Amanuensis

LG108, Day Three — Icy Dead People The medbay door had stuck on the first push. Itenii eased it open with his shoulder and stepped into air that bit his teeth. Cold. Too cold. A faint, steady drip came from the far counter. Someone had set a tray beneath a shallow pan; the pan’s rim was rimed. Celeste spores—kept barely wet so they sipped warmth from the room. The lantern over the sink burned low. Shadows sat in the corners like folded sails. Braid lay on the raised bed, blanket to her collarbone. The braid itself had been coiled under her head, cut clean. Her cup rested at the bedside, lid sealed tight. Itenii pulled his sleeves down and stepped closer. His breath fogged. He leaned over the blanket and looked for anything missed: a smudge, a thread, a scratch near the wrist where the rope would have bitten. The skin showed countless faint crescents, bloodless marks he hadn’t noticed at first glance in the dimness. A glass vial rolled in the sink behind him and tapped the basin twice. He froze. Listened. Nothing. “Ship groans,” he told himself. He lifted the lantern a notch. The flame guttered, then steadied. The cold ate the light. Something small fell off a shelf near the door—tic, tic, clack—and skittered under the stool. He couldn’t see it. He took a step back to find the angle. The lantern threw his shadow long across the wall. For a second, four other shadows stood with it—faces turned his way, their lifeless eyes murderous. Though he couldn't see any details, he recognized their silhouettes. “Not possible,” he whispered. "I must be dreaming." A breath of air brushed his ankle. The pan’s drip quickened. The room creaked softly as if someone leaned on the counter. He lowered the lantern again. “Who’s there?” It came out drier than he felt. Silence. Where did the ghosts go? Were they ever even there? The cold ratcheted down. His fingertips stung, then numbed. The lantern flame pinched to a bead. He reached to pull the blanket higher over Braid without knowing why—respect, maybe, or habit—and a shape shifted under the exam table. Not a rat. Too smooth, too patient. The sort of dark that looked back. A tray tilted. Instruments kissed the floor one by one—tick, tick, tick—spreading a fan of shadow. The four spirits returned in the spill, clearer now, mouths closed, eyes open, wrong in the way Midnight made things wrong. Itenii’s pulse jumped. He went for the door. The knob burned his palm with cold. He fumbled the bolt and yanked. Behind him, something pulled the bell-jar dropper from its hook and let all it's water spill into the Celeste pan. For an instant the room inhaled. The flash was not light but lack: heat torn out in a slamming breath. Frost crawled the metal tray, the wall, the blanket. Itenii’s exhale froze into a white flower that hung in the air and did not move. Sound stopped. Thought stopped. He had time to notice the porthole fogging from the inside and the lantern flame turning glass-hard. Then he became part of the room’s stillness—caught mid-reach, eyes wide, a thin rime beginning at his lashes. In the silence, something in the shadows settled, patient again, and waited for morning. Itenii (IcedOutPenguin) has been found dead and frozen in the medbay. He was a Royal Loyalist. Day Two has begun and will end on Thursday, October 9th, at 10:00 PM EST, approximately 48 hours from now. If you did not receive your GM PM, please @mention me and I will remedy that ASAP. Day Three Quartermaster's Spore Storeroom ~ Zephyr Charges 2 Verdant Charges 2 Crimson Charges 2 Sunlight Charges 1 Roseite Charge 1 Midnight Charge 1 Novice Sunlight Pot 1 Novice Verdant Pot 1 Apprentice Midnight Pot Player List @Araris Valerian — Armiel — Novice @Belandrius Ohhmar — thOmmAs — Apprentice @The Unknown Hammerer — Illi — Master @TwinStorm — Rane — Master @CoderDrag0n8 — Sozar — Apprentice @ThatOneWorldhopper — Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii — Novice — Royal Loyalist @RoyalBeeMage — William Thorne — Apprentice @Hoid Slayer — Shifter — Novice @IcedOutPenguin — Itenii — Novice — Royal Loyalist @A Jo in the Bush — Emmett — Novice @Doc12 — Braid — Novice — Royal Loyalist @STINK — Roberto — Apprentice

Night Two is now Jover. No more posts plz

Just got home so rollover might take me 15 minutes longer or longer. ~25 minutes remain before the end of the Night.

