Side One, Ep.1 "Holey Ship!"

Roku-Roku Harbor

Many islanders watch slack-jawed as The Black and Blue Oyster almost crushes a fishing boat. Somehow the gigantic, honky-tonk cruise ship makes it to the dock without incident.

The crowd parts for six women in their late twenties, all wearing outfits made of feather, fur, bone and flowers. Among them, there is one with dark, wavy hair with a rose in it. She rolls her eyes and says, "It's tourist season." Four of the other five disperse, each with a basket of leis to toss around the necks of tourists–or hired help. They can't tell the difference.

The one remaining–a huntress with painted, muscular limbs, clad in tiger hide, bone jewelry, and a single tiger lily in her matted red hair–stands patiently, her unblinking eyes on the gangplank until a family of three comes down. She looks at the mother, then the father, then the mother again, uncertain about what she should say. She looks at the teenage daughter. "You better be Ariel. Everyone else on the ship is too wimpy." She scratches her head, then smiles at the girl she (correctly) assumes to be Ariel. "I'm Lily."

Aside from the magician's family, the rest of the hired help is directed to a different exit than that used by the wealthy tourists. Some of the men grumble, but a bare-knuckle brawler with missing teeth shrugs it off, saying, "We're all equal at Drunk Monk's." When a deckhand mumbles an inquiry, the brawler replies, "A tavern, stupid!"

Spoiler: where your character is

Our story begins where the play-testing left off.

Pale Jackal and Reaver are in the tavern, helping Hanako clean up. Bouldergut is with them, as is his wife Jade, though she is in no shape to do heavy work. Instead, she mixes some herbs.

Anyone who enters sees the mess, then immediately turns to take business elsewhere, though some give silver coins to the nun. Hanako bows to those who do, thanking them for their donations.

Diana sees her daughter has met her trainer, Lily.

Cookie got off the boat with the hired help.

Spoiler: MONEY!!!

Here is the amount of money you happen to have on you:



Cookie: $459
Diana: $430
Pale Jackal: $507 (started with $406, spent $1, searched enemy and found $101)
Reaver: $0



1 silver coin = $1
1 gold coin = $10

Silver coins are sometimes called "maidens," while gold coins are sometimes called "jacks." Each has the image of a deity. Because The Maiden is the goddess of shopping, clothing and purity, silver coins are often used for purchasing clothing. Silver is never used in weapon shops, casinos or brothels. Fine outfits are often priced with a number ending in 9.

Drunk Monk's

Bouldergut presents Reaver with his upgraded katana. "I hope it's not too shiny for your taste. Ehh… you'll bloody it up soon enough if any of them Skull Ravagers–"

Jade cuts him off with a gently caress to his shoulder. "Let's not speak of this," she says. "I will make you some herbal tea. I dare not drink it for the sake of our child, but the tea will dull your sense of smell. This will help you clean up the entrails." She smiles at Reaver, knowing all too well he would insist on handling the messy work.

She turns to Pale Jackal. "I will understand if you do not wish to help with this. I am grateful for what you have already done. If anything happened to Hanako, I…"

 

Lily signals Ariel to follow. For some reason, she seems very shy around the parents but sounds confident when she talks to Ariel.

"Let's get away from the snobby tourists. Your mom and dad were kind to endure that crowd to get you here. I'll make it worth their trouble…"

From what Vincent tells Diana, Lily and Ariel are talking up a storm, but he can't make out what they're saying as the pair moves past the crowd.



Boarding the Ship
The captain and a couple of large men allow Diana and Vincent to pass. But when Reaver and the Pale Jackal attempt to board, the men puff up their chests.

"Idiots," the captain mumbles. His men don't seem to hear the comment. "I'm Captain Robert Jay Goldenrod. Cap'n Bob for short. The bruisers behind me mean well, but… what they mean is you ain't no tourists. Unless you're prepared to part with eighty jacks, I suggest you work for me. No pay in it, but you don't need to pay me neither—and you eat what the rich folks eat."

He points to a bulletin board.

"Check out the job postings, and let me know if you're interested. Best deal you can get, men."

