Raiding Season

[The Bindoner]

When Ridley moves Áshildr's leg she pivots with it and ends up leaning against him, shoulder to shoulder, with her bare legs up on the console. From this position she leans her head in near his as she points at controls and readouts, asking their function or meaning. Occasionally she leans forward to show exactly which thing she means, activating systems, which makes her flustered and apologetic.

Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't break anything did I? Everything here's so sensitive.. I'm a Raider, we deal with things that need a firm hand, not a gentle touch... You'll have to teach me that, I'd love to understand these things.


That tattoo is still in sight, and something about it niggles at Ridley. It reminds him of something he can't put his finger on.

Kar leaves Ridley on Bridge Watch. In Jump only one crewmember is needed on the bridge for each Watch as there is really very little to do, so Regina follows Kar and Manfred. As she was not specifically given permission by Kar to leave this is presumptuous. She is obviously relying on her status as de facto Captains Concubine to protect her.

In the Mead Hall ( commons ) the young Warband are abuzz over their first Jump, and the amazing thing Raven did. It is not a quiet area to talk about trade, but Manfred describes the opportunities at Blacrock. As a haven for pirates and smugglers there is a market for almost anything, and they are happy to deal with the ships of Oghma, but the prices offered will be low, and Marduk is a backwater, so there may not be many buyers to choose among, or things to trade for.

[Tiglath]

Raven too quits the bridge wearing a satisfied smile. As she leaves she calls over her shoulder "Be careful where you put your hands!" although quite who she is addressing or in what context isn't at all clear.

On her way to the mead hall she stops and, checking she's alone, touches one of the Serpent images in the companionway "Thank you Serpent for staying steady while I ran the oars - I am grateful".

She takes time to check her appearance before she enters the hall because the warband are young and will have expectations of her. Then she smiles because there would be meat and ale and because she had tested herself and lived. Maybe the gods had themselves smiled on her when, for another moment, she may have been "interesting".

Raven enters the mead hall and greets her warband.

[Gorethirster]

Before his erstwhile underlings fully escaped engineering Remington detailed them to collect him some snacks and a vac suit. If he was going to be stuck babysitting the drives he might as well get used to operating in one of those damn uncomfortable things. Sure, it was probably different to work in-atmosphere in a vac suit rather than in a proper vacuum, but baby steps. No point diving in headfirst and dying because he fucked up the suit seals. The perversely optimistic voice in the back of his head also consoled Remington that if he was lucky the vac suit might make the inevitable beating a little more bearable.

Remington pulls double shifts in engineering for the remainder of jump, only leaving to sleep in his cabin. The vac suit stays on whenever he's awake. It doesn't seem to get any more comfortable.

[The Bindoner]

Raven:

If there was ever any doubt Raven could command the Warband it is not in question now – they would follow her anywhere, eager to earn her praise. Training is easy as they compete to impress.

In the morning the Hold is used as a range. The youngsters learning Gun Combat start training using the light hunting rifles from Marduk, those training in Heavy Weapons use computer sims.

After the mid-day meal the Warband learn the maintenance and care of weapons in the Long House.

Raven prowls the ship examining the decorative panels, apparently searching for tattoo designs. Some of the Warband notice and join her to add their thoughts.

Áshildr:

She provides the velvet glove to Raven's stern tutelage. She makes time to speak with each of the Warband, the crew and the slaves over the days, chatting amiably.

Kar:

Kar finds Manfred happy to discuss what he knows of trade in the area, but as he is a pirate the knowledge is specialised – how to sell stolen cargo rather than the speculative trade market ( what the various worlds sell cheap or pay well for ).

Manfred:

He spends a lot of time talking to Oghmen about their religion. He soon identifies Yngvildr as his best source, and Stáli as having an interesting story. Eno and the other slaves are another source he likes to talk to as they are outsiders who have had to learn how to prepare for the rituals and ceremonies pertaining to Starships.

Ridley:

TBC

Remington:

Remington and the other Engineers practice working in Vac Suits. At first they wear the suits without the helmet, or the Life-Support system running, to get used to moving in them. Gris resignedly accepts it, Handson makes a game of it. Both know the basics of Vac Suit operations, so they give Remington tips. Gris silently takes a pack of Vac Suit Fresh-Strips from a cabinet in the Engineering Suit Locker and hands it to him. The package is marked with the Ling Standard Products logo. Apparently one patch will keep a suit odour-free for a week. There are 10 strips in a pack. Handson does not use them ( “Don't want anyone else wearing my suit. I trust it.” ). He advises Remington to bandage or tape his finger tips ( to protect them from the gloves ) and wear a scarf ( to protect his neck from the helmet sealing ring ). Both are happy to let Remington take extra shifts. Handson and Gris are evidently firm friends and glad to have a chance to socialise. Gris tends to keep out of the way off duty, and is often nowhere to be found. Handson is more outgoing and joins the crew in the Mead Hall when duty allows.