LG108, Night Two — Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii-cide Despite Salay, Fort, and Ann's best efforts, Braid's death had been a spark that ignited the new recruits' paranoia. Many were... not used to hard or dangerous work, for a lack of kinder words; but to be fair, none of the senior crew had anticipated casualties in the Verdant Sea. This was their realm. Their territory. Each of them understood that if this was indeed the work of the Midnight Cultists, they must've had a role in the day's chaos too. At this point, they needed to get to Diggen's Point fast. Accusations spread like wildfire, often coalescing on Master Rane. Even one of his Apprentices had briefly wanted him dead in the confusion. But in the end, it was the masked man with the knife fixation and the impossible-to-pronounce-name that ended up drawing the majority's ire. It certainly didn't help that he was seen breaking into Helmsmaster Salay's cabin while she was busy piloting the ship, though it was later, at the cargo hold, where the mysterious figure confronted Sozar, baring threats of steel edges and causing a scene. Armiel the aspiring cook and Shifter, the Mage Slayer, the Forsaken Son (all one guy, by the way) had formed a tenuous alliance over their mutual suspicions. Master Rane and Apprentice Thorne, similarly, had put their differences aside to defend the fearful Sozan. All they had wanted were some answers, but Feurjhausjeri—whatever it was—refused to give anything without getting the same. In the heat of the moment, Sozan had been taken hostage by an excessive number of blades, tucked between each of the masked man's fingers. All it took was a single twitch for a drop of Sozan's blood to be shed, and with it, a confirmation. Sozan's obsession with Roseite went deeper than pink being his favorite color. Without spores or a pot, crystals burst out, knocking the mysterious figure off balance and destroying his most precious belonging. The knife of his one true Master. His Father. If He ever found out, He would kill him, and not even close to instantly... The masked figure scrambled back into the wall, lips mumbling and limbs trembling. Long buried memories flashed before his eyes. Five figures loomed above him, but it was Father he saw. Towering. Menacing. A thousand cuts burned upon his skin. "What is your [Name]!" "Fierih... Feujhir... Fruije..." "No! No! No! What is your [Name]!" "Fuejr...heisj...jurijue..!" "NO! WHAT IS YOUR [NAME]!" "Fue...jr...heis...j...jeir...jeuj...djeu...u...du...wi..." Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii's heart hammered, his scarred hand reaching for a weapon he both loved and feared. Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii's heart stammered, that same hand now empty save for a single shimmering sphere. It was Armsmaster Ann who felt the heaviest shame. She had been the one to invite him aboard. His life was her responsibility, no matter his past. Or perhaps, especially, because of it. Sunlight pots burst in the air as she, and the dusk, approached. "Everyone! To the cabins! Now! There's been enough deaths for one day!" (5) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, CoderDrag0n8, TwinStorm, RoyalBeeMage, (3) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush, The Unknown Hammerer (2) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii (ThatOneWorldhopper) has died from a panic attack. They were a Royal Loyalist. Night Two has begun and will end on Tuesday, October 7th, at 10:00 PM EST, approximately 24 hours from now. If you did not receive your GM PM, please @mention me and I will remedy that ASAP. Player List @Araris Valerian — Armiel — Novice @Belandrius Ohhmar — thOmmAs — Apprentice @The Unknown Hammerer — Illi — Master @TwinStorm — Rane — Master @CoderDrag0n8 — Sozar — Apprentice @ThatOneWorldhopper — Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii — Novice — Royal Loyalist @RoyalBeeMage — William Thorne — Apprentice @Hoid Slayer — Shifter — Novice @IcedOutPenguin — Itenii — Novice @A Jo in the Bush — Emmett — Novice @Doc12 — Braid — Novice — Royal Loyalist @STINK — Roberto — Apprentice

