NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: this is set in the RP described here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462780


Capitan Takooks looked up at the boards in the Sea Capitans Guild's hall in the heart of Angerwraith. meny jobs were posted, mostly boring little up and down the coast cargo runs for the Trade Guild, but the occasional interesting one cropped up. with the coming war there were more.. unuseual jobs, and less men to take them.

as he was watching, a new job was posted on the lists. it caught his eye imediatly, as it bore the royal seal. quickly, he claimed it from the board and took it over to one of the tables to read. if it wasn't what he was after, he'd put it back.. if it was, well, he'd got it!

settleing down he read it. then read it again. it was unuseual. it was.. foolish. awww, who was he kidding? it was down right NUTS! ... and it was just what he was looking for.

the prince, in his infinate wisdom, was offering titles, postion and rank, to anyone willing to carry out a mission of 'exploration'. more ot the point, to sail off the maps, the whole way around the world, and back from the other direction, if such a thing were possible. exploring, contacting, tradeing, and setting up for colonization along the way.

anyone who accepted this would be provided, free of charge, with land in any new colonies, details to be aranged upon return, 20 percent of any profit on the trip, be given the rank of Duke of the land he was given.. and to make it all the better, be payed 300 gold crosses! that was enough money to buy out a university, or to build a castle!

'of course, one would have to survive to return, and the crew would need some sort of enticement..' he thought on this for a while. his ship was fast and seaworthy, despite not being able to haul enough tonnage to be a legitimate troop transport. but for the moment he had no crew... not that it mattered, finding them would be fairly easy. the trick was going to be preventing them from jumpin ship later.

strolling up to the guild registra, he spoke out loud for the first time since he had come in " mark me down as accepting number 7/23/12/3/flame. and post a crew notice, if you will. 'Capitan Taskook seeks crew for the Aphrodit Raven, to undertake a voage of indefinate length and garanteed profitablitiy. potentual for great deeds and the gathering of fame. financed by the prince himself.' got that?" the registra nodded "good. i'm off to track down the top few officers. anyone signs up, tell them to meet at dock 23 of the north peir. ummm... any time after noon tommorow."

and with that, he turned on his heal and strode out the door.

**********time passes here**********

"and that, my friend, is why i want You along as my first mate." Taskook finished his expliination. the man who sat befor him, who had been about to start work on getting roaringly drunk to pass the time, looked at him, his expression full of rage.

"And you think i'm fool enough to go galavanting off into the who the hell knows where of the great blue-green never never, quite possibly to my death, just on your say-so and what unknown profits we might make??!!!! and at only a shair of twenty percent of that?!!!" he looked fit to burst....

then, his face mostly hidden as he took another swig of his drink, his eyes changed a little. as he set the mug down with a crash that sloshed half it's contents out and made most of the rest of the patrons in the bar jump a good 3 feet, he laughed uproarously "you sir, are Very lucky i'm just such a fool. and have a craveing for adventure! you've got yourself a first mate."

Tazkook grinned "knew you'd see it my way, Phridrech. good to have you aboard. now, we go look up Butler, Skabard, and Arholdskein, as perser, second mate/navigator, and helmsman, respectivly. i posted a notice for the rest of the crew."


******more time passes*******


Dock 23, north peir, current birth of the Aphrodit Raven, had a good three hundered men milling around on it. the ship needed only half that meny, and could carry few more if it wanted to be able to have all it's cargo space available. Tazkook and Phridrech stood on the wheel deck of the ship.

it was an interesting ship. it had elements in common with the Masters, but elements that were compleatly different too. it was a good three times as wide, to start with, witha corispondingly blunter bow, though by the time it reached the water it was not as big a difference as one would expect. the sturn, rather than being flat as most costal ships would have it, also narrowed significantly befor comeing to an end. with two decks below the main deck at either end, and a single hold takeing up half it's length in the center, as well as a raised deck at the stern, the center line of the ship couldn't really take masts very well. getting around this had been.... interesting... the end result was that the ship had two masts, one on each side, and a double spiniker pole. each mast was a vertual clone of those on the masters.. or, more accuratly, those on the masters were vertual clones of it. a great sail running almost all the way to the deck from the top of the mast, with a sheet running down the outside edge all the way to the deck it's self, and braceing poles at one third the way from top and bottom was the most obvious feature.. or, more accuratly, 4 of them, one for and one aft of each mast.
that and the shear hight of hte masts themselves. they were very, Very tall.


turning the Aphrodite Raven wasn't a matter of moveing the sails, except for the spiniker, which had to be taken down if you turned more than 45 degrees, or the main sails blocked the wind to it sufficiantly that it would drop into the ocean and start dragging. it was a case of turning the rudder far enough for the ship to turn, and not so far that the whole thing tipped over as it came about. that had happend befor to ships of this type. generaly when the helmsman and load master were Both incompitant, so the wise capitan or first mate double checked the loads every time, and kept a close eye on the helm.

standing on the upper deck, Tazkook looked out at the assembled men, then, turning to Phridrech said "ok. you and the others get down there. sort them out. chose only the most compitant. i want to Personaly vet the load master and the doctor, but you guys can handle everything else."

****time passes again*****

three days later, the crew were ready, the ship had all it's supplys, as well as a load of small, valuable things. some weapons, some jewlery, a small amount of gold, and the like. if he were the sort to do such a thing, Tazkook could take off into the sunset with his crew and live almost as well off what was in his hold as he could hope to off his reward for this trip. but he wouldn't do that, almost no memeber of the guild would. and any who did would not remain memebers for long, and would probilby be declared pirate as well.

as the tide rose, the ship cast off, and sailed away out of the harbour. little cerimony was expended. that was being saved for when (if?) they got back. however, Tazkook was carrying several official documents. one was a letter of marque. in the highly unlikely event that he got in a fight with any enemy of Angermanland he was entitled to plunder them, should he win. enemys of Terror Incognita were also fair game. he planed to avoid that situation, however. another was a letter declaring him the prince's official emmisary to any land he happend to be in, on the proviser that it did not already have an Angerman delegation present. others were simply official paperwork from teh capitan's and trade guilds, and the banks.

"Gentlemen!" he called, as they left the harbour "we head first for the cresent, then up into the Incognetian islands! we can expect a reasonable welcome and resuply there, i suspect. and from there, well... we get to make history, boys!"

a chear went up from the crew, and they set to work.

ooc: i'll probibly post some more on this in the morning.

OOC: ok, i lied. it's now evening again :P oh, and at the top of the last post i missed the z out of Tazkook. i'll get around to fixing that one day.

IC:

19 days later, the Aphrodit Raven was peacfully mored in the port of pharhaven. the voyage had been mostly smooth, though there had been a slightly dicey patch between the northern point of the North Island and the southern tip of the cresent. a rather large storm, to be more precise. however, the crew had handled it well. all that was needed was to replace one of the sail braces. easyly done.

Tazkook was relaxing at a table outside the local tavern. supplies were being gathered, charged to the prince of course, some of the men were fitting the new brace, the crew had all had a day off, though not all at once, and soon they would be on the move again. apparantly a strange race of people had recently appeared, their representitives ariveing in a large ship. they came from the far east, or so the rumor had it. he'd seen one or two of them while they were here. very pointy ears.

as he finished up his drink, some strange muck made from coconut milk, he pondered their course. the maps available here covered a far greater area than those available in the capital, if in less detail. they got rather vague once you got west of Aust or east of... well.. anywhere under the Prince's rule, but it was better than nothing. he had bought a copy or two of each while he was near the guild of cartographers and serveyers in the town.

a sudden thought occured to him, and he lept to his feet,

"how could i have been so STUPID? we're going to need serveyers and cartographers on this trip! of course we are. gah!"

leaveing the price of the drink on the table, the waiter who had been about to come and see what all the commontion was about would pick it up befor it was stolen, he took off at a run.

dodgeing passers by, and nearly tripping over a couple of small children and barrels, he soon came to the guild office again. entering, he strode up to the frount desk.

"i need to post a notice. for a job."
"very well sir" the woman working the desk replyed "what shall i put on it?"

after pausing a moment, Tazkook responded " 'the Aphrodit Raven, on a mission for his highness, Prince Chargone of Angermanland, requires the service of 6 skilled cartogrophers and serveyers,' an even mix for preferance, haveing both skills increases their odds of being hired, 'for an expidition of exploration of the world. pay is a shair in the profets upon return, as well as food etc while on the voyage. expidition leangth undertemind. danger rateing undetermend. Adventure highly likely. fame and advancement almost a given to all who do their jobs with skill.' or something to that effect. word it how you like."

he turned to leave, then stoped

"oh, and we leave on the tide tommorrow, so that's about 1 in the afternoon. all aplicants will have to apply by then"

and with that he left, on his way back to the ship.

