Drugs, Sex, and a Rocky Road
Sep. 10th, 2005 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothAfter a two week absence, I was back for Lazar's Shadake game, so we continued the main plotline. Java was *not* back yet but is supposedly coming tonight... but doesn't know if he's 'up to' joining the game. Hmm.
Finding Lord Deemon's estate was not difficult -- as expected, everyone knew where it was and it wasn't any sort of secret. Getting things ready for the presentation that night was a bit of a rush, though, since after the fights (and after fighting the crowds to get out) it was later than they'd expected.
The ship still hadn't been attacked, but the path back to it had been improved on a bit, which worried them. Wayne suggested that they build a door they could lock to block the tunnel leading down, but they didn't really have time to do that immediately -- Balthazaar thought they did have time to make crappy haphazard doors, though, and release the fixer-skeleton (which was locked up in a box again, after reassembling itself) to 'fix' them. So he and Jardin worked on that task, while Wayne made a sample floatvine rug and Perrel cooked up a batch of fertility drugs, which he thought the centaurs would appreciate.
[Working it out, the very worst fertility drug you could build with the system (that is, the 1 karma version) was ludicrously powerful, for a fertility drug -- as a single use item it had to be on par with 5-point effects like flight or armor strong enough to stop the average sword thrust. Lazar decided that it was powerful enough to ensure at least one child from any union, regardless of the species involved, but not powerful enough to allow a male to carry a child to term. That would be a 2 karma drug.]
There were some creepy (but non-hostile) bugs in the tunnel that Jardin and Balthazaar ignored, and a hunting party of escaped slaves in the jungle that saw Wayne and the skymantas zipping through the forest with the food processors, but nothing really dangerous, and soon they'd delivered their cargo to the library -- full of recently written books -- where they were to set up for their pitch.
Jardin, however, would not be joining them, as the winner of the games was requried to go on a meet-and-greet tour with the city's nobles, and choose which would be his new employer. Each of the nobles had his own personal drink to share with the winner, and each of the drinks had its own mind-altering effect -- Jardin barely remembered his own wedding, and was blitzed nearly out of his mind by the time he made his way back to the library to join the others.
The sales pitch had been going decently, at least in that they hadn't been arrested or anything. People were showing interest in the processors, and in the medicines and floatvines -- Perrel sold out of his inventory, and had an offer of 500 wheels (more than $20,000) to buy him outright, while someone offered Wayne the same sum (or rather, seemed unfazed when Wayne quoted the same sum as an estimate) to build a larger version of his sample rug that could lift 'several tons'.
Unfortuantely, as the night went on, Jardin was not the only centaur who was getting overly drugged, and they started getting 'generous', as one of the house servants later put it. Wayne accepted a drink that made him feel really... huggy... and spent the rest of the night trying to cuddle up to anyone who talked to him. Jardin was dosed with the same thing, and sent off to consummate his marriage.
And no one actually bought anything expensive, because they didn't want to give that much money to the 'slaves'. Back in the servant's quarters, where they were allowed to stay the night, Balthazaar, Perrel, and Wayne talked it over, and decided that the best thing to do would probably be to find a lord who was willing to accept money on their behalf, in return for continuing the ruse. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so farfetched."
After that, Wayne was distracted by one of the servants (yes, he was still trying to hug everyone), having been dosed on the same stuff as he was, responding to his advances. Perrel tried not to watch what ensued, and woke up not remembering how he'd gotten out in the middle of a main street wearing a black silk scarf and a small potted plant. Balthazaar threw himself into trying to figure out the strange writing of the place they were in by reading a book he'd lifted from the library -- their ship had magic that let them speak the language (apparently he'd forgotten to mention this to everyone, or everyone had forgotten to listen when he'd explained it) but it didn't cover writing.
In the morning, Balthazaar had figured out the alchemy textbook (because it had formulas he'd recognized, which provided a starting point) and had Wayne smuggle it back to the library after disentangling himself from the Vlindar he'd been far too amorous with. Jardin had accepted a position as a messenger for one of the lords in town, and the rest of them promised their potential customers that although Jardin's loyalty had changed -- which was why no one was willing to give him money to take to 'his lord' -- they would go find their lord (or rather, they didn't say, find 'a lord') and arrange for him to accept payment.
