 10:03:54: Maybe? You could have it hop around on the water too. 10:04:12: Would it eat the smaller bullets like flies? 10:04:46: That'd be really cool. 10:04:54: ...yeah, actually. 10:04:55:* Lucas scratches his head. "That'd be really hard." 10:04:57: Only if they shot at the frog. 10:07:12:*** Naiya has quit IRC (Ping timeout) 10:07:22:*** Naiya (MALLET@pool-68-238-142-116.sea.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined the channel 10:07:51: Plus, it could hop around on its trajectory, which would confuse people it was shooting at. 10:08:18: I imagine that would make it harder to aim accurately. 10:08:28: Interesting, but we had enough trouble just getting them to go in straight lines. 10:08:40: But could you do all that and make it actually destructive? 10:09:04: A large, bouncing ball of metal would be destructive enough on it's own, I think. 10:09:17: depends on how big, how heavy, and how fast. 10:10:23: Yeah, a cannon's damage is dependent on how heavy the cannonball is and how fast you shoot it. 10:10:27: I'd think, anyways. 10:10:49: [Filis is silent for a moment as she looks out on the horizon, bow-side. "Wait a moment..."] 10:11:13:* Lucas nods. "The angle you hit at helps too, but that's the basics." 10:11:29:* Enzo hears Filis and looks up. "What?" 10:11:30:* Virgil frowns. "I see some Vithril ships coming straight at us. The fact that I have this bubble open is going to be a dead givaway that we're here." 10:11:36:* Naiya takes a moment to marvel at the bubble again, then looks up. 10:11:41: ...well. That kind of sucks. 10:11:50:* Virgil peers through the clouds, focusing his glasses. 10:11:55: [Filis pales a bit. "Vithril?"] 10:12:07: You're going to collapse it then, right? 10:12:08: You arn't in trouble with Vithril are you? 10:12:23:* Naiya frowns even more. "The Vithril. What do they want?" 10:12:25:* Enzo calls out orders to prepare the ship for storm conditions. 10:12:36: [Malta hmms. "I heard about those guys. They're largely bad news, right?"] 10:12:41: I don't know, but I know they're bad news. 10:12:55: Filis, come down from the nest and go belowdecks. Bring Marla and Cecilia with you. 10:13:05: (Rowy? Just give it up and change her name) 10:13:14: ( No! She can't be my country! ;-;) 10:13:33: (Yeah...) 10:13:47: ( She can be you country if she's Miss Malta in a swimsuit htough. ) 10:14:00: (It's Marla. Sorry. It's been too long.) 10:14:11: I'm going to lessen my influence so they won't notice us, maybe put up an extra barrier of fog. 10:14:27: Mm. Precautions probably still a good idea. 10:14:36:* Enzo calls up again. "Filis? Did you hear me?" 10:14:48:* Nasira looks more excited than anything. She walks to whatever side they're on to get a better look. 10:14:55: Shan and Enzo, can you see through the fog fine enough to keep us from avoiding impacting them? 10:14:56:* Lucas nods. "Do you want my men to prep the cannons? You may get your demonstration after all." 10:15:21: ...fog? Probably, yeah. 10:15:29: We should avoid fighting if at all possible. 10:15:56: [Filis is still staring for a bit, but snaps out of it and nods, climbing down. Marla frowns. "But I wanna be in on the action..."] 10:16:07: (VICTORY!) 10:16:32:* Naiya looks quietly- and sadly- at Marla. 10:16:55:* Shan nods to Lucas. That may be a good idea. 10:16:57: Probably not a good idea. Besides, what about your sister? 10:17:06: ( + "" ) 10:17:23:* Nasira heads back to Marla and Ceilia. "You kids'd better get below deck." 10:17:31: What would the result be of the 'action' you want in on? 10:18:05: [Marla frowns more and seems to be debating it for a bit but eventually goes. Cecilia looks worried after her sister but follows.] 10:18:13: If you're brave enough to want action, then have the wisdom to know what it entials. 10:18:26: [Filis nods her head to Enzo. "Thank you." before heading below deck.] 10:18:53:* Enzo rolls his eyes at Naiya, but nods absent-mindedly at Filis while going around doing checks of the sails and such to make sure they're not going to get blown away, or whatever. 10:18:54:* Lucas looks at the Vithril ship. "Wonder what they're doing down here." 10:19:42: Sailing, looks like. 10:19:54:* Naiya vanishes belowdeck. She appears again a few minute later, preceded by her clanking of her shiny Zaxon armor and shield. 10:19:59: (ships.) 10:20:02: (There are 3.) 10:20:10: (When did that happen?) 10:20:26: (There've always been three? ^_^;) 10:20:27: (Ahh) 10:20:37: (I misparsed) 10:20:39: ( Virg saw three ships come sailing in. ) 10:20:46: (...) 10:21:03: () 10:21:10: ( 8D ) 10:21:21:* Naiya looks worriedly in the direction of the Vithril. Which is to say, her normal expression. 10:21:54:* Enzo looks over his preparations one last time, nods, and climbs up to replace Filis in t he crow's nest. 10:22:58: Okay, ready? 10:23:09: As I'll ever be. 10:23:15: Yo. 10:23:51: Not to worry. The storms are like a second home to me. 10:24:05: Get the cannon below deck ready to fire if need be. Don't show our hand, though. If we can get out of here without a fight, the better off we'll be. 10:24:38:* Lucas nods. "C'mon guys, we've got work to do." 10:24:42:* Virgil concentrates, trying to bend the forces of nature to his will again. 10:24:53: [Vithril keeps on approaching. Virgil needs a roll.] 10:26:42: [The good weather pours out as the fog rolls in. It still looks like a slight pocket of calm water and no rain, but is less conspicuous now.] 10:27:04: [Until next time!]