*************** you know what this means already ***************

11 am the next day, and there were 4 men and two women on the warf at the base of the gangplank. it happend to be a tuesday, but that really didn't matter.

Tazkook looked down at them, then turned to Phridrech "well, we Might get some more, but that looks like it. lets see what they're worth."

strolling down the gangplank to the warf, he faced them and called "Stand to! if you're comeing on my ship, you need to be capable of listening!" all conversation ceased. not that there had been a lot of it befor.

"each of you, one at a time, shall step forward, tell me your name and experiance. go."

the proceaded to do so.

of the men, who's names were Metho, Arthon, Phretom, and Yejar, Metho was both a cartographer and a serveyer, with more experiance and skill in the former than the latter, Arathon and Phretom were cartographers only, and Yejar was also trained in both arts, though more skilled in serveying than cartography.
all had much proof of skill in both their heraldry and records, though he suspected Phretom and Yejar were along to get away from some sort of trouble. it didn't matter to him.

of the woman, the elder was named Cesque, and she had been a serveyer and free lance adventurer for a good 8 years. doing what they were about to do now on a smaller scale and budget a good portion of that time. the younger's name, strangely, as Raven. she had been trained in both cartography and serveying by the generaly acknowledged master of the craft, Jejisk Mer Koth. how that had come about, Tazkook had no idea. she also bore the markings of one trained in the way of the eel. that was an evil combat style to fight against, as the whole focus of it was dodging and trickery. in full scale battle such troops often employed glass philes filled with sulpher and acid to give them an advantage, and weren't above useing throwing blades either. good to have on ones side. the downside, however, was that she had Never performed a guild job befor, and had passed the final exams for her eel colours just weeks ago. never the less, this was what was available, and thus what he had to work with.

"all right. you're all hired. a low officer's share of the crew's 20% of all trade profits, the right to sell the maps, after we give the prince a copy, of course, and the honer of planing any settlements are your pay. get you're gear aboard. Cesque and Raven will have the first mate's cabin, the rest of you bunk with the crew." he turned to Phridrech "sorry, man, but you can understand why i have to do it this way, yes? tell you what. we work seperate shifts most of the time anyway. unless i'm useing it for some reason, you can sleep in my cabin. if i am, sadly, you get to bunk with the crew, but your gear can stay in there reguardless. fair deal"

Phridrech shruged "it doesn't worry me, Cap. i could just as easyly bunk with the crew the whole time if nessicary. but i think it'd prefur the bed" he grined.

repaires were made, new crew aboard, supplys ready. with the harbour master's permission, they left, sailing roughly west towards the capital of Terror Incognetia.

OOC: i think this is shorter than my last post. anyway. more to come once i sort some stuff with Terror.

it took only three days against the wind befor the Incognitian cost was sighted, and half a day more befor the sighting of the mainland. the Aphrodit Raven was on a southern tac, so they would first sail down the coast a little way, round the headland, and come back up, aproching from the south. full heraldry flying, the prince's service flag, the capitans flag, and the seacapitans guild flag, amoung others, the made good speed. what had slowed them most was the fact that, at the end of every tac, the could not turn through the wind to come about, as they would have to turn too sharp and fast so as not to come to a halt, and thus would capsize. instead, at the end of every tac, there was a great loop, and they then recrossed their path, so part of the forward distance was lost each time. but it was a trade off. this was the cost of large cargo capacity and great straightline speed.

as they sailed along, some small towns were spotted, but none with a deep enough harbour, along with some mountians, though they were nothing to impress the men who had seen the Alphini Mountians in the south island.

as time passed, more and more ships and small craft were spotted, though most stayed clear of them, strangly. a few of the capitans though, apparantly merchants, came up along side and tryed to sell them things. they were politly turned away, however, as the market prices of their goods were unknown, and Tazkook was unwilling to be ripped off so soon and to no true gain.

strange towers with great arms were seen periodicaly as well, generally the arms were moveing in an apparantly random fashion. the men were puzzled, but not frightend. they feared only their gods or a displeased taniwha.

the winds changed as they rounded the headland dureing the night, given them a straight run up the coast, under full sail.

late that night, Tazkook was studying his charts, along with Cesque and Raven, as well as the navigator.
"sir" Raven spoke "shouldn't we be about here," she indicated a point less than half an hour's distance from the coast at current speed, "about now? and won't we be here, "she pointed at a spot on the land" in about 40 minutes?" the others, who had been trying to decide their course after leaveing Terror Incognetia stoped suddenly at that revelation "surely not!" the navigator cryed, and they all set to makeing the calculations themselves.

"good lord!" Tazkook quickly came to the same concluseon as Raven, and raced up onto the deak "all stop! all stop! bring down the sail, drop the anchor! quickly now. all it would take is a strong wind and an uncharted current to drive us onto rocks and land within the next quater!"

the men scrambled to their tasks. the ship was brought to a halt without misshap, and a small watch was set.

returning bellow, Tazkook spoke "well, that's one disaster averted. good job, girl. i'll make sure to come up with some kind of reward for you eventually."

"thank you sir"

now, you lot. sleep unless you're on watch. we're going to sail on tommorow.

*******next day******

it turned out that even Raven's calculations hadn't been as precise as would be desired. they were rediculously lucky they hadn't sailed right into a cliff. 5 minutes more and their voyage would have been over almost befor it began.

more cautiously, slower, and resolveing to sail in places they did not know well only dureing the day there after, the crew brought the ship around and sailed onwards. befor noon that day, they had stumbled accross a port. the cartographers were busy makeing maps at a table set up on the deck, and it was a beautiful day.

Tazkook called out "this place looks promiseing. what say we put in here and see what's what?" this was greated with general aproval by the crew, and swiftly they set to the task. soundings were taken on the way in, and it was deturmind that they would not be able to moor. however, the harbour it's self was indeed deep enough for them to anchor in it, and would protect them from any storm not comeing directly into it.

"raise the flags for trade and negotiation, as well as the flags for the guild of cartographers and serveyers," he turned to the guild memebers themselves "sorry about that. don't know why i didn't think to run it up befor"

the general consecis was that it didn't matter, as it was there now.

meanwhile, the ship anchored. goods were brought up from the hold onto the deck, and the waka was made ready. this one, unlike the war waka, did not have the reinforced ramming prow, and had the middle half of it's benches removed, as well as the sides raised, so as to carry more goods.

"let the profit flow!"

The port of Dunkennen had not been expecting visitors, beyond the usual bustle of merchant shipping, and anti-piracy frigates occasionally to be seen.

The ship that appeared was recognised as belonging to Angermanland; in any case, on it's own it was no threat to a major port; so the Harbourmaster's Skiff was taken out to meet it. "Welcome, foreigners. This is the port city of Dunkennen. You are welcome to come in to dock and trade."

The port of Dunkennen had not been expecting visitors, beyond the usual bustle of merchant shipping, and anti-piracy frigates occasionally to be seen.

The ship that appeared was recognised as belonging to Angermanland; in any case, on it's own it was no threat to a major port; so the Harbourmaster's Skiff was taken out to meet it. "Welcome, foreigners. This is the port city of Dunkennen. You are welcome to come in to dock and trade."

"Greetings to you sir. it is our honer" Tazkook bowed "but our ship's draught is too deep for us to moor. if you have cargo handleing boats, it would be imensly helpful if we could make use of some. we are charged with exploartion, trade, and diplomacy, a three fold honerable and profitable trade. at his earlyest conveniance, we would apreciate a meeting with whichever honerable noble or concile is in charge of this city. we are on the Prince's business, as you can see if you can read our heraldry." after dumping all this information on the harbourmaster all at once, he paused to let the man think it over befor continueing. "ummm. if you have a sea capitans guild of some sort, or something of the like, i would also be pleased to present myself befor them."

"There are plenty of lighters around the dock. We shall send some of them out to you.
I shall have a message taken to the Councilmen, and I am sure that they, or at least their representative, will be delighted to meet with you.
We do not have a sea captain's guild, or anything of the sort really. Depending on your needs I can get you in contact with the Naval commaner here, with some of the better captains, or with the scholars at Dunkennen university who specialise in seafaring and the maritime."