They also planned to investigate the centaur who'd wanted to hire Wayne's services and buy Perrel outright -- he obviously had something planned, and depending on what it was, they might want to aid or oppose him.
last session | next session
Finding Lord Deemon's estate was not difficult -- as expected, everyone knew where it was and it wasn't any sort of secret. Getting things ready for the presentation that night was a bit of a rush, though, since after the fights (and after fighting the crowds to get out) it was later than they'd expected.
The ship still hadn't been attacked, but the path back to it had been improved on a bit, which worried them. Wayne suggested that they build a door they could lock to block the tunnel leading down, but they didn't really have time to do that immediately -- Balthazaar thought they did have time to make crappy haphazard doors, though, and release the fixer-skeleton (which was locked up in a box again, after reassembling itself) to 'fix' them. So he and Jardin worked on that task, while Wayne made a sample floatvine rug and Perrel cooked up a batch of fertility drugs, which he thought the centaurs would appreciate.
[Working it out, the very worst fertility drug you could build with the system (that is, the 1 karma version) was ludicrously powerful, for a fertility drug -- as a single use item it had to be on par with 5-point effects like flight or armor strong enough to stop the average sword thrust. Lazar decided that it was powerful enough to ensure at least one child from any union, regardless of the species involved, but not powerful enough to allow a male to carry a child to term. That would be a 2 karma drug.]
There were some creepy (but non-hostile) bugs in the tunnel that Jardin and Balthazaar ignored, and a hunting party of escaped slaves in the jungle that saw Wayne and the skymantas zipping through the forest with the food processors, but nothing really dangerous, and soon they'd delivered their cargo to the library -- full of recently written books -- where they were to set up for their pitch.
Jardin, however, would not be joining them, as the winner of the games was requried to go on a meet-and-greet tour with the city's nobles, and choose which would be his new employer. Each of the nobles had his own personal drink to share with the winner, and each of the drinks had its own mind-altering effect -- Jardin barely remembered his own wedding, and was blitzed nearly out of his mind by the time he made his way back to the library to join the others.
The sales pitch had been going decently, at least in that they hadn't been arrested or anything. People were showing interest in the processors, and in the medicines and floatvines -- Perrel sold out of his inventory, and had an offer of 500 wheels (more than $20,000) to buy him outright, while someone offered Wayne the same sum (or rather, seemed unfazed when Wayne quoted the same sum as an estimate) to build a larger version of his sample rug that could lift 'several tons'.
Unfortuantely, as the night went on, Jardin was not the only centaur who was getting overly drugged, and they started getting 'generous', as one of the house servants later put it. Wayne accepted a drink that made him feel really... huggy... and spent the rest of the night trying to cuddle up to anyone who talked to him. Jardin was dosed with the same thing, and sent off to consummate his marriage.
And no one actually bought anything expensive, because they didn't want to give that much money to the 'slaves'. Back in the servant's quarters, where they were allowed to stay the night, Balthazaar, Perrel, and Wayne talked it over, and decided that the best thing to do would probably be to find a lord who was willing to accept money on their behalf, in return for continuing the ruse. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so farfetched."
After that, Wayne was distracted by one of the servants (yes, he was still trying to hug everyone), having been dosed on the same stuff as he was, responding to his advances. Perrel tried not to watch what ensued, and woke up not remembering how he'd gotten out in the middle of a main street wearing a black silk scarf and a small potted plant. Balthazaar threw himself into trying to figure out the strange writing of the place they were in by reading a book he'd lifted from the library -- their ship had magic that let them speak the language (apparently he'd forgotten to mention this to everyone, or everyone had forgotten to listen when he'd explained it) but it didn't cover writing.
In the morning, Balthazaar had figured out the alchemy textbook (because it had formulas he'd recognized, which provided a starting point) and had Wayne smuggle it back to the library after disentangling himself from the Vlindar he'd been far too amorous with. Jardin had accepted a position as a messenger for one of the lords in town, and the rest of them promised their potential customers that although Jardin's loyalty had changed -- which was why no one was willing to give him money to take to 'his lord' -- they would go find their lord (or rather, they didn't say, find 'a lord') and arrange for him to accept payment.
They also planned to investigate the centaur who'd wanted to hire Wayne's services and buy Perrel outright -- he obviously had something planned, and depending on what it was, they might want to aid or oppose him.
last session | next session
