brethrencourt | TEST DRIVE 001b

Try on those ridiculous clothes, sample the catering, and run through your lines. It's time for the Long 18th Test Drive.

ARRIVAL: Characters come to in a dark, tropical forest in a huddle. There are the sounds of strange birds, animals, and insects all around, some of them perhaps worryingly close. With a closer inspection, arrivals realize they're on an incline: Going up will prove fruitless, no matter who they are. The ground there starts to grow rocky the further they climb, and they may find themselves slipping back down to their arrival point, even if they're expert mountain climbers. The ground sloping downward will eventually level out leading toward light, music, and noise. But for the moment, they're simply a group of lost people (or monsters/bipedal animals/robots/etc) with no idea where they are or how they got here. Now's probably a good time to ask, "Who the hell are you? Where am I?" Time to use the buddy system.

TORTUGA: There's a town off the coast of Hispaniola that never sleeps, and that town is Tortuga. It's swapped hands more times than anyone can count, but for now, the French have it. And they do like the extra money the pirates that frequent it bring in; they like it so much that they imported over 1600 prostitutes from Europe to keep them happy. So you might as well relax while you're here, as much as you can with random gunshots and fist fights, anyway. Drop in for a drink at the Faithful Bride, check out the wares for sale (provided to you tax-free thanks to piracy) near the dock front. Visit the warehouse where those ill-gotten goods are stored and distributed. Maybe you're looking for work on a ship? The captains can usually be found - frazzled and busy - in the taverns and at the shipwrights and everywhere in between (just look for the hats), and if they're in a good mood, they might be willing. But the key point of Tortuga is this: Have fun. Some examples might include: A barfight! Wandering into a brothel (maybe by mistake)! Getting duped into joining a crew! There's no end of trouble to get into.

MIRROR POST: When they arrived, every person found, in a pocket or a bag or tucked away somewhere on their person, a little compact mirror. It's nothing fancy: Square, with hinges and a latch that keep it closed, the outer casing carved from seashell, the inner mirror a little spotted with age. But if it's played around with enough, it quickly becomes apparent it works as a communication device. Here you have access to all of the marked folks, no matter how far and wide they might spread. Need to have a heart to heart with a buddy in Singapore? Want to send out a general ad to everyone at large? Looking for answers to questions? This is the quickest way to get all of that.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: The world is open, and it's full of pearls that are just waiting for you to take them. Maybe you want to have some quiet time to scrub clean in a bathhouse in Singapore. Perhaps you're visiting the fabled pirate city of Libertalia in Madagascar. Maybe you've found yourself lost in Mayan ruins or stranded on an island. Or you were shipwrecked in a hurricane. Or you've decided to relocate to Port Royal or one of the American colonies for a quieter sort of life. Either way, this is your story, might as well make it a good one.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Er, no. Well, could be. Yeah. [It's a ready excuse, one she'd invented herself, and a smart man would leave it there.

Harry does not leave it there.]

I thought maybe, y'know, he'd been drinking and it just knocked him out. That happens sometimes. ...but we shouldn't stay, should we, if he wakes up again?

[The man hadn't been nearly drunk enough to pass out, or to miss what Harry had really done, and he'd rather not be around to prove it hadn't been a dream.]

[ Violet has lived quite a series of unfortunate events, but none of those events revolved around alcohol. However, she has seen quite a few people passed out in this strange town, and quite a few of them have been heavily inebriated. There very well may be a correlation between the two.

Was that man drunk enough that he would just pass out apropos of nothing? She doesn't have any evidence to back it up, she can't say the opposite is any more true. More to the fact, ]

I suppose you're right. [ That man obviously wasn't coming after them for a good reason. Good luck might be questionable, but they ought to take this chance while they still can. And so, with one last look at the snoring man, Violet begins to make her way out of the alley. ]

Sorry, I'm new to this town, [ she says, when she draws even with him. ] Based on your clothes, I'm guessing you are too?

Yeah. [His own school uniform is more conspicuous than the black robes had been, but the wool had been bloody warm. He's still got it under his arm, for all he knows that's what the man had wanted. He's got precious little else.]

Dunno what happened. I was on the train home from H—school, from school, and I just woke up here, in the jungle. [It doesn't seem like the man had any friends about, no one's paying them any particular attention as they walk through the streets. It's unwise, but Harry keeps a hand on the wand in his pocket, ready to draw again if he needs to.]

What about you, what happened to you?

TEST DRIVE 001b

Violet you're a treasure

she does her best

no subject