"There are plenty of lighters around the dock. We shall send some of them out to you.
I shall have a message taken to the Councilmen, and I am sure that they, or at least their representative, will be delighted to meet with you.
We do not have a sea captain's guild, or anything of the sort really. Depending on your needs I can get you in contact with the Naval commaner here, with some of the better captains, or with the scholars at Dunkennen university who specialise in seafaring and the maritime."

"ahh. i asked after a guild because it's easyer than hunting all around for supplys, news, food, etc. but easy enough. i would apreciate that message being sent. my thanks to you. as for the other notables you speak of, it would be my pleasure to meet them, and my officers' too, i have no doubt."

The Harbourmaster departed. Soon afterwards several small, nimble ships came out. These were the lighters that would carry any cargo that needed to go in to the dock.
One of them carried a message; an invitation to the Council Chambers that evening; with a covering note from the Harbourmaster, suggesting the name of a good chandler to whom they could go for supplies, and repeating the promise to get them in touch with anyone else they needed to talk to.

The Harbourmaster departed. Soon afterwards several small, nimble ships came out. These were the lighters that would carry any cargo that needed to go in to the dock.
One of them carried a message; an invitation to the Council Chambers that evening; with a covering note from the Harbourmaster, suggesting the name of a good chandler to whom they could go for supplies, and repeating the promise to get them in touch with anyone else they needed to talk to.

a sample of the goods in the hold; fine wool, good timber, barley, cloth, some furniture, a few weapons, some jewlery.. all up it took up only two of the boats, and the men who were to come ashore took up another three. Butler and some of the men would see about supplys and the like, Phridrech and some more of the men would go to the markets with the samples and see what they could sell, and Tazkook himself would investigate various pubs, taverns, and ale houses tos ee what information he could gather. they would all meet at the dock again that night. the men would head back to the ship, the cartographers would come asshore, and they'd visit the council chambers then.

"profit, men. profit and honer. don't cause any trouble if you can help it!" with that, they set about their tasks.

The market was too bustling to be utterly deranged by these new visitors. Nonetheless they were definitely a focus for attention. More eyes were on their goods than themselves, but plenty were watching both.
The market authorities swiftly found them a space, so that they could set down their goods, let word spread, and allow others to come to them.
If their prices were reasonable, then their goods would disappear as fast as they could negotiate prices; the market was hungry for fresh novelty.
It was early in the taverns; only the most drunken of men would be beyond reason at this time. Smart men would, nonetheless, visit coffee shops instead. Here the more prosperous captains and merchants would be found; often those who had travelled furthest and most successfully.

The market was too bustling to be utterly deranged by these new visitors. Nonetheless they were definitely a focus for attention. More eyes were on their goods than themselves, but plenty were watching both.
The market authorities swiftly found them a space, so that they could set down their goods, let word spread, and allow others to come to them.
If their prices were reasonable, then their goods would disappear as fast as they could negotiate prices; the market was hungry for fresh novelty.
It was early in the taverns; only the most drunken of men would be beyond reason at this time. Smart men would, nonetheless, visit coffee shops instead. Here the more prosperous captains and merchants would be found; often those who had travelled furthest and most successfully.


unsure about the values of currency, or the extent of it's reach befor it became worth only the material it was made of, Phridrech told the men who were actually doing the tradeing to accept payment only in kind, with the highest emphasis being on the small and high quallity, or the inherantly useful. a ship's hold had only so much room. the value of any particular object would vary from place to place, but higher quality would always fetch higher prices.

***** elsewhere *****

Tazkook, haveing investigated the various drinking establishments, and been informed that the types he was looking for were most likely to be found in the coffie shops. he was unsure what coffie was, but he was betting it probibly wasn't alcholic, makeing getting information more dificult.

he stroled along the streets, looking around himself as he went, and eventually comeing to the coffie house he had been recomended to as most promiseing. entering, he pulled up short, then rappidly dashed back outside and was violently ill in the gutter. such an overpowering smell had assulted him upon entering the room. obviously the problem was unuseual to him, as no one else seemed to be over come with such reactions as there were meny folk sitting around inside, drinking. how they could stand it was beyond him.

ooc: hope you don't mind me giving your town gutters beside it's streets. i figured it would be the best option available.

OOC: I may be proud of my country, but yes, street gutters are accurate.

IC: Despite their worrying reluctance to take money, there was a brisk trade with these foreigners. Their prices for barley were absurd, but some men saw this as an opportunity to try to sell them grains, since they valued them so highly.
The wool was also expensive compared with the home grown variety, and the cloth. But the other goods, furniture, weapons and jewellery, found many buyers.
Soon, in addition to buyers, the men had those attempting to sell them things. Grains, arms and armour, bows, food of all sorts, liquor, beer, and anything else a man might desire.
Meanwhile, the occupants of the coffee house were oblivious to the plight of the man in the street. Not everyone was so uncaring, however.
Jonas Silk, a trader who had been so successful in the normally risky business of long distance trade that he now owned a small fleet, had a ruthless streak a mile wide. However, as a good captain he could deal with people.
"Is something the matter, sir? Beyond the obvious?"

OOC: I may be proud of my country, but yes, street gutters are accurate.

IC: Despite their worrying reluctance to take money, there was a brisk trade with these foreigners. Their prices for barley were absurd, but some men saw this as an opportunity to try to sell them grains, since they valued them so highly.
The wool was also expensive compared with the home grown variety, and the cloth. But the other goods, furniture, weapons and jewellery, found many buyers.
Soon, in addition to buyers, the men had those attempting to sell them things. Grains, arms and armour, bows, food of all sorts, liquor, beer, and anything else a man might desire.
Meanwhile, the occupants of the coffee house were oblivious to the plight of the man in the street. Not everyone was so uncaring, however.
Jonas Silk, a trader who had been so successful in the normally risky business of long distance trade that he now owned a small fleet, had a ruthless streak a mile wide. However, as a good captain he could deal with people.
"Is something the matter, sir? Beyond the obvious?"

OOC: it should be noted that once a regular trade rout is set up, the wool will probilby be quite cheap, as will the grain, and in large quantitys too.

IC:
after repeatedly insisting that they neither wanted or needed grain,
and that they were only selling it at such a high price due to the need to be able to on-sell anything and everything they bought, and haveing explained time and again that the cloath and wool were expensive due to quality and limited supply just now, the Aphrodit Raven's first officer finaly posted a noticed, haveing "borrowed" a passing official to write it in the local language for him.

"to all who wish to trade with the Aphrodit Raven, let the following be knowen: all prices are determind based on cargo space in our ship, the need to be able to onsell any goods, and the fact that we shall not be returning home for quite some time. grain is neither required nor wanted, as supplys are already being purchased by others of the crew.

if demand proves high enough, once we return home, or the next Angerman ship to come through does, wool, barley, and woolen cloth should all be cheaper and more readly available. high quality and worth the price an honest merchant will sell them at, but for now what is in our hold is all there is, and we can only take what will fit in our hold.

thank you for your business and co-operation."

the local was given a 3 leter keg of ginger beer for his trouble, and business continued.


some streets away, Tazkook was a little the worse for wear. "nothing a good drink and fresh air shouldn't cure eventually, sir, just a rather violent reaction to the rather... strong.. smell within this establishment. huh.. never get sea sick, which is a common enough complaine, even amoung my crew, but i walk in there, and.. well, you can see the effects, sadly."

OOC: as a random little side note, I personaly have a similar problem with the smell of coffie. i don't actually vomit though, fortunatly for whoever cleans the mall. hehe.

Some of the woollen merchants could be seen clearly making a mental note, that a new supply might be entering the market for wool. The crowd swiftly dispersed, now that the better deals were gone, and the chance of a sale also.

Back outside the coffee shop, Silk considered briefly. "Could I acquaint you with the merits of the local beer then? Since our other favourite beverage evidently disagrees with you."

Some of the woollen merchants could be seen clearly making a mental note, that a new supply might be entering the market for wool. The crowd swiftly dispersed, now that the better deals were gone, and the chance of a sale also.

Back outside the coffee shop, Silk considered briefly. "Could I acquaint you with the merits of the local beer then? Since our other favourite beverage evidently disagrees with you."