Remington soon translates the controls – there is nothing very different in function, only layout, design and language. Áshildr visits, bringing snacks, to help translate.

Leon:

After the Warband finish with the hold Leon and Roberta use it to spar and, with the G-Plates off, do Zero-G exercises.

The Warband find Roberta fascinating. A slave who can fight! Strange indeed. And a real barbarian too.


Eno:

Professionally and quietly prepares meals and keeps the ship clean. She guides the Warband around the unfamiliar ship and its systems until they know them.

She always has morsels of gristle or fatty meat to treat þefa, speaking nonsense words of affection to him. Soon he will sit on a chair with a morsel on a plate in front of him and only eat it when she tells him he can.


Ingrid:

Keeps out of sight most of the time unless she has a Watch on the Bridge, usually arriving last for meals and taking her food away to eat it. It is obvious she is staying away from Oghmen, especially the Warband.


The Warband:

Sigmundr takes his role as Corporal seriously, helping Raven and Áshildr keep order and maintain discipline.

Ingunn spends her spare time going over the APC, getting to know the vehicle and familiarising herself with the engine, lift units and controls. In the evenings she, Bjartr, Hrafn and Stáli form a clique of drinking buddies.

Sverrir eats heartily and seems to be fond of a drink of an evening, and reliably starts and leads the singing. He is sluggish in the morning.

Hrafn is easily the most competitive of the band, making shooting practice into a contest. He can be relied on to check and maintain the rifles, and is a help in teaching how to field-strip and reassemble them.

Rúna is difficult to motivate, keeps to herself, and loses her temper easily if things go badly in training. While usually late she is always perfectly turned out though.

Steinn is another strong voice among the singers. In the evenings he often sits with Ragnheiðr, working on decorative leather for belts or scabbards.

Erlingr is a long-standing friend of Sverrir and makes sure he doesn't get too drunk. He likes to practice with the weapons in the Arming Room, trying out a different one each day.

Bjartr spends a lot of time down in the garage with Ingunn. It seems they are working on the APC together. He is pleased to look over the designs decorating the ship with Raven, helping design the tattoo for Ridley, but protests he is just an amateur and sure to get things wrong.

Stáli is first to start the betting on the training, but Sigmundr, Bjartr, Þórir and Yngvildr all join in enthusiatically.

Hróarr looks after Sniffer, and trains him to bite and hold. He also tells Manfred about the time the Gods spoke to him in one of the ruined cities of Old Oghma, showing him the smooth flattened silver sphere engraved with an image of Iðunn he keeps from the encounter. Rúna recognises the object as of Old Oghma manufacture, from before the Dragon King burned the world. It turns out Hróarr knows one of the trading Thegns, but his knowledge of Brokerage is scant. He is fascinated by the off-worlders aboard, particularly Eno. Ingrid avoids him like the plague.

Gulbrandr, a scruffy young man, enjoys the competitive element of the training, but doesn't bet. He assists Yngvildr rather than compete against her.


Dagný helps with Sniffer's training and works in the Arming Room cataloguing the weapons and armour and researching their history, to see if they were used in famous raids. She avoids Sverrir, and is distant with Yngvildr.

Þórir helps Dagný with the armour. He carries himself like a warrior, is always ready to work, but has little to say for himself. He is careful about his diet and drinks moderately.

Yngvildr seems to be out to enjoy herself. She gambles, drinks, plays pranks. She is most enthusiastic about food though. She doesn't eat to excess ( like Sverrir occasionally does ), but she likes good food, and assists Eno in the Galley to learn new dishes. She gladly answers Manfred's questions about the Gods and how her mother ( a Priestess ) serves them. Hearing that the ship will visit Blackrock she goes very quiet and starts to look worried. A couple of drinks and a few games of Hnefatafl restore her mood.

Ragnheiðr works hard, and works out in her spare time. She seems fixed on being a great warrior.

þefa is unsettled for days, being in a strange place with strange people. Before the week is out he is quite at home, with a routine and his favourite places.