The Day is over, no more posts (5) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, CoderDrag0n8, TwinStorm, RoyalBeeMage, (3) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush, The Unknown Hammerer (2) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar,

8 minutes remain in the turn (also my internet has been dipping in and out for the last 15 minutes, so there may be a slight delay in turnover)

(4) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, CoderDrag0n8, TwinStorm, (4) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, RoyalBeeMage, The Unknown Hammerer (2) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush,

(4) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, CoderDrag0n8, TwinStorm, (3) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, RoyalBeeMage (2) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush,

Dang ninjas (3) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, RoyalBeeMage (3) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, CoderDrag0n8, (2) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush, (1) IcedOutPenguin: TwinStorm,

30 minutes remain in the day to vote and submit actions (2) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush, (2) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, (2) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, Araris Valerian, (1) STINK: CoderDrag0n8, (1) IcedOutPenguin: TwinStorm,

3 hours and 20 minutes remain in the day to vote and submit actions (3) Hoid Slayer: STINK, A Jo in the Bush, Araris Valerian, (2) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, (1) ThatOneWorldhopper: Hoid Slayer, (1) STINK: CoderDrag0n8, (1) IcedOutPenguin: TwinStorm,

Alvron decides (AKA RNG)

7 hours remain in the day to vote and submit actions (2) TwinStorm: IcedOutPenguin, Belandrius Ohhmar, (1) STINK: CoderDrag0n8, (1) ThatOneWorldhopper: Araris Valerian, (1) CoderDrag0n8: A Jo in the Bush, (1) IcedOutPenguin: TwinStorm, (1) Hoid Slayer: STINK,

I have posted the write-up. Y'all are free to RP how you wish throughout the day, based on the rumors of what happened. My head cannon is that y'all are the ones that start the exe rather than the leadership, once accusations start getting thrown around. Oh also please go upvote one of Doc's posts, as he was the one who wrote the first scene

It's just an action you can use instantly, everything else I have to handle. You can only ever do one of Study, Prepare, or Sprout per turn. Still...

I did add a bit more detail. Y'all would not have found the body, but one of the Masters, and the word / details spread from there. Her corpse is being kept in the medical bay. Her cabin is technically off limits but not under direct supervision

Sorry, I figured better to post the thread and update in the flavor, rather than make y'all wait however long it takes me. Plus I want to see if Doc wants to write his death but will do it myself if he doesn't show up. Spark notes is that we discovered Braid's corpse hung by the braids of her hair in her cabin and covered in tiny bite marks that seem ratlike. Quartermaster Fort confiscated her Spores and Pots (the loot of the dead will go into the Storeroom for next day bidding). Player wise, the Masters are trying to keep y'all from panicking, but everyone is more wary than they were before. This is the first death in years aboard The Rat's Tale, so the investigation has begun while we continue to sail for the Rock. Y'all may vote now too