"now That sounds like a most excilant plan. can't be drinking too much of anything too strong though. not good for the capitan to be drunk while trying to maintain order. especially not so early on a long voyage. who are you, anyway? i'm still trying to get used to keeping track of who belongs where in the scheam of things without any heraldry to work by. "

"Well, there are always hints in a man's bearing and dress. I, for example, am wearing fine clothing, so clearly a prosperous man; my face is weather-beaten, making me a sailor, and my sword is from far away, making me well travelled. This leads you to the conclusion that I am a merchant and ship captain, who has had success in voyages to foreign climes. You might be wrong, but it's a reasonable assumption.
My name is Silk. Jonas Silk. And in this case the assumption would be correct.
The best alehouses are this way."

"Well, there are always hints in a man's bearing and dress. I, for example, am wearing fine clothing, so clearly a prosperous man; my face is weather-beaten, making me a sailor, and my sword is from far away, making me well travelled. This leads you to the conclusion that I am a merchant and ship captain, who has had success in voyages to foreign climes. You might be wrong, but it's a reasonable assumption.
My name is Silk. Jonas Silk. And in this case the assumption would be correct.
The best alehouses are this way."

Tazkook followed Silk as they set of down the street. "ahh. logical deduction. that would work. far les detailed and highly prone to error though. for example, a weather beaten face could well make you a farmer or soldier, a sword from far away could simply make you an important man who has received a gift, or a close relitive of someone meeting either condition. the cloathing could mean you work for a proseprous man, rather than being one yourself, though one generaly follows the other. also, being from a different set of forigen climes, as you put it, i have no way of knowing where the sword is or isn't from. so meny opertunitys for error."

he grined as he said this, "however, you have been kind enough to tell me of the truth or falicy of each option, and your name, so i shall do the same. Tazkook, Capitan of the Aphrodit Raven, under orders from his Highness Prince Chargone to conduct exploration and trade, amoung other things. i stand to do very well out of the voyage. i'm a member of the sea capitans guild, but to be honest, everything i own is on the ship, or the ship it's self. still. high adventure at sea, always worth the effort."

"It is a system highly prone to error, but no-one would accept a sufficiently centralised system to have heraldry that all could understand, so we are happier this way.
Tazkook, this sounds an interesting mission your prince has sent you on. It would certainly be considered a high honour here to be sent on a voyage of exploration and trade.
Where do you plan to go? And, do you bear the risk of this voyage, and lose everything if your ship goes down, or does another bear the risk? Your prince, for instance?"

"It is a system highly prone to error, but no-one would accept a sufficiently centralised system to have heraldry that all could understand, so we are happier this way.
Tazkook, this sounds an interesting mission your prince has sent you on. It would certainly be considered a high honour here to be sent on a voyage of exploration and trade.
Where do you plan to go? And, do you bear the risk of this voyage, and lose everything if your ship goes down, or does another bear the risk? Your prince, for instance?"

"if the ship sinks, like as not i'll be dead or stranded in some far forign land. the most risk the prince takes on is the cargo we started with might not turn a profit. but considering the plan is to curcumnavigate the globe, by the time we get home odds are good that it will. the world is round, you know, or so the schollars and the stars would seem to indicate. each member of my crew bears the risk for their own person and posesions, and i for the ship as well. if we get lucky as well as skilled, this task will bring great gains. part of the mission is to map new lands for potentual colloneys. i would be made count of one or two of them, amoung other things. there is much material reward to be gained if all goes well, and no little imaterial as well. and i have no more to lose than i would on any other voyage. as for where we plan to go... well, the plan, such as it was, was to come here, and ask around for likely directions to start in, and take things a step at a time."

"Well, circumnavigating the globe is ambitious, though it must certainly be possible.
As for which direction to follow, presumably you will want to skirt a continent, rather than cut across the ocean; and so your choices are basically West or North"
During this interlude they entered a pub, ordered beer at the bar, and took the resulting foaming tankards to a table in the corner, away from the mass of straw on most of the floor.
"I would strongly recommend you go West, as it is more peaceful, and an easier route. If you start off south of West, you will encounter our allies Kilani. Heading north of West from there you will, eventually, come across our distant allies Ostia. Beyond that I have no idea of the course, however up to that point I have charts of one form and another, most of whose accuracy I can vouch for personally, having travelled the routes they show."

"Well, circumnavigating the globe is ambitious, though it must certainly be possible.
As for which direction to follow, presumably you will want to skirt a continent, rather than cut across the ocean; and so your choices are basically West or North"
During this interlude they entered a pub, ordered beer at the bar, and took the resulting foaming tankards to a table in the corner, away from the mass of straw on most of the floor.
"I would strongly recommend you go West, as it is more peaceful, and an easier route. If you start off south of West, you will encounter our allies Kilani. Heading north of West from there you will, eventually, come across our distant allies Ostia. Beyond that I have no idea of the course, however up to that point I have charts of one form and another, most of whose accuracy I can vouch for personally, having travelled the routes they show."


"that would be most excilant! if you would be kind enough to allow me to make copys, i will be sure to send you copys of the maps the cartogrophers make of where we go. perhaps even deliver them personaly upon my return, if possible.

curcumnavigateing the globe is really more of an incidental, so we may go off all over the place. trade and colonizable land are the big issues."

he took a sip of the beer, found it to his likeing, then gulped down most of the tankard in one go.

"west, then south and west, then north and west, then west some more, huh? sailing into the setting sun. some of the priests would have you belive we'd eventually sail right into the land of the dead. it strikes me as unlikely, but one never knows."

"I should be happy to give you copies of my charts. If circumstances were otherwise, I would wish to go with you; the least I can do is help you on your way.

In my experience, however far you travel, the land of the dead, and the land of milk and honey, are just far enough away to still be only rumour.

And yes, I think it will ease your voyage if in these earlier parts of it you go to places we already have relations with, as you won't have to go through so many diplomatic hoops before you get a deal, do some trade and move on."

"I should be happy to give you copies of my charts. If circumstances were otherwise, I would wish to go with you; the least I can do is help you on your way.

In my experience, however far you travel, the land of the dead, and the land of milk and honey, are just far enough away to still be only rumour.

And yes, I think it will ease your voyage if in these earlier parts of it you go to places we already have relations with, as you won't have to go through so many diplomatic hoops before you get a deal, do some trade and move on."

"makes sence, after a fasion. i can establish contact in those places on the princes behalf too, i am authorised and everything. i could declare war on someone if i wanted to.. though i'd never be able to go home again afterwards, i suspect" he laughed "it would be interesting, but ultimatly counterproductive.

certianly my men will be pleased to have a concrete destination. and the cartogrophers and serveyers will be pleased to have some clue about what to expect, as will the navigator."

"Well in that case," said Silk, downing the rest of his beer, "What are we waiting for? My house isn't far; we can be there in a few minutes."
And began walking out of the tavern, throwing money on the bar as he left.

"Well in that case," said Silk, downing the rest of his beer, "What are we waiting for? My house isn't far; we can be there in a few minutes."
And began walking out of the tavern, throwing money on the bar as he left.

Tazkook was unsure if the money covered both their drinks or not, but he had none himself, so he didn't worry about it and simply followed Silk out the door. "apparantly i, as well as some of my officers and the like, are to meet the councilmen tonight. i think it was councilmen, the boss guys, at least. should be interesting"

"Ah yes. The council. They will probably have little to say and take a long time to say it. Nonetheless, you should go, as they are powerful men, and will probably be able to assist you in one way or another."

"Ah yes. The council. They will probably have little to say and take a long time to say it. Nonetheless, you should go, as they are powerful men, and will probably be able to assist you in one way or another."

"oh, i'm quite familier with how councils work. i reprisented the guild in Kant, breifly, when the prince was still only the son of the local lord. generaly speaking, the only thing that will get done quickly by a councle is something that lines their pockets, and that they know will be forcibly objected to by anyone who finds out about it. sort of the nature of things."

"Ah, here we are. My house" He said, gesturing to a handsome stone-built dwelling, large enough for a big family to live in comfort.
"This is where the 5 reasons why I don't sail too far now are to be found, my wife and my children. Of more relevance to us right now, this is where I keep my charts."
They passed through the house, up the stairs, and into a room at the back, with a view down to the harbour. Silk began rummaging through piles and rolls of papers.
"Feel free to look around. My old logs are there" pointing to a precarious pile by the wall "my globe you can see has plotted on it all the known lands, and there" on a desk "I have some woodcuts and engravings of various places."

ooc: i'd be interested to know how much of the world is actually on the globe.