Spoiler: JOB POSTINGS

Earn yourself a free ride to Asahi Beach!

Open Positions
guard (1)
bare-knuckle brawler (4)
deckhand (8)
cabin boy (3)
cabin girl (6) female escort
cook (2) 1
magician (1)

If we get enough brawlers, we'll have ourselves a tournament. Winner gets $2000!

 

Cap'n Bob's guards shift nervously at the stout, loud cook, but Cap'n Bob doesn't flinch.

"Your recipes are very... interesting, Cookie. I'd like you to be head chef for the casino deck." He turns to one of his men. "Cookie wants grog, give him some." To Cookie he adds, "Just add the... uh... usual amount for the food. The casino deck does well when they do the meals your way. I know some of the chefs have... opinions, stylistic differences. Anyone has a problem with the grog, you tell 'em take it up with Cap'n Bob."

To Reaver, the Cap'n says apologetically, "I didn't recognize you in that get-up. So it's official then, you training with Rubi. You might not have saved my last ship, but you saved lives. You pick your station - either on the casino deck during the brawler's tourney, or on the upper deck during the magic show. The former is where you can expect a bit of trouble; the latter is if you want to take it easy." Eyeing Reaver's blood-stained outfit, and wounds that (possibly to Reaver's surprise) were clearly recent, and healed by some sort of magic, he goes on, "If I were you, I'd... well, I'm not you. I hung up my sword decades ago." He does his best to bow as a samurai would, though his crooked back limits this motion. "Welcome aboard."

 

"New robe, huh?" Cap'n Bob signals the guard in blue to come closer. "Bring 'im to Daphne."

The guard in black mumbles, "Fine piece o' tail, that one."

The captain gives the kind of look that's normally followed by a punch, but his voice is composed, "Comments like that are the reason Blue Lou always brings people to Daphne."

"Ah'ma poifect gennelmun," Blue Lou says.

 

Party of Five

Reaver
Blue Lou tries to defend his fellow guard, who he alternately refers to as Black Bart and Sherrif Bart. "Sherrif don' mean nuthin'. Whenny sez piece o'tail, he meanses..."

Reaver sees a woman behind a counter. For a taylor, she wears very little cloth--at least in comparison to the amount of sea shells she's wearing.

"Welcome, Reaver. The Captain sent you," says this woman Reaver has never met as if her words are common knowledge. Her green eyes lock onto the guard. He steps back as if almost knocked over by her look. "You may go now, Blue Lou. Reaver will not harm me. If Bart wants to be assigned to me again, tell him to stop talking about my tail. People have misconceptions. I hear them."

When the guard leaves, she goes on. "You already have a dark blue outfit." She says this as if answering Reaver, but he has not yet spoken. In fact, he finds he is unable to speak at all. "Will you insist on your favorite color, or do you have something else in mind? Oh, you... well, I'll let you say it."

Whatever stopped Reaver from speaking a moment ago has passed.

Spoiler: a tip

Don't forget that the GM knows your favorite color. When we get to the Bridge of Death, answer that question carefully.

Diana
Diana and Vincent are asked to wait in the common room on the upper deck. This is where Vincent will perform in the evening.

Most of Vincent's magic tricks involve illusions and telekinesis, but from what he's sensed, the well-dressed passengers aren't impressed with telekinesis. He has another trick that'll wow the crowd, but wonders if that depends too much on the volunteer being an interesting person.

While Vincent looks around for volunteers, a young woman--some might even say 'girl'--sheepishly approaches the table. She looks at Diana. Desperation. Dispair. Need. Hope. These words appear on her forehead. Of course, Diana knows Vincent's handwriting. Lust. He crosses that last one out almost as quickly as the words appear.



Cookie
Oscar Z'No, formerly Head Chef, recently demoted to Assistant to the Head Chef, turns his nose up as Cookie is led into the kitchen. 'Sherrif' Bart turns sideways in order to fit through the door while carrying a keg of grog on each bicep.

