Cycle 1063 (Winter): Day 6

[atpollard]

Good grief … has it really been a MONTH!
I have no interest in dragging out the inevitable, so here goes a quick catch up.


Doctor Linkletter and Josephine visited the Manor of Lord Baldry. The hall had been set for a Town Meeting and people started to gather. You were guided through the crowd and into a private study where Lord Baldry paced nervously. Hearing what you knew cheered his mood … Gottard was a friend and you had confirmed much of what Lord Baldry had suspected deep in his heart.

As the Council gathered to meet, your information was presented to the five members. Questions were asked and matters were debated. Many others stood to speak both for and against Gottard. Two members of the council seemed to strongly favor allowing Gottard to remain and two strongly favored expelling Gottard. Mr Andovan was the swing vote. While he had no personal dislike for Gottard, like Edwin Belsey and Mayor Winston, he was too concerned about the violent crime to support Lord Baldry and Logan Howard by voting to allow Gottard to stay.

It was during heated debate between Mayor Winston and Mr Howard about “proof” that Jacques and Remy interrupted … stoping the council meeting and presenting Lord Baldry with irrefutable proof that Edwin Belsey was really behind this. Mayor Winston was furious, but Lord Baldry refused to “immediately hang Edwin for high crimes against the Community”. The color did drain from Edwin’s face as the Mayor continued to scream threats.

Gottard was allowed to stay. The group was awarded “100 years of tax exempt status” on your home. Edwin’s Hotel was confiscated by Lord Baldry to pay townsfolk claims for damages (by unanimous vote of the 4 remaining members Council).

The group was lauded as heroes for uncovering the plot and treated to an imprudent number of free rounds. Dividing the reward money gains Cr 5000 for each member of the group.

[Jacque can decide which NPCs he lets go and which land in jail. I assume that you do not actually rob the bank.]

[atpollard]

Days go by and the repairs on the boat are completed.
Tide is rising and now is the time to buy some speculative cargo and steam off into a new adventure.

If anyone wants to check for a possible cargo …

Pick a skill (any skill) and roll 2d6+skill to locate a cargo using that skill. Streetwise will locate a cargo from back alley connections. Scholar will locate a cargo by studying historic trade records. Steward will locate a cargo by interacting with passengers and suppliers. Any skill and any story about how to apply it.

[Urson]

Jo

[2d6]=4 +0 (scholar)

Josephine will spend some time speaking with local merchants to determine what cargos are popular.

[Zhym]

Mercutio will look into whether there is any market for a more esoteric or mechanical trade.

Dunno if that's enough to merit a mechanical skill roll, but if not, scholar will do too.

[ffilz]

Dr. Linkletter will study trade records and such:



If he can also ask around on the streets (ignore this roll if you only want one attempt from each PC):

[atpollard]

Mercutio will look into whether there is any market for a more esoteric or mechanical trade.

Dunno if that's enough to merit a mechanical skill roll, but if not, scholar will do too.

(We may never know … you didn’t bother to post a 2d6+skill roll to see if you have any success.)

Which skill you apply will impact what result you get from the attempt to locate speculative cargo (The Who and What of the information you come across).

[atpollard]

(ignore this roll if you only want one attempt from each PC)

I have no objection to multiple attempts.

In general, attempts to locate a cargo are made “one roll per person” for the time period … that is what you turned up searching for cargo “today”. You can always try something new “tomorrow”.

In this particular case, I am just rushing past a couple weeks of “getting the boat ready” so we can jump right into SOMETHING. So multiple rolls just represent different searches on different days during the block of time everyone was “getting ready”.

(This obviously applies to everyone.)

[atpollard]

FYI: For rolls, if the ROLLER is down, just throw some dice and post the results. If you want ME to roll, then just say so in the post (maybe you don’t have any dice with you).

[Zhym]

Mercutio will look into whether there is any market for a more esoteric or mechanical trade.

Dunno if that's enough to merit a mechanical skill roll, but if not, scholar will do too.

(We may never know … you didn’t bother to post a 2d6+skill roll to see if you have any success.)