IC:
Tazkook looked at the globe for a moment, noticeing a few blanks spaces, places that had so much detail it was almost illigeible, and everything in between. conspicuously absent were markings to the effect of 'there be dragons'

"yes.. the way of the phather and the way of the ships' kapitan, while simmilar, do not mesh so well. i would be most interested to look over those log books, but there would seem to be ... rather a lot of them. and i must admit to haveing great difficulty in reading latin. for all that the languages have meny similartys, their scripts are entirely different." he took a look at the images as he spoke. "these are of very fine quality. who made them?"

OOC: On the globe, you will find the Western Pacific in some detail, sketched outlines and major ports of everything Caladon knows, the same up to Suez, and not much beyond.

IC: "That is understandable, I am sure I would have no hope with logs in your language.
As for the engravings, I drew them myself; I made sketches on many of my early voyages, and had them engraved long afterwards. They show mainly other ships we passed, and a few ports."

OOC: On the globe, you will find the Western Pacific in some detail, sketched outlines and major ports of everything Caladon knows, the same up to Suez, and not much beyond.

IC: "That is understandable, I am sure I would have no hope with logs in your language.
As for the engravings, I drew them myself; I made sketches on many of my early voyages, and had them engraved long afterwards. They show mainly other ships we passed, and a few ports."


"well, they are very well done, in my opinion. which, to be honest, doesn't kount for a lot, but still." he paused "you know, i would invite you to dine with me and my krew this evening, either bephor or aphter the audiance with the kounsle, but i'm aphraid that the phood on the ship is still ship-rations, the ophisers eating not much better than the krew. oph korse, the krew eat better than seems to be the norm on most non Angerman ships, but still." Tazkook was relaxing, and the subtle differences in his pronounciation were becomeing.. less subtle as a result.

ooc: that's actually how these guys would speek or spell in english, if the language actually existed in this world.. which it doesn't.

"Thank you. I keep thinking I should start drawing again, but I never seem to see something I want to draw.
As to dinner, well, if you should like to, you could come and dine with us before going to the council meeting. You could bring some officers as well, if you wished to."

"Thank you. I keep thinking I should start drawing again, but I never seem to see something I want to draw.
As to dinner, well, if you should like to, you could come and dine with us before going to the council meeting. You could bring some officers as well, if you wished to."


"ahh. i think i know how that goes. and i thank you phor your invitation. any spesiphiks on numbers? i'll try to keep it low anyway."

at this point he looked out the window, and noticed the position of the sun in the sky

"i should really return to my ship at this point. there are always things to do, even when at anchor, as i asume you well know. i am sure the kartographers will be most pleased to see these charts."

"I have never known any navigator be upset about having more charts. Can you find your own way back to your ship, or would it help if I were to show you the way?
And, if you bring no more than half a dozen, that will be fine."

"I have never known any navigator be upset about having more charts. Can you find your own way back to your ship, or would it help if I were to show you the way?
And, if you bring no more than half a dozen, that will be fine."

"i should be all right. one thing i am very good at is keeping trak of how to get phrom where i am to where i was. unless i was blindpholded and spun around several times, or in an inklosed karrage or something oph that sort. there are a phew buildings bak home that always disorientate me though, phor some reason. when i go in then kome bak out again, that is. but yeah, i'll be phine." he turned to go, then came to a realisiaton "umm... at what hour is dinner useually taken here? i belive i am to see the kounsil a little aphter sunset."

"Dinner is taken anywhere in a span of several hours. If you come when you finish with the council, that would maybe be best. I shall kick those councilmen I know to not keep you overlong."

"Dinner is taken anywhere in a span of several hours. If you come when you finish with the council, that would maybe be best. I shall kick those councilmen I know to not keep you overlong."

"my thanks, sir." he smiled, then gathered up the relivant charts "i shall have the Kartogrophers make kopys, then return these to you tonight or tommorow, depending how long it takes them. "i shall see you then." and with that, he left.

he made good time and reached the ship a little befor the party who had been at he market. they returned to the ship along with a boat load of supplys, which had been gained at more than reasonable cost.

after boarding the ship, he gathered up Phridrich, Raven, Cesque, and the other cartogorphers, as well as the navigator. "right, pholks. i got us some maps. make kopys, i have to return them by the end oph tommorow." he placed them on the table "on a totaly dipherent note: i've been invited to dinner with a merchant Kapitan. he doesn't do a lot of kapitaning anymore, apparantly he owns multipul ships and has a phamily. phiair enough, says i. at any rate, Phridrich, Raven, Cesque, you're all komeing with me to the kounsile meeting. and thus, to dinner aphterwards. any objections?"

there were none

"good. get orginized"

of course, the women had nothing fancy for formal occasions, beyond their most tidy every day wear, and the men could do little better than dig out their least worn uniforms (which, most of the time, was a toss up between the two each owned, as they hardlly ever wore them at all) but they still looked highly respectable, at least by their standards, when they were ready.

as standing on the dock, about to head into town for the meeting, Tazkook remembered somthing "oh, that's right... beware the coffie. i'm not sure exactly why, but i had a very bad reaction just to the smell of too much of the stuff. it's entirely possible none of you will. the locals don't. but still. i hope the council don't all drink it while working or something, i'll be too ill to do my job" he looked a little worryed.

ooc: umm, was someone ment to come get them, or were they to find their own way? i forget.

OOC: Damned if I can remember, so I'll send a flunky to get them.

IC: "Captain Tazkook? I have been sent by the council, to bring you to the meeting. Are you ready to go, or would you like me to wait a little while?"

OOC: Damned if I can remember, so I'll send a flunky to get them.

IC: "Captain Tazkook? I have been sent by the council, to bring you to the meeting. Are you ready to go, or would you like me to wait a little while?"

the capitan grinned "your timeing is impecable. we are just this moment ready to leave" he was paying attention to his speach, so the accent had al but disapeared again "when ever you are ready."

The council chambers were, logically enough for a port, near the docks. Not so close as to smell them, mind. An imposing building, made from the handsome local stone, it was the seat of power in the eastern half of the country.
The entire council had gathered, the fifteen most important men in Dunkennen, though most likely only one or two would speak.

"Welcome to our fine city. We understand that you have an invitation to dinner, so we shall try not to keep you too long.
We just have a few questions; what is your purpose in coming here? What can we do to assist you? And any others that might arise from your answers."

The council chambers were, logically enough for a port, near the docks. Not so close as to smell them, mind. An imposing building, made from the handsome local stone, it was the seat of power in the eastern half of the country.
The entire council had gathered, the fifteen most important men in Dunkennen, though most likely only one or two would speak.

"Welcome to our fine city. We understand that you have an invitation to dinner, so we shall try not to keep you too long.
We just have a few questions; what is your purpose in coming here? What can we do to assist you? And any others that might arise from your answers."

Tazkook bowed "i thank you, good sirs. The purpose for comeing here is very simple, to gather information about the best way in which to continue our journey. we actually already have that, now. additionaly, I am empowered to act as an official emmisary and ambasidor in any land i may come accross in our travels that does not already contain an official embasy of some sort. basicly, for the moment, that means anywhere and everywhere. we are on an exploritory mission for his highness, Chargone, prince of Angermanland. basicly, we get to cruse around the world, sticking our noses into everything and seeing what goes on, and then go home and tell him about it. as well as tradeing anything and everything along the way, with profit as the goal.

as for what you can do to help, well, i honestly don't know. anything helpful would be a help."

"Well, Captain, it has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
We wish you all the best with your voyage; in many ways I wish I could accompany you.
Both trade and exploration are goals we wholeheartedly agree with, and if we can assist you in any way you need only ask.
We look forward to having Angerman traders here on a regular basis.
And now, I believe it is time for you to have dinner. Captain Silk would be most upset were I to delay you."

"thank you sirs. by your leave?" he bowed, then turned and left the chambers, exiting onto the frount steps, where he found Silk waiting for him.

"ahh. that was redikulously kwick" Tazkook commented "if only all governmental personages were that skilled at not doing anything, eh?"

"Our government has what many would call an admirable knowledge of when not to interfere.
They had to meet with you, for the form of the thing, and because they were genuinely curious, but then they don't feel the need to drag it out; they want dinner as well.
So, now, to dinner. How many of you are there?"

"the four of us you see here" as he spoke, the other three appeared on the steps also. "our own government is... there isn't really a good way to discribe it. they generaly are almost as good as yours about being quick about it when they're not going to do anything. or when they're definatly going to do somthing. the problems come when different parts definatly do different things, or when no one can decide what to do or not do."

Talking as they walked, Silk commented "I prefer it that way, to the government meddling in everything. In some nations, if they don't know what to do, the bureaucrats seem to assume that they should stop someone doing what they were planning to, just because they can."