LG108, Day Two — Knot a Pretty Sight Braid’s hands were trembling. Unacceptable. Braid took a deep breath, another. Stilled herself. Roseite was not one of the spores that would kill you instantly, but being incautious around one spore meant death sooner or later. She ran through her preparations again. Water in a sealed flask. A silver knife in her belt. She’d locked her door, chased out the vermin. Ann had said earlier this morning that they would teach Midnight tricks and Roseite shields later in the journey, once they had proven themselves. Braid was going to surprise them by mastering one on the first night. The pot, on close examination, was a fairly simple device. She had sketched similar designs, trying to reverse-engineer her Master’s far more advanced canisters. The principle remained the same. Water, a measure of Zephyr, and a second spore canister. Carefully, she began pouring the small pouch of Roseite spores, counting the seconds in her head. Then something black and oily reached from behind her head and clamped onto her nose and mouth. She screamed soundlessly, trying to turn, but whatever held her was strong, and hadn’t made a single sound to alert her, and oh Moon of menace it was Midnight Essence, someone was trying to murder her, and already a second black limb was coming around her throat- Desperate, she grabbed the silver knife by her belt and stabbed blindly backwards. The creature made no sound, but its grip slackened enough that she tore herself out of its grip, spinning out of its reach and catching her first real glimpse of a Midnight Essence Familiar. Slick, reflective, faceless. It advanced. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the dregs of her Roseite, slammed them on the ground between them, and splashed them with her blood. As they made contact, a thin sheet of pink crystals emerged, but stopped at waist height. Too little spores. Not enough control.The Familiar smashed its way through the crystals with little effort. Braid sucked in a deep breath. With her left hand, she reached into her pocket and broke the first of her Master’s gifts - the spanreed - a tool from another world. That would let Him know she didn’t expect to come back. With her right, she took out the second gift, a pot full of Crimson spores. “Alright monster,” She snarled. “Let’s do this.” ... At the crack of dawn, the new recruits had already gathered on the main deck. All except one. Helsmaster Salay, Quartermaster Fort, Armsmaster Ann headed to Braid's cabin. The door had been barred from within; Fort had to lift the hinge pins to get them in. He’d set them back by reflex before any of them spoke. Braid hung from the lower deck beam, toes a hand’s width off the boards. Her hair—long, thick, woven for beauty and habit both—had been made into its own noose and taken the weight. Her cup lay upright on the desk, lid dogged tight. The porthole dogs were set. The bolt on the door was slid home on the inside. Ann’s hand went to the bell at her collar and stopped short. “Charlie (the Better) stays out,” she said to no one and everyone, and shut the rat in the passage with a click of her bootheel. She crossed the room slow, goggles pushed up, revolver heavy and unnecessary at her hip. Fort was already at work in the way he worked best: eyes moving, making notes on his slate he didn’t need to look at. The bite marks were plain even in the gray light—neat little crescents and paired scrapes up her forearms, over one shoulder, along her ribs where the shirt had been torn. The wood beneath her feet was dusted in dead spores, a gray film that clung to the grain in the boards and caked along the hinge seam where the door met the jamb. Ann touched the dust with the back of her knuckle, then with a dry cloth. The smear it made was the color of old ash. Salay’s face didn’t change, which on her was the same thing as grief. She stepped beneath the beam and lifted the weight by palm and forearm long enough for Fort to cut the hair. Together they lowered Braid to a blanket and covered her to the collarbone. “Locked,” Fort typed, slow and deliberate. “Bar on. Porthole dogs set. No broken seam. No sign of a pot thrown from outside. No spilled water.” “Plenty used,” Ann said softly, eyes moving over the desk, the bunk, the places water hides. Condensation ring on the inside of the porthole glass. A damp mark on the bunkpost that had dried to a tide line. “But nothing left.” Salay crouched by Braid’s hands. The crescents were too small for a grown rat and too many to be one animal besides; each mark had that oddly tidy, almost imitated look you get when the world pretends it’s something it isn’t. They each arrived at the same thought, the way sailors feel the same swell under different boots. “Midnight,” Salay said. Fort rose and looked to the bolt and back, to