Which skill you apply will impact what result you get from the attempt to locate speculative cargo (The Who and What of the information you come across).

Sorry—it had been so long I'd forgotten the skill roll mechanics (and whether we make our own rolls)!

Mechanics: [2d6+3]=7+3=10

Realizing that machine parts may be a rare find around these parts, Mercutio also researches more general trade patterns.
Scholar: [2d6+2]=6+2=8

[atpollard]

Cycle 1063 (Winter): Day 7: [Hamlet of Gwynedd: 45N,25W]
Josephine Baxter-Smith

Jo tried to use her spare time to gather information on ‘Local Trade’, hoping to gain a lead on what sort of speculative goods might be available. Unfortunately for Jo, spare time was something she had very little of. The high tide on Day 6 made it the perfect time to re-float the boat and ready it for steam as quickly as possible. It was mid-Winter and the temperature hovered right at freezing. A 13-knot moderate breeze threw up a spray that coated everything in a sheet of ice and the wind increased to an 18-knot fresh breeze that slowed the work of installing the replacement boiler.

During her many hours spent working in the various ship related facilities along Industry Park, Jo stumbled upon a cache of crated gears of assorted sizes. The Shipyard used them, a few at a time as needed, but had plenty to spare. On the other hand, they had no particular reason to want to sell them.

The gears were worth about 10 credits per kg on average and there were 6 spare crates of 1500 kg each (Cr 15,000 FMV* per crate). With new Machine Parts like these needing to be shipped from cities east of the Spine, the best price that they could sell them to Jo for was Cr 16,500 per crate … if she was interested in buying any of them.

*FMV = Fair market Value = (Traveller base price)
[NOTE: Although they are not a bargain price, these are in relatively high demand in Non-Ind and AG areas, so they should be easy to sell almost anywhere you are likely to go.]

[atpollard]

Cycle 1063 (Winter): Day 8: [Hamlet of Gwynedd: 45N,25W]
Mercutio Routledge

The wind settled back down to a moderate breeze (13-knot) and the ice melted as temperatures again climbed above freezing, but it was still cold and dark with a biting wind that made the outdoors unpleasant and the fireside desirable. Mercutio discovered that small, generic mechanical parts were available, but they were also priced above FMV* due to shipping costs from the cities. Not one to give up so easily, Mercutio digs deeper and discovers that the “real money” in frontier trade is made in Illegal Drugs. Places like Gwynedd (small islands) are the source for all sorts of plant based ‘products’ that cannot be produced on the open water. The trick is knowing who to talk to, since THAT is a closed and clannish secret society that takes its secrets to the grave.

It was during his quest for leads on Mechanical parts, that Mercutio made an unexpected discovery. A search of Andovan’s Mercantile (#6 Dry Goods) turned up 5 old crates marked “Maintenance and Repair”. Each crate was a 1.5 meter cube and weighed 2000 kg. You opened one, expecting some sort tools or parts might be inside. What you discovered were books. New, leather bound technical manuals on how to manufacture and repair all sorts of common mechanical devices employed in agriculture, food processing and various craftsman cottage industries. The FMV* for each crate was Cr 20,000 (Cr 10/kg) and Andovan was willing to sell the crates for Cr 17,000 each if you wanted to buy any of them. He would go as low as Cr 16,000 each of you bought all 5 crates.

*FMV = Fair market Value = (Traveller base price)
[NOTE: These items are in relatively high demand in Non-Ind, Low Tech and Poor areas, so they should command a high price in very small, isolated communities where this information is desperately needed.]

[atpollard]

Cycle 1063 (Winter): Day 9: [Hamlet of Gwynedd: 45N,25W]
Samuel Linkletter

A strong breeze (24-knot) threw white capped waves more than 10 feet tall crashing against the beach and spraying across the main walkway. Temperatures still hovered just above freezing and the winds blew from the coldest part of the planet located south and a little west of Gwynedd. Linkletter used his resources to search for information on lucrative trade goods that might be obtained. A friend of a friend told Doc about the ‘Black Market’ trade out of Gwynedd. There was money to be made in “Magic Dust”. Details were a little vague among ‘honest folk’, but apparently it was some sort of rare powdered horn reputed to have special properties. Limited information indicated that it might be related to some psychotropic drugs, but it was reputed to ‘open the mind to the spirit world’. It was all more ‘mystic’ than ‘medicine’, but it was very expensive and those wanting it were willing to pay a great deal for it.