"well, i suppose it seems the superiour option to being executed, fined, fired, or whatever. heh. our system really is orginized anarchy at the end of the day, at least to a large extent. the system works because of heraldry and the bonds it represents. without this" he tapped the markings on his cloathing "and the Prince, the entire place would fall to pure chaos. it's happend a few times. it's a mess"

"I think that our system is perhaps a little more stable; we have done without a High Seneschal before, and we have no heraldry; before, it is bodies like the Council you just met that have kept things going while there is no central authority.
Now" as they arrived at his house "I hope that you like venison; we are having a venison pie, or so my wife told me earlier. Can I get any of you drinks?"

"ahh, we've been without a prince. not without heraldry. and even without the markings themselves, so long as the bond remained it would be.. ok. ish.

as for drinks, it really depends what you have... no coffie!"

Phridrech could be herd sniggering into his palm, and even Cesque had to smile at the slightly panniced look in the capitans eyes.

Raven, however, simply spoke up "i have never had venison befor, what is it?"

"Coffee is not normally served with dinner; except optionally afterwards.
I was thinking more of wine; or possibly gin; or if you don't want alcohol, some form of fruit juice.
Venison is deer-meat. Quite tender, and extremely tasty. If you have never tried it before, you are in for something of a treat."
As he speaks a woman enters the room; or rather, dances in. As young as you could be, and still be considered adult, and showing a clear relation to Silk, she was soon introduced as his eldest daughter Elara.
Ignoring the effect she evidently knew she was having on the Angerman men, she announced "Mama says dinner is ready; the others are over at the Earl's house."

Phridrech was clearly captivated by the girl, however at that point, Tazkook was too busy being relived at being able to avoid the dreaded coffie. raven was laughing at the expresions on both mens faces, and Cesque had just writen them all off as daft.

as a result, it was Cesque who replyed to silks offer "it would proilby be best to avoid alchole at this point. this lot are mad enough as it is. fruit juice will be fine. "

Fruit juice was swiftly arranged, and they proceeded to the dining room; decorated in a restrained, yet obviously expensive style, where they met Silk's wife, Charlotte. Directed to their seats, it soon became apparent that Elara was sitting next to Phidrech; while her father could be seen shaking his head sadly, he was evidently unwilling to rearrange the table simply to avoid it.
The meal began with a fish course; freshwater fish, primarily, in a variety of sauces.
"I assume your journey has thus far been problem free, Tazkook?" Jonas asked.
Elara meanwhile whispered a question to Phidrech; it may have been the light, but he appeared to blush violently.

raven struggled not to laugh at Phridrech again. it really would have been mean, and the fish was too good to end up chokeing on. which is what would have happend if she had laughed.

Tazkook, meanwhile, was responding to Silk's question "well, there was a rough patch between the capital and Pharhaven. but other than that, pretty much problem free, yeah. oh! except for nearly ramming the cliffs the night befor we docked. heh. that was rediculously lucky. Raven really is a skilled navigator, and it turns out our charts were.. slightly inaccurate. they have been corected since"

Elara looked over briefly at Raven, giving her a broad wink, before returning her attention to Phidrech. Raven could enjoy the show.
Jonas seemed to be involving himself in the conversation so he didn't have to watch his daughter. "Ah yes, many ships have made just such a mistake; it is easily done, so now those waters are regularly surveyed, and charted even better than is the norm in our waters. With the level of traffic, we could do no less."

"good to know we weren't the only ones, but it does seem a little... err.. frankly, i don't know. not good? at any rate, the charts weren't the only problem. we hadn't quite been paying enough attanetion to our speed and course, given where we were and that it was nighttime.

oh. that reminds me. i promised raven a reward for that. any suggestions? frankly, i haven't a clue what a girl her age would want."

"There would be a lighthouse, but the cliffs are far too extensive for that to suffice.
What kind of arrangements do your people have in similar situations?"

Elara clearly spotted her opportunity to intervene "Well, you could take her to the market and buy her something she wants."

She didn't think a hint that clear would be lost on Phidrech. She was just thankful to Tazkook for such a clear opening.

Tazkook, slightly oblivious to the by-play, responded to Elara's suggestion "yes. that would work. what do you think, Raven?"

"i think i'll try and be careful not to empty the hold with the cost of whatever it may be, sir" she smiled, then continued eating.

"errr.. mabey it Wasn't such a good idea after all. oh well, too late now.

as for cliffs... well, generaly we build lighthouses where possible. when we can't, bouys with reflective surfaces are the norm, as any of our ships sailing in those areas at night would know that it was that area, and have lights out. heck, they'd have lights out anyway, but sometimes running dark is worth while. not in those places though"

At that stage the venison was brought in; pastry steaming gently, and wafting meaty smells.
It would soon disappear, or at least large slices would.
With a broad grin, Jonas said "Running dark worthwhile? I really don't know what you could be talking about Tazkook."
More quietly "I hope my daughter's suggestion is not going to cause you too many problems?"
Meanwhile Elara had found something more interesting than toying with Phidrech; discussing with Raven just how she had earned this reward, where she was mostly listening; and going through possible ways to make use of it, where she was mostly talking, animatedly. She seemed to be remembering to eat; barely.

"nah, won't be too big a deal. she's smart. signed on for the whole trip, too. emptying out the hold would be more detrimental than benificial. more of a potentual embarisment than a disaster, you know how it goes."

Raven, meanwhile, was trying to convince Elara that it was a combination of mathmatics and luck that had earned her the reward.. apparantly Elara wasn't buying it for some reason.

"Indeed I do. As long as you have a ship and a crew, there are always opportunities to be found. Something always needs moving from A to B. And, strictly between ourselves" with a miscievous grin "I don't suppose you want to swap Raven for my daughter? She'll happily empty your hold for you. I mean, aside from that you wouldn't lose out too badly; she can navigate, and she can talk the hind legs off a donkey, which is useful when you're buying."

Elara was arguing navigation with Raven, in an entirely good-natured way. Her basic premise? "I'm good with mathematics, and I've always been lucky; but I really don't think I could have spotted that. You must just have some extra bit of instinct for it."

Tazkook laughed "i'd take her oph you hands if you wished to be rid of her phor.. err.. a long time. but i wouldn't trade raven for anything, at this point. this .. venisen, was it? it's very good."

Raven and Elara, meanwhile, were totaly oblivious to the discusion about them, debateing the navigation issue "even so" raven said "i was still wrong. i thought we had a good halph hour, turned out we had less than 10 minutes. we only missed that by the skin of our teeth, at best"

"Something tells me Raven might have something to say about it also; if I know Elara she would leap at the chance and regret it inside a week, then stick with it and find that she had been right to leap at it.
I am glad you like it; venison used to be reserved for the nobility, but now its delights are available to all."

Elara pouted thoughtfully. "So your dead reckoning was out a bit, easily done; and you hadn't had a chance to do an estimated position for too long. Given the area, and the fact you didn't know it, you probably shouldn't have been sailing at night at all. I still think it was more than luck though.

How do you measure your speed? And what idea did you have of the tides for the area?"

"measureing speed is easy" was the responce " there are a variety of ways, and we use several and check them against each other. a rope with a weight on it dropped out the back of hte ship, counting how fast the knots in it go over board, the tauntness of the sails relitive to the set of the rig, a spinning piece of wood on the end of a rod turning a counter... the list goes on. as for tides, we hadn't a clue. the intent was to stop outside the harbour and sail in in the morning, as we ended up doing. but it was expected that we'd have several hours more befor we got here."

Tazkook, meanwhile, had finished his food, and spoke again "well, if she decides she want's to come, i'll take her readly enough. with your permision of course."

"Well, the speed measurement sounds very familiar; but if you didn't know the tide state, that will be what nearly did for you. You need good charts, or at least reasonable ones, they're quite odd around here. All the islands and such.
Let me see, that would have been...yes, the weakest incoming tide this season. Any other day, at least on an incoming tide, and you would have been too late."

Jonas almost choked on his last piece of pie. "Take her with you? Don't let her hear you talking about that; actually no, she'd love it. Don't let her mother" fortuitously out of the room "hear you talking like that. She's very protective of our children. I would be entirely agreeable; Elara would most likely get on board with or without your permission, if she decided she wanted to; but her mother would not permit it."

"Well, the speed measurement sounds very familiar; but if you didn't know the tide state, that will be what nearly did for you. You need good charts, or at least reasonable ones, they're quite odd around here. All the islands and such.
Let me see, that would have been...yes, the weakest incoming tide this season. Any other day, at least on an incoming tide, and you would have been too late."

