Reckonings: Talking at Cortez's Lifeboat.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

All right, Balin and Tessius are on the fast track, so let's get this conversation over with. I've suddenly lost all my hand puppets, so I can't direct this conversation as I'd like anymore. I prefer player-driven conversations, but there's a lot of important information that hasn't been shared. With that in mind, I'm going to go out on a limb and create this thread for the conversation taking place at Cortez's lifeboat. When I think the allotted limit of discussion has been met, I'll close the thread. That way this conversation can fill as much space as we like, and we can move on in the other thread.

A few topics that are worth talking about out here:

* People are passing around a soul searcher, and no one's glanced at Draga with it yet. Might be nice to talk about his curse. Likewise, there's the ghost ship a little ways away.

* Fuzzball, is Invictus going to report in detail on the Nightwalkers, either now or later? I'd like specifics.

* If Peregrine's going back to the Rogue's wake, how will you communicate across distances?

* Members of the royal family you've discovered so far, and where the others might be.

[Fuzzball]

If Cortez requests it specifically, Invictus will report on the Nightwalkers (I feel like a tattle-tale) in painful detail. He works with a spy, so I do mean PAINFUL detail. If not asked then he waits until Peregrine leaves to report. Like I said, he isn't going to say anything he doesn't have to in front of Peregrine.

If anyone takes the time to look at the shadow through the soul searcher they see Lawful-Neutral...does it detect magic items too? I don't know what it is and Invictus can't use it anyway so I was just wondering if they got any other information through it.

Anyway, expect Invictus to stay out of the conversation for the most part.

[Nathan of the FoS]

OOC: Here's Peregrine's last question, from the other thread...

IC: Peregrine looks sharply at the girl-witch as she mentions her true age; when she finishes he asks, "How do you then conceal your age, Mistress Ciera? A magic which is sufficient to deceive the soul searcher must be of the greatest magnitude, and possibly the greatest danger to us; do you know how it might be detected, if not through the searcher?

"Master Arcadius' curse was apparent to me as a moon*, which revolved about him, waxing and waning, at terrific speed; from his words I believe he thought the Mists themselves were responsible for the curse under which he labored. I am glad to have furthered, however incidentally, Master Arcadius' mission and yours, but I cannot claim to have taken up his mantle. As our situation and that of those who will oppose us here becomes clearer I am sure we will get a better understanding of how we may help one another to achieve our several purposes."

[MatthiasStormcrow]

So, here's thing Cortez will talk about, if people are interested:

-what he knows about Toby
-what he knows about Harrin
-what he's learned from Angus
-his interactions with Y'Gina and company (he and Ciera might want to trade notes)
-pretty much anything else that people want to know about except for:

Things he won't talk about (unless forced too, then he'll tell the truth):
-Anything more than the very basic, stiffly formal information about Duke Arbrund (title, lands, relation to the royal family, and that's about it). In fact, if anyone asks about Arbrund it'll probably be fairly obvious that there's a lot there he's not talking about.
-His own personal history with the royal family.

Things he'd like to know about:
-Anything and everything about the royal family or any survivors from their ship.
-general life in Saragoss (most of his questions will be directed at Ciera and Peregrine - he'd probably like to know what Invictus has learned, but he doesn't *know* that he'd like to know what Invictus knows. If that makes any sense. He won't ask Invictus anything just because it doesn't occur to him that Invictus might know anything, not because he's not interested.)
-He'll probably suggest that Ciera look at Draga through the crystal (though he won't do it himself) and after thinking about it for a moment, he'll ask Peregrine if Ciera can borrow it to look at some of the Nightwalkers. If the answer is yes, after Peregrine leaves Cortez will also "strongly suggest" to Ciera that she take a look at Duke Arbrund through the crystal as well.
-I don't think he knows about the ghost ship - it's tough to keep track of which bits of information have made it to him and which haven't, but I'm pretty sure he never heard about that. If someone else brings it up, it will immediately become one of his main concerns, and he's going to want to discuss ways of making it GO AWAY.

[Nathan of the FoS]

*chuckle*

IC: As Peregrine turns to survey the scene again while speaking to Ciera (habitual wariness seems to be one of his leading characteristics) he nods toward what is apparently empty space and says "Moriarun was under the impression you had brought only four ships, Captain, but I see five here. Was I misinformed?"

OOC: This assumes that the ghost ship is not immediately apparent as such. Note that Peregrine is NOT using the soul searcher when he says this.

[MatthiasStormcrow]

Cortez glances around before giving Peregrine a bit of a sideways glance. "I brought four ships." He points out each ship for the benefit of the Inquisitor. "Those four - the Pirate's Bane, mine, the Demon Cutter, under Captain Shadross, the Brinewine Runner, under Captain Celtan Tarr, and the Smiling Serpent under Captain Tomar Wolffe."