Through a friend of a relative of one of his patients in The Landings, Linkletter was able to locate a woman with some ‘Magic Dust’ (Powdered Horn) to sell. Doc held a small wooden canister that fit in the palm of his hand. The silvery grey powder inside had a FMV* of Cr 50,000 and, because of your reputation among the Landings, she was willing to sell it to you at FMV*. You heard rumors that she had 5 canisters that she was planning to ship East when the ships arrived.

*FMV = Fair market Value = (Traveller base price)
[NOTE: These items are only available on the Black Market and will be hard to sell in any small community. On the other hand, one could sell it for double or triple that price on the Black market in a wealthy city (Rich, HiPop).]

[Urson]

Jo

Josephine is loath to steal any of the crates of gears, but will buy 1 crate- to be stored on the steamship for her own use. She'll pay their asking price, knowing that goodwill is a valuable commodity.

She makes a mental note that machines and machine parts would be a decent speculation on future trade trips.

[ffilz]

Dr. Linkletter can not afford a canister of the magic powder, but he will share the information with the others. He's somewhat skeptical of it and it's not clear we're heading in a direction where it would be profitable to sell.

[Bluetongue]

Nathaniel

Wanderlust. It runs in many a scouts veins, the inexplicably journey to discover 'beyond the horizon'. Was it evermore than just a dissatisfaction with present circumstances and the hope of a glorious sunrise heralding better day, a better life?

Not that he was unhappy. Content in his own company and marginally self sufficient, giving heed to no man. There was something about the settlers of Providence that appealled to him. Not in the least a freedom to not have to 'worship as the king dictates' or to be taxed without representation or even get drafted into militias to fortify colonialist ambitions.

For many, indeed for most, the new horizons were only just a pipe dream. Quite literally. Their passive escape from eeking out a lifetime of drudgery was to sail the opioid induced tempestuous waves of hallucinogenic currents.

The last two years had seen a change in his life. After more than a decade serving dutifully in various scout ship projects, he had become freelance to pursue a desire to Captain his own vessel and sail under his own flag. He has a part share in 'Shrangri-La', a scout sloop that he hoped to one day redeem and buy-out in full from active service. Until then he had traded his boat building and carpentry skills to make ends meet while also rustling up more lucrative but 'under the counter' endeavours.

Which presently revolved around filling the pipedreams of others. Nathaniel walks among the harboured boats of The Landing, sharing a grain of leaf with fishermen and trawlers, talking 'shop' with crew, sharing info on the shifting sand bars and shallow routes through exposed reefs. He hoped to turn up the contacts importing tusks from walrus hunts. Proper walrus mind, not faked bovine leg bone shaved and shaped to mimic the ivory. The horn was reputedly powdered into fine grains and then hawked by 'snakeoil' salesmen or crafted by chemists into 'wander drugs'. It was an illicit but lucrative trade. One he hoped he had a talent to take advantage of. That such imports and exports, traded hands in Gwynnedd was beyond doubt but uncovering the sources was more difficult.

In his quayside conversations he drops allusions to 'the old man of the sea', (powdered walrus horn) and various 'magic dust' traders. Do they have stuff ready for sale? for export? do they need further ingredients imported to help the alchemical catalysts? A smuggler to smooth the waves?

Nathaniel streetwise roll (+1 Edu) [2d6+1]=8+1=9

[Monsieur Rose]

Jacques

Jacques tips off the helpful NPC's and they miraculously evade capture. The bank, while tempting, is secure.

He spends some time pouring through old records and new, hoping for hints or clues to the next destination.

Administration: [2d6]=9+2=11