Jonas almost choked on his last piece of pie. "Take her with you? Don't let her hear you talking about that; actually no, she'd love it. Don't let her mother" fortuitously out of the room "hear you talking like that. She's very protective of our children. I would be entirely agreeable; Elara would most likely get on board with or without your permission, if she decided she wanted to; but her mother would not permit it."

"i guess," raven responded, slightly... shocked by the nearness of the miss, "that i, or the kapitan must have pleased a powerful Taniwha, or perhaps the Kea spirit, somewhere along the way, to be alive still, in that kase"

Tazkook, meanwhile was grinning "oh, i had no intention of actually Suggesting it to her. but if she decides she want's to.. and gets past her mother somehow as well, i guess" he laughed "i can't say i wouldn't be pleased to have her aboard. and now i'm repeating myself. wonderful"

"Well, repetition does no harm when it is a good point that is made. To tell the truth, I think she would enjoy it, and it would do her good, but she would have to sneak away rather than tell her mother, and I'm not sure I can tell her that."

Elara, meanwhile, was staring blankly "I'm sorry, what are Taniwha? Are they saints?"

"i kould not tell you, phor i have never heard of a saint bephor. they are great spirits. generaly they live in water. very powerful. as iff the largest eel you had ever seen were rendered 20 times larger and given legs and claws." Raven responded "or so the old folks say. i've never seen one. does that sound like your saints?"

"so" Tazkook spoke again "basicly, if i find her stowed away, i don't have to bring her back untill i next come past in the course of my travels?"

"A saint is someone who lived a holy life; and usually one who died for their faith. It is said that if you pray to them they can work miracles.
So no, not really. The only thing that a Taniwha sounds like out of the old stories is a devil; but if they help people they can't be that. Well, God put many things in the world. I should not be surprised to have never heard of one of them."

"Tazkook, you don't have to bring her back at all; if she leaves she'll come back when she's ready."

"i wouldn't know. they do what they do when they wish and phor reasons oph their own. they wreak some peoples ships, and keep others saphe. at the end oph the day, one simply does what one does, and hopes phor the best."



"heh. i'll keep that in mind. now i suggest we speak of something else bephor the girls notice" Tazkook responded.

"I think I would rather trust in the saints. They might not always help, but at least they aren't known for being actively destructive."

"Tazkook, you are right as usual. Do you have any idea how long your voyage might take?"

"makes sense to me" was raven's reply " no one 'trusts' in taniwha anyway. they're just there." she shruged.


tazkooks reply was in a similar vain "haven't the phogyest. we go untill we're done, basikly."

Raising his voice slightly so that everyone heard, Jonas said
"While you have all been terribly restrained thus far, unless anyone objects violently I am afraid I shall have to force you to drink.
We have come to the time for toasts."
A small glass of port had been set in front of everyone at the table, ready for this.
"So first, as is traditional; Absent friends."
And he drank, followed by a ragged chorus of 'Absent friends'.
"Now, Tazkook, would you honour us by going next?"

"if you insist, though i have never been called upon to give tostes befor" he smiled "Honer and Profit" he also drank.

"Elara?"

"Adventure."

"To round off in the traditional number, Raven?"

"Success in all Endevours"

"Right, thank you all for coming; I will come down to the docks some time tomorrow to get my charts, and I believe that soon after that you will be sailing on, probably for Noublie, another port of ours" (OOC: Jakarta or nearly).
"Now, Tazkook, if I could have a quiet word while the others leave? Elara, it is time you were abed my dear.

Thank you. Now Tazkook" in a low voice barely above a whisper "I am firmly of the opinion my daughter intends to go with you. She is probably packing even now. I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep something of an eye on her; she is a good girl, and has grown up with seafaring all her life, but she has never been on a long voyage before."

With that, the guests departed. Jonas' judgement was slightly off; Elara was already packed. She would be leaving the house on a pretext next morning, and not coming back. He knew this, and that was why he would be visiting the ship; to say goodbye.

the next morning dawned bright and clear. a table had been set up in the sun on the deck, and the cartographers were busly copying the maps as fast as they could without sacrificeing accuracy. Tazkook had slung a hamok between one of the masts and a wooden eye in the deck, resulting in a rather comfortable reclined resting place, and was dozeing in the sun. there would be little to do for the next couple of hours the high tide wasn't untill well after noon, everything was aboard, and the crew were either cleaning things or resting. really all that needed to be done was to return the original maps when the cartographers were done with them, and Silk was comeing down to get them himself later. a boat had been orginized to wait at the dock and bring him over when he arived, with orders to bring no one else out unless they were with him, or the harbour master.

Elara was cursing. Dressed in travelling clothes, and carrying a remarkably small bag, she was here; the boat was out in the harbour; and she didn't know how to get there. She hadn't planned this part.
Fortunately there were always watermen looking for a fare from one part of the dock to another, so she hailed one to take her out to the Angerman ship.

Unknown to her, gazing ahead at the strange vessel, her father was in a boat a little way behind. Truth be told, he was grinning.

the lookout, purched in the "crowsnest" of the ship (it was really a wooden mini-deck run from one mast to the other, with sides put up to prevent falls)
was haveing a lazy day. there wasn't much to see in port. of course, there was the occasional boat, and he reported them dutifully. looking around once more, he called down "Capitan! two boats aproching from the dock!"

Tazkook mumbled, turned a bit, and dozed a second more, then his eyes snaped open "whadayamean, boatS?"

"i mean there is a boat aproaching us, and there is also anther boat aproaching us. that is to say, there are two boats aproching us. from the direction of the dock. as i said"

"smart-arse!" was the only responce the lookout got, as Tazkook quickly orginised the few people needed for the reception of guests. he looked out across the water towards the dock. well, obviously one of those was Silk, but given the orders he had given, what was up with the other? the harbour master had come, cleared them for departure when they wished to leave, and gone again earlyer in the day, so it wouldn't be him. he'd checked the ledgeres himself after the tradeing was done, that was all far enough above board that it'd hold water. after a moment or two, though, the figures in teh second boat resolved themselves "oh. THAT"S why there's two boats."he muttered, then laughed" yo! Phridrech, take a look who's comeing to see us! haha! just goes to show i should have put up a plague flag and only informed those who should be comeing out that it was a hoax or something of the sort if i wanted to keep her on land. good thing i didn't!. Raven, looks like your friend from last night has decided to put in an appearance."

Phridrech had turned an odd shade, as if he couldn't decide weither to turn pale in fear or red out of embarasment, and raven simply smiled when she saw the expresion, rightly deduceing who the capitan was talking about. not that there were a lot of options, but still. even Cesque couldn't help laughing outright when Phridrech finaly gave into the fear and hid by laying on the floor of the lookout's post, an action which was greated with much protest from the lookout himself.

"SHHH! that out there," he pointed, without raising himself of the deck "is the nearest thing you'll meet to a man eating ...err... female.... thingy! she's a menace! and a most forward menace at that. not to mention the daughter of the capitan's latest friend.... who is also headed this way, incidently. so shut up and don't give me away!"
"do something you shouldn't have, sir?"
"no, dammit! i didn't even get a drink untill we were leaveing, and that was only for the toast. miss Cesque and the Capitan saw to that." he paused "incidently, if rumours to that effect start curculateing, you'll be shairing the navigator's fate!"
the man gulped "yessir, sorrysir, won'tbreathawordsir!"
"good, no SHUT UP!"

.. the last yell carryed far enough for the girl in question to hear, unfortunatly for Phridrech.

meanwhile, the navigator, after the incident with the cliffs, was in the brig, untill they got moveing. the nasty bit was that once they did, he'd be suspended between the spinker polls by ropes for 5 hours, a bare 5 meters above the water, and only 1 in frount of the rather sharp bow of the ship.
the anticipation of this being half his punishement, and the whole experiance being an incentive to actually "read the bloody charts" as the first officer had put it. needless to say, he was NOT a happy man.

The frenzy of activity was not lost on the approaching boats.

One shout could be heard ringing across the water, and that sounded like Phidrech - Elara could be seen to show a mischievous grin at that. Her grin only broadened when she drew closer, and he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she'd played with him a _little_ too much the previous evening. Well, he'd soon get over it. At least it appeared they were welcome; she climbed aboard, paying off the lighter with her thanks.