the porthole’s dogged lugs, to the gray dreck caked along the keyway like flour in a lock. He turned the slate around. "No other explanation." “It's the only thing that fits,” Ann agreed. “The mark work—mimic-teeth, mimic-claws. Not animal. Not Charlie.” She said it before anyone thought to say it to her. “Then—Cultists?” The word tasted like iron. Salay rubbed the heel of her hand over her brow, then over the deck beam where the hair had bitten a groove. Her thumb came away gray. She looked at it for a long breath, then wiped it on her trouser seam like a promise that would not wipe clean. “We shouldn't jump to conclusions,” she said at last. “Not at suspects. Not at each other. We tell the crew what we found, but we don't want to cause a panic, or a mutiny, on our first day at sea. We’ve not had to make one of our own walk the plank in... a long while. I would rather not start again today, if we can help it.” Fort stumbled upon a couple of loose pots, fully prepared, and pocketed them. "No sense in wasting Braid's hard work," he wrote with a grim expression. Ann fidgeted with the lacquered case. “I’ll stand a double watch at the Stores and the armory. I doubt they'd use our spores for this, but just in case, we should be cautious..." Salay set her palm on the pillow where Braid’s head lay exactly once; or maybe not, judging by the state of her desk... “We carry her fast to Diggen’s Point,” she said. Her voice was level again. “Our destination doesn’t change. The Duke and Duchess are expecting us.” Salay nodded, already seeing the course line in her head, the Seethe’s next pulse, the timing of the bells. “We tell the crew what we must and no more: that we’re grieving, that we’re vigilant, that no one opens a door without a witness, and that this ship’s business continues. Fort, post it. Ann, with me after; I want eyes on every shadowy corner.” Ann reached into the passage, and Charlie (the Better) slipped in under her arm and onto her shoulder, quivering with the room’s unsettled air. She laid two fingers against his back to still him. They stood a last moment together by the corpse. Guilt sat with them like another officer—uninvited, unarguable. Then Salay straightened. “For now, we should bring her to the medbay,” she said softly. “As for the truth, we’ll find that while we sail." Braid (Doc12) has been found dead in her cabin. She was a Royal Loyalist. Day Two has begun and will end on Monday, October 6th, at 10:00 PM EST, approximately 48 hours from now. If you did not receive your GM PM, please @mention me and I will remedy that ASAP. Day Two Quartermaster's Spore Storeroom ~ Zephyr Charges 3 Verdant Charges 1 Crimson Charge 1 Sunlight Charge 1 Roseite Charge 3 Midnight Charges 1 Novice Roseite Pot 1 Apprentice Crimson Pot Player List @Araris Valerian — Armiel — Novice @Belandrius Ohhmar — thOmmAs — Apprentice @The Unknown Hammerer — Illi — Master @TwinStorm — Rane — Master @CoderDrag0n8 — Sozar — Apprentice @ThatOneWorldhopper — Fuejrheisjjeirjeujdjeuuduwii — Novice @RoyalBeeMage — William Thorne — Apprentice @Hoid Slayer — Shifter — Novice @IcedOutPenguin — Itenii — Novice @A Jo in the Bush — Emmett — Novice @Doc12 — Braid — Novice — Royal Loyalist @STINK — Roberto — Apprentice SMALL RULE CHANGES Zephyr Pots can now be used at any time during a turn. Please ask me to create the PM if I am around, but if I don't get back to you in 15 minutes, I give you permission to create it; I will take it from your inventory when I get online. Make sure to include both me and @little wilson. Note that the PM will expire at the start of the next cycle / two cycles, regardless of what time you start it. I will allow people to (re)Prepare lower ranked Pots to higher ranked Pots if you have the additional material, however, there will always be a chance of failure (25% for Apprentice, 50% for Master, 75% for Expert)

Siete minutos, por favor THE NIGHT IS NOW CLOSED, TY

Ok the guy showed up! I will be home on time \○/

So rollover is in an hour, but a friend likely needs a ride home from work, so I may not be home until 10 or later =/ we are waiting to see if the state disability driver shows up like they said they would

It's mostly a grace period for people to get any RP and Discussion they didn't in the Day for max rewards. You only need to post if you want to rank up

Sorry if I am the hold up, I ended up falling asleep before I finished, might be able to do it when I'm on break or otherwise right before turnover lol

Tallies will be kept between GM and Player. Only Promotions will be announced.

Approximately 9 hours and 42 minutes remain the Night turn. You have until 10 PM EST to submit your actions in your GM PM and to max out your potential EXP rewards. If you want to see the tallies I have for your progress, PM me as well and I'll send it ASAP.