[coastguarder]

Ridley After a nervous and awkward watch spent on the bridge explaining things and doing his best not to put his hand anywhere he shouldn't Ridley asks Raven to tattoo him in-front of the war band as a way of proving his strength and commitment to the ship ( given her recent stunt just being in Raverns presence will give him almost god like status with the war band ) . He then joines Hróarr for sniffer training between watches......

[The Bindoner]

If you want to do the tattoo as a scene we can dice for it. Raven to roll on Dex, with an assist from Bjartr. End roll from Ridley, with maybe a situatioal bonus depending on scene description

[coastguarder]

[2d6] = 11

Ridley will also send for all of the engineering team to be present at he inking ..... Remington in particular .....

[coastguarder]

The scene will of course depict the serpent leading the fleet into jump with Raven silhouetted standing on the outer hull ..... Remingtons tattoo will be a symbol of the jump drive ....... it will be like ridleys performed in front of the war band and shall be put on his forehead ...

[Gorethirster]

Remington is indifferent when he hears of Ridley's plans for a tattoo. He's an adult, he can do as he pleases. But when Remington hears of Ridley's plans to get Remington tattooed, his indifference disintegrates rapidly. He may be a ship slave, but he sure as hell wasn't Ridley's slave and certainly not an object to be redecorated at will, whatever the local gang of space psychopaths might think. So, despite his justified paranoia about drawing any more attention from the command crew than was absolutely necessary, Remington resolved to speak to the captain.

So, falling back on every trick of weaseling and cajoling he learned in academia, he sent a message to the captains personal comm terminal, requesting that he meet Remington in engineering at his earliest convenience to discuss a matter of great importance. He spent his time until Kar's arrival fretting and coming up with impractical and harebrained schemes to secure engineering against a dozen amateur murders and a handful of experts in the field.

When Kar made it to engineering, Remington launched into what might have been a carefully rehearsed speech before anxiety and frustration forced it out of him at something like twice the speed he intended:

"Thank you for your time captain. I know that even in jump space you have more important things to attend to, but I like to imagine that keeping your engineering slaves intact is also something of a concern. I need to discuss the rumours I've heard regarding our pilot's plan to have my forehead modified to remind viewers of my workplace. That is to say, the plan to tattoo a jump drive on my forehead. To cut to the chase, I'm not the pilot's slave, to do with as he pleases. I am a ship slave, yes, and thus subject to the appropriate discipline. But given that I, like the ship, belong to none aboard, it stands to reason that the person acting as steward and safeguard of both is the captain. Just as Lord Ásgeirr has entrusted you with this ship, Lady Vigdis has entrusted you with me. And just as I assume you are expected to return the ship either in as good a condition as when loaned or with a very good explanation, I suspect that I am on loan under the same terms. I think you'll agree that a jump drive on my forehead is the sort of thing requiring a very good explanation, which you would be on the hook to provide when we return to Oghma. All that said, I implore you both as captain of the ship and as steward of the goods of our Lord and Lady to prevent the pilot from taking this course of action."

[Tiglath]

Raven takes another swig of her ale horn and seats herself on Ridley’s back “Stop squirming Ridley! I need to get my tools ready. You will be one of the few to survive a kiss from Rimmugy!” Much to the warband’s amusement she draws her sword and waves the blade where Ridley can see it.

She then says “Fear not steersman for the Battle Hag will not send you through Hel’s doorway tonight. You skin will feel only needles”.

[2d6] = 10

(OOC: Preserved in the dice roller. Do we have a Camapign ID?

Now, how many "M"s in "Remmington" ... )

[The Bindoner]

Raven's practiced hand goes to work, following the design painted on Ridley's skin by Bjartr. She has studied the Serpent's representations on the panels, and traced the chosen design with Battle Hag on one of the practice dummies from the arming room.

Waiting for Ridley's Endurance save

(OOC: Preserved in the dice roller. Do we have a Camapign ID?

Now, how many "M"s in "Remmington" ... )

855

For both

[hardrocks]

"Thank you for your time captain. I know that even in jump space you have more important things to attend to, but I like to imagine that keeping your engineering slaves intact is also something of a concern. I need to discuss the rumours I've heard regarding our pilot's plan to have my forehead modified to remind viewers of my workplace. That is to say, the plan to tattoo a jump drive on my forehead. To cut to the chase, I'm not the pilot's slave, to do with as he pleases. I am a ship slave, yes, and thus subject to the appropriate discipline. But given that I, like the ship, belong to none aboard, it stands to reason that the person acting as steward and safeguard of both is the captain. Just as Lord Ásgeirr has entrusted you with this ship, Lady Vigdis has entrusted you with me. And just as I assume you are expected to return the ship either in as good a condition as when loaned or with a very good explanation, I suspect that I am on loan under the same terms. I think you'll agree that a jump drive on my forehead is the sort of thing requiring a very good explanation, which you would be on the hook to provide when we return to Oghma. All that said, I implore you both as captain of the ship and as steward of the goods of our Lord and Lady to prevent the pilot from taking this course of action."