He looks curiously at Peregrine. "Where is this fifth ship of which you speak?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

"There," Peregrine says, pointing to empty ocean between the Bane and the Nightwalkers' ship.* "It's not one of yours?" Seeing the confusion on Cortez' face, Peregrine says, "Ah," and turns to look again.

"You can't see it?" he says. "Then I suppose it is a ghost ship. That is odd; I had never thought the appellation quite so literal."





*This is how DeepShadow described its location to me, but I don't know what he meant by "Nightwalkers' ship"--the ship they own, which I would think isn't visible, or the ship the Nightwalker contingent is on at the moment? Either way, from Cortez' point of view he's pointing at the sky. I would describe it (number of masts and general condition--Peregrine is hardly qualified to offer more) except I don't have that information either.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[FWIW, Kinketsu did mention this other ship to Shadross, while the two of them were letting Ciera and Anders fight it out, just before word got around about the rapid diseases. Kinketsu gives a brief description there that should include verything Peregrine would notice, as, after all, they're both unfamiliar with sailing vessels.

Also, the Nightwalker ship refers to the ship they actually own; the ship itself isn't easily visible in the dark, but as Peregrine passed it on the way, he knows where it is.]

[Nathan of the FoS]

[FWIW, Kinketsu did mention this other ship to Shadross, while the two of them were letting Ciera and Anders fight it out, just before word got around about the rapid diseases. Kinketsu gives a brief description there that should include verything Peregrine would notice, as, after all, they're both unfamiliar with sailing vessels.

Which page?

Also, the Nightwalker ship refers to the ship they actually own; the ship itself isn't easily visible in the dark, but as Peregrine passed it on the way, he knows where it is.]

Ah. Gotcha.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Which page?

Page 7, at the bottom. Shadross's response is at the top of page 8.

[MatthiasStormcrow]

"There," Peregrine says, pointing to empty ocean between the Bane and the Nightwalkers' ship.* "It's not one of yours?" Seeing the confusion on Cortez' face, Peregrine says, "Ah," and turns to look again.

"You can't see it?" he says. "Then I suppose it is a ghost ship. That is odd; I had never thought the appellation quite so literal."

Cortez looks much more concerned. "What else can you see about it? Does it have a crew? A name? What kind of a vessel is it?" He glances over at Ciera. "Did you know anything about this?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

"There," Peregrine says, pointing to empty ocean between the Bane and the Nightwalkers' ship.* "It's not one of yours?" Seeing the confusion on Cortez' face, Peregrine says, "Ah," and turns to look again.

"You can't see it?" he says. "Then I suppose it is a ghost ship. That is odd; I had never thought the appellation quite so literal."

Cortez looks much more concerned. "What else can you see about it? Does it have a crew? A name? What kind of a vessel is it?" He glances over at Ciera. "Did you know anything about this?"

"Well, it is smaller than your ships," Peregrine offers. "I know little of naval matters, so I do not know what term you might apply to it. It has three masts* and seems rather lower to the water than your ships. I see no crew at present; it is too far off and now too dark, I think, to see any name there."

*Some of this Kinketsu didn't mention--I'm just making it up as I go along. Correct me on my mistakes, DS.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

OOC: Still holding out for lostvoices' return, I'm sticking to minimal interference, but I'd like to propose something much better than mere scrying for keeping in contact and helping each other: I think Ciera should offer a ring gate to Peregrine.

This would not only allow the group to talk, but they could cast spells on each other through it, and (with magic and/or grease) slip through in dire emergencies and fight alongside each other.

At the risk of being too transparent here, both Peregrine and the rest of the party are going to have encounters tonight that would go smoother with each others' help, and I don't just mean in combat. And at the risk of metagaming, we've basically decided to avoid splitting the party; now that Peregrine's joined, we should try to keep him as close as possible.

At any rate, we need to decide now, before we have to retcon the ring gate into too much on both sides.

[Le Noir Faineant]

[I guess Anders can use the control air ability to float over to the lifeboat. If there's space enough on the ship, he'll land near Ciera and gently touch her on the shoulder, if not, he'll content floating next to the ship.]

"My research was in vain." Anders reports, his voice tired.

"Give me something to do! I am sick of sitting down and reading!"

As he notices his companions apparent nervousness, he will ask its the cause... [Guess Anders can't see the supposed Ghost Ship, can he? - If this leads to no more consequences, like the party deciding to act against the ghostly vessel, he'll concentrate on Draga and chat a bit... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr...]

[DeepShadow of FoS]

[OOC: Looks like Ciera's mine for a little longer. Lostvoices, where are you?!]

As Anders at the lifeboat, Ciera is just registering the Inquisitor's rhetorical question about escaping back to Toril.

"Why wouldn't we be able to 'return to the misty border?'" she asks slowly. She hands the medallion to Anders with which to view the ghost ship, and waits for the Inquisitor's reply.