TEST DRIVE 001b

[pyracy]

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.

Comments

awww yeah let's do this

[storygami]

[Kubo grins. This is the first sign of anyone around her caring about stories, and he's going to give him a Show.

He continues dramatically, hand stilled on his shamisen.]

Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem.

[With a short, distinctly Japanese tune, mysterious and light, blue papers rise from the middle of the now falling gale, transforming themselves into a hideous beast. It's massive, its head the size of Link's own.]

And please be warned: If you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you - even for an instant - [The tiny red pirate turns to face the monster, cutlass held at the ready.] then our hero will surely perish.

[The dragon noiselessly roars and charges the paper man, who leaps up and over the creature, running up its body. The music is erratic and crazed, a race to beat death.]

The dread pirate Barbossa had lost his ship and his men to the deeps. He, too, fell to Death's clutches . . . [The tiny pirate whips his sword at the beast's hide with no effect.] And now he would fight his way back to the living, and the woman he loved.

[Whispers on the streets may hold true to some of this, which is what Kubo is taking from. The rumor of a man whose heart was so black, Hell spat him back out. But Kubo likes a good hero for a good story. Let's improve on that, shall we?

The dragon shakes off the pirate, who falls to the ground far too heavily than paper has any right. Shakily, the man picks himself up.]

The beast of Davy Jones, a fearsome dragon, had an impenetrable hide. Their fight went on for days-- [The dragon circled around to face its enemy, and both pirate and beast charge toward the other] --for the dead have no need for sleep.

[The dragon opens its great maw, looking to swallow the man whole. The pirate slides beneath it and thrusts its sword up into its underside, cutting it from end to end. The dragon twists and flails, in obvious pain.

Finally, it falls, crumpling itself up into a small ball until it hits the earth.]

The dragon was vanquished, but Barbossa had many more challenges to face before he would again see his true love.

[He raises his brow at the crowd. Suggestions are always welcome, but if there are none, he'll continue.]