Annoyed at being summoned for a Non-Emergency, Kar is equally appalled and amused by Remmingtons litany of indignation.

"Your'e not getting inked, unless you want to, or I decide you will. So shut up. But you must know that you cannot expect my tolerance and leniency regarding your status as Drive Shaman to protect you from my wrath at you're indiscretions. You must find a way' as we all will, to survive and thrive as part of this crew. Now let's go see how brave Ridley is."

[Gorethirster]

But you must know that you cannot expect my tolerance and leniency regarding your status as Drive Shaman to protect you from my wrath at you're indiscretions.

Remington knows enough to know that this means "stop being an idiot and whining about the senior crew where anyone can hear you." Perhaps it actually meant "stop whining about the senior crew," but Remington figures not complaining where anyone can hear him is close enough. He doesn't verbalize any of that to Kar though. As they head from engineering to the mead hall, instead he says "Yes captain. Thank you captain. I'll hold my tongue in the future and hopefully not find any other ways to get into trouble."

[Legion Lee]

Smoking a cigar and swigging from a cup of rum Leon will watch with silent amusement at Ridley's tattooing. He will amble over to Kar 100 credits says he sings after just 2 minuets under the needle

[hardrocks]

He will amble over to Kar 100 credits says he sings after just 2 minuets under the needle

.

Smiling a greeting to Leon. "Sure i'll take some of that action It's a bet I wouldn't mind losing"

[The Bindoner]

Raven carefully pricks out the design, taking her time. Whatever Ridley thinks she is not dragging the process out unnecessarily, just taking the time to do the job properly.

Throughout the procedure Ridley remains cheerful, relaxed even, to Leon's disappointment. The Warband find the whole thing hugely amusing, and Ridley's apparent high tolerance for pain admirable. For a Technical Officer.

[coastguarder]

Ridley , glowing with pride his ego swelling with the obvious approval from the war band summons Remington forward in front of the gathered crowd .... Step forward drive shamon ...come!! won't you take a step towards this brotherhood and mark your skin with symbol of luck and please the gods ......for your importance to this journey can't be understated ...... slave you may be but clearly there is more to you than meets the eye .... you will have not only the captains protection but mine also......... do not assume this invite a weakness ..... your lose tongue will trouble you further should it escape you to often .... take up this great honour .... a little raider spirit will fair you well in the days ahead .... What say you !!!?

[Gorethirster]

Remington has to admit, it's a well executed maneuver. It would seem that Ridely is capable of more subtle maneuvering than merely applying flagons to the forehead. Remington's respect for Ridley's wrangling was not going to stop him from trying to wriggle out of it however. Stepping more towards the center of the mead hall, out of the marginal space where he'd been lurking, Remington addresses Ridley:

"You do me a great honor pilot. I'm certain such an offer is not made lightly, and thus it is with regret I must inform you that it is beyond my power to accept, for two reasons. The first is that it would surely be presumptive of me to take a mark signifying the successful completion of my task when that task is not yet done. My duty as drive shaman is not merely to deposit us in the realm of the Lords, but also to ensure we leave it. After all, it is the plunder of real space, not jump space, which this venture seeks. Secondly, and more importantly, my flesh is not my own. It belongs to my Lady Vigdis, and without her dispensation I may not alter it. Since she has entrusted me to the care of our captain, it is his approval you must seek. I'm sure he will give the matter suitable deliberation."

As he finishes Remington throws Kar a look halfway between resignation and hope. Given the mostly polite tenor of the conversation Remington didn't think it was appropriate to point out that Ridley also seemed to be implying that a slave might be considered on the path to join the raider's fraternity. Remington wasn't certain what Oghman social mores were on that point, but he suspected that it might not be popular to suggest that a mere technical slave be considered as a potential member of such a warrior society.

[coastguarder]

Then you agree !!!!! on successfully reaching our destination you will receive your mark in a place our lady will ever see !!! on your arse cheek would do !!!

Raising is ale horn to the crowd and grinning at Kar Ridley bellows with laughter

[hardrocks]

Kar returns the smile and raises a horn.

"A fine idea, but I think we shall wait for our triumphant return, and then I to shall also gladly submit to Ravens mark"