It was at this point that she noticed her father in the boat behind. She stopped short of running to hide in the crows nest with Phidrech, but she obviously wanted to; afraid her adventure was over before it had begun.
Only when he joined her on board could she be reassured, she was going, and going with his blessing.

They turned to the crew of the vessel. "Do you have my charts, Tazkook?"

"got them right there on that table. you kan chek out the kopys whill you're here, if you want. make sure we haven't made any glaringly obvious errors or anything.

and as for you, Elara, have you come to join my crew? or simply torment Phridrech some more?" he laughed "either's fine with me, errr.. so long as there's not too much of the second. we need him still functioning after your done."

Raven looked up from where she was sorting out the chart copys they had made, smiled, and gave Elara a small half wave befor going back to what she was doing. most of the crew were just lounging around watching. there wasn't much for them to do untill the ship departed, after all, they may as well watch the unuseual.

"Thank you; I am certain that in your own interests you will have made good copies; on that note do you want to keep any a little longer to copy them fully? If so you can still sail today; I have a contact in Noublie to whom you could give them when you arrive there, assuming you go by that route."

Elara gave Raven a quick wave, then turned to Tazkook
"Yes, I would like to join your crew, if you'll have me. And I have no dishonourable intentions towards Phidrech, so he can come down from the mast, unless he likes it up there."

"no no, it's phine. we got done kopying them a little while ago, aktually." as he said this, Raven brought the charts she had been gathering up over and gave them to Silk "here they are, sir" was all she said.

mean while, Phridrech stuck his head over the side of the lookout post and called out "says you! i dread to think where a young lady such as yourself got such ideas! besides, i DO like it up here" he crossed his arms, stuck out his tounge, then turned away to look out over the water in the other direction.

"you know" spoke the lookout "you're acting like a little kid. you're over thirety years old, for goodness sake."
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING?"
"yessir, sorrysir, won'tdoitagainsir! " he suddenly looked puzzled "hold on, you didn't say anything about talking.. only about talking to You."
"AND WHAT, IN THE NAME OF ALL GODS, DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
the lookout blinked "oops"
"damn right it's 'oops', you fool! get down from here, i'll take the watch. YOU can go boil your head, for all i care"
"umm.. right sir"

the lookout made good his escape.

ooc: the last conversation bit there was, obviously, in angerman, not latin.

"Thank you very much" said Jonas. "And now, I will leave you to the tender mercies of my daughter. Feel free to visit me any time you're in these parts; I would welcome the chance to see you again."
<Quietly to Elara, taking her aside> "I love you dearly, and I think you are doing the right thing. Your mother will take months to forgive you, and an occasional letter might help matters there, but go well and with good heart. May God watch over you."
Elara said a few words in return, even more indistinct; her father then departed in his boat.
"So, what next....Captain?"

"well, your pharther rekommended some port phurther along Inkognitia, then southwest to killani. and with the tide, that's what we shall do. what's next phor you, however, is a little dipherent. you get to learn the speach Angerman bephor you get to do much else."

he turned to the men on the ship, and continued in angerman "get that table below. clear decks for sailing! have the cartographers and any officers with skill work on the navigation for now. oh, and get the navi out on those polls! may as well start his punishment now."

"iph you would be so kind, Elara, go with Raven and help them plot the kourse. there is no phormal rank strukture on this ship, beyond that i'm the boss and Phridrech is phirst ophiser, mearly an assignment of tasks. but for all intents and perposes you are now ophishially the lowest ranking ophiser on the ship. have phun with it" he grinned.

haveing set them all to their tasks, he went back to dozeing untill all was in readyness. it was nice to relax.

***********time passes. in this case, 4 days************

the navigator had been pulled back on board befor dark. soggy, ill, and tired, but otherwise none the worse for wear. all could see that Tazkook would not tollerate failure on such a scale. there had been no more incidents of near death due to .. modifications to the structure of the navigation team, and they had anchered, resupllyed, and left incognitian waters all togeather without incident.

Elara was showing signes of rapid learning in Angerman. that is to say, she grasped the fundimentals of the gramer, and could say a few simple things

"the curious kea pecked at the sandwich" for example "Pektas atsandwich, kurious kea" but anything with more complex gramatical structure was still beyond her. she was being taught script as well. working with the letters in their base form was easy enough. what got her was the modifyers.

if one wished to use the number "3" for example, one used one modifyer on the letter "tra" which roughly equated with "e", however, if one wanted it to be a capital tra, one used a different modifyer. with another modifyer, the same charicter could well mean "because"

then other "letters" had mathmatical symbols instead of numbers, n and m had no mathmatical value, there was a charicter to denote where one word began and another ended, while one left gaps only between sentances and marked them in no other way.

she looked up at the stars from where she was working by lamp light, and sighed. this could take a while. she still had a schockingly difficult time pronouncing the charicter "deka" which made pronouncing the lookout's name .. very difficult. what kind of aname was "arjenj" anyway? still, he did have a tendancy to sit up in the lookouts post without his shirt....

her daydreaming was interupted by cesque, who's name, she learnt, should be spelt "seskue" that is, 'lis, tra, lis, ras, keat, tra' who sat down next to her
and started speaking
"how goes the studying?"
"errr. it goes"
"you mean it would go if you weren't daydreaming."
"well, that and it was going befor i started day dreaming"
"right."
"it was!"
"didn't say it wasn't." and with that, seskue stood and left for her hammock, in the cabin the 5 girls and women in the crew all shaired.
it was.. a little cramped, but the guys, except the capitan, would all sleep in hammocks in the hold, while the capitan's cabin gave him only twice as much space to himself as the girls had each.

the ship was at anchour for the night, but the next morning, it continued on. south west to kilani.

the weather turned nasty not long after. following a peacful day's sailing had come a most horrific night. the winds picked up, the rain began, the stars were blotted out by cloud both high and dark, and the waves were almost capsizeing the ship. it was all the crew could do to turn the ship into the waves and prevent such a demise.

Raven, Elara and Seskue were, well, not quite huddled in a corner of their cabin, but comeing close, as they were useing each other and the walls as braceing to stop themselves flying from one side of the space to the other every time the ship lurched. those female members of the crew not helping keep the ship in one piece were in similar situations in other corners.

after a little while Raven spoke up "i wonder who did what that incured the wrath of the Taniwha?"
"bah, no one did any such thing, silly girl" seskue's reply came in a frendly manner "it is due more to where we are and the time of year. storm season. though to be honest, this one is fairly bad."

for Elara's sake they were speaking latin at the moment, or at least, a hybrid of Angerman and Latin of their own deviseing. it was messy, but got the point accross well enough.

"you know" Elara joined in the conversation "whatever causes it, this is going to make navigation very difficult. we might smash into a coastline befor we knew it was there, or be swept months of sailing time's distance from where we started, into unknowen waters."

Raven suddenly appeared rather paniced by this thought

"of course" Elara continued "we might end up haveing moved only two feet, or, if it blows the right way, right back in the harbour we just left."

"meep" was the only reply, as Raven appeared to have curled herself into a small ball, hideing from the storm, which had developed thunder and lightning, just to add to their joys.

Elara spoke again "if it helps at all, your ship has no metel in it. the lightning is almost garanteed not to hit the masts as a result."

as Raven emmited another small squeek, Seskue claped a hand over Elara's mouth "i think you should stop, kid. as you can see, it's NOT helping. Gods, now I'm going to have nightmares about lightning strikes, like as not, if i get to sleep befor the storm blows out."

an uninteligable noise came from behind her hand.

****** aproximatly two days later *******

Tazkook grinned as he stood upon the deck. the storm had blowen it's self out, he had lost not a single crew memeber [though meny of them had lost the contents of their stomachs] and they were in new waters.

he'd had all who could be spared working on determining their position, keeping their minds off what they'd just been through, keeping them busy, that kind of thing.

"Elara! there you are! come up here!" he called, as she emerged from below decks "any news as to where we are, kid?"

"umm... sort of, sir" she said, as she climbed the short stairway/ladderway onto the wheel deck "give or take.. we're quite a long way down the coast of the continant. what maps we have of the area are mostly as a result of several layers of exchange, rather than direct observation, i think.

but it appears we are not far off the," she checked the map in her hand "Narrowest Sea, sir. the gap between two continants."

"very good. you do your job well. spread the word, we'll make for this 'Narrowest Sea' pass through it, and see what we shall see"

OOC: keep it commin', good ...good..

h

OOC: I see what you have done with my Elara; and I don't actually have any problem with it :D
Keep up with the good work.