Oscar says to Cookie, "Head or not, I must insist!" He places a glass of wine on a hearth. "The wisp--daughter of our god, The Great Chef--she shall bathe in this glass of wine, as should the meal we prepare for our guests. She shall only grace us with her presence if the meal is marinated in the same spirit as the cuisine!

"If you wish to see the wisp, you must cook with wine! Not grog!"

He turns. Then looks back. "Wine!" He adjusts his tone slightly, adding, "Red, monsieur, if we are having red meat. White with fish."



Shan Mai
The head chef on the upper deck is more of a wine man himself. Shan Mai overheard Z'No's outburst as he passed the casino deck. Maybe Z'No should work for this guy.

Maybe Shan Mai isn't too crazy about his boss. The head chef--who has not yet introduced himself--seems to be well acquainted with the bottle.

"Little bitch!" His voice is slurred. He stumbles. "She said one would appear tonight." He doesn't clarifiy who he's talking about. "How drunk must I be to see her?"



Pale Jackal
PJ is led to the casino deck, along with the a few other deckhands. A large man with brick-like fists and flesh made entirely of callouses strides by. A smaller man glares at brick-fists through the eye-holes in his mask.

A young deckhand looks up in awe at the caged arena where tonight's fight will take place.

 

Diana

"Oh, uh…!"

The girl is surprised by your need to write. She starts writing letters in the air. Of course you can't read them like you can your husband's. She also fails to consider that the letters would appear backwards if you could see them. She speaks slowly as she letters.

"Yes… fat… rich… guy… likes… me… I…" She pauses. You notice Vincent just wrote, She reads lips, young lady.

The girl covers her mouth to stifle a giggle, then she mouths, Fat Man will not hear me either if you only need to see me talk. I made a huge huge mistake. I took a job. Not a pleasant one. And I am afraid. I need to get to the mainland. But not like this. You are a shield maiden right? Well. A married one. With a daughter. I saw her. And I was think–

She mouths something unfitting a dolled up little lady as a fat man cuts her off, "Beatrice! There you are." He looks at you. "Come, my daughter." Then to you and Vincent, he apologizes, "I hope she isn't giving you trouble. Accept my humble apologies."

On his forehead is one word: Liar.

Spoiler: when to roll and when not to

I'm going to start the game in "Tutorial Mode." I did the same for the test, by the way. So expect to see tips in spoiler tags for the first month.

Diana now needs to make a choice…

If she wants to talk to the fat man, there is no such thing as a "charisma check." If you're charismatic, your role-playing will drive that. Not a d20.

If Diana wants to hit the fat man in the face with her shield to knock the fat man out cold, the d20 decides that. A 20 will inflict enough damage to KO a non-adventurer. I can't promise a 16-19 will. This ain't the movies–one-punching someone usually doesn't work.

Anyway, I'm not posting this to hint at an action. I kinda hope Ireth posts before seeing this edit so I don't influence her in any way. What I'm really saying is this: if you roll the d20, you're taking an action. If you just mean to talk, don't roll!

 

Diana

The fat man says to Vincent, "Yes. Talking. Very well then." He takes Beatrice by the arm. She submits, looking defeated. He doesn't need to use force. "How many times have I warned you about talking to strangers?"

She looks back, eyes welling with tears. "Can't we watch the magic show before we head to our room?" she asks.



Reaver

"You look like a Reaver," she explains. "Now for your measurements. Done." She says this without having moved at all. "But for the color, I need to hear the words. Sometimes I read the customer's thought—no, it's not a problem you don't have money. The Captain is taking care of this.—and the customer changes his mind. So the choice must be made verbally."

She smiles as she leans forward on the counter. The shells don't reveal anything, though you're pretty sure the necklace is defying the laws of physics in order to keepher covered.

"I know what you're thinking. I can't help it. But what I don't know is if you'll be as disappointed as the other men when you see what I am. But I can't help that either."

You hear a light splashing sound, and realize the woman is submerged in some kind of a bath behind the counter. She beckons you to move closer so you can see over the counter. You take a step forward, though it seems you have no choice. That's when you see she's a fish from the waist down.