Well at Least I’m a Magic Pirate Now

Sareneth 7, Fireday night, Day 4

After Sandara and I parted ways, I passed the time listening to Conchobar busking. He could, presumably using magic, pull a flute out of thin air. He was absolutely putting it to good use, mostly getting the crew pumped up with upbeat music. The crew gathered around, tossing copper and silver coins into his open footlocker as they requested specific songs. My buddy thrived on the attention, dancing with his eyes closed and winking at more than one girl. I wasn’t even sure if he was even keeping track of the handful of coins, so I kept an eye out for any thieving attempts. That’s actually a decent amount of money compared to what I have. I wonder how a +8 to perform stacks up?

Eventually everyone packed up their things and went to bed; once Cog was done I slipped out and waited for Sandara in the kitchen. I wonder if it’s even worth keeping my night time excursions secret? I lose a lot of time waiting on him. I didn’t have to wait long; I heard the deck creak just past the galley door as she approached, so I turned to face the door with a smile on my face. My smile dropped when Sandara slammed the door open and charged me, her stance low and ready to strike. She paused mid-stride, her eyes focused on me and her mouth twisted into a cocky smile. 

(Initiative 14+2=16. Combat has begun) 

The whole world waited while I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Wait what? What the fuck is going on? Why is she attacking me? She is asserting dominance; she likely feels she has been slighted in some way. (Sense motive 18+1=19) I belatedly realized that asking the question counted as my action as time snapped back into motion, and Sandara finished closing the distance with a fist in my gut. (Charging unarmed strike 12+4= 16. Hit. 3 nonlethal damage) “Next time,” she crooned, her smile never faltering, “target someone who isn’t trained in magic.” 

Time once more slowed to a standstill, only pausing completely after she finished speaking. Oh. This is about the charm. I didn’t direct any questions to Autopilot, lest I waste more time on a knowledge check. In retrospect, magically making a hot girl like you in order to get her to meet you alone when everyone else is asleep could be easily misinterpreted. So, how do I salvage this? There was no rush; time was well and truly stopped, and I didn’t even feel the pain in my gut while it was. I took a minute to hammer out a plan, and let Autopilot implement it. 

I dropped a bubble of darkness, effectively blinding the surface girl without meaningfully impeding my own sight. I scrambled across the room, escaping before her next strike laid me out. She felt around in the darkness, reorienting herself. If I’d wanted to hurt her, I might have kept the table between us and peppered her with rays of frost. Lucky for both of us, she hadn’t drawn her blade; I hoped that meant she was merely annoyed instead of enraged. “Excuse me, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I apologize if I’ve caused any offense.” (Diplomacy 12+3=15)

“Misunderstanding? You try to trick a cleric of the Pirate Queen into bed and expect me to brush it under the rug?” Shit. Of course that’s where her mind went. Autopilot! Fix it! To my mild surprise, color returned to the room as I dismissed the darkness spell, then leaned forward on the table towards her. “Sandara,” I asked, “what about my looks makes you think I’d rely on magic to get girls in bed?” I brushed my radiant white hair behind one ear and smiled. “I just wanted to get your attention.” (Bluff (Silver Tongue) 5+13+5=23) 

Sandara’s face softened as she considered that, but she still kept her gaze firmly on me. Unlike the last time her eyes had been glued to me, she wasn’t even pretending to admire the male form. “You’d be surprised,” she replied, “I’ve seen a few too many pretty boys who think the world is owed to them.” She sighed and the tension in the room broke. “Look, if you do end up pulling something like that, just be careful. I don’t want to be on a ship when someone invokes Besmara’s Wrath.”

I blinked a few times. Wait shit. Real gods. That’s on the table. Quick! Figure out a non incriminating way to ask about Syl! “Wait,” I raised an eyebrow, “you’re telling me that the Goddess of Piracy, of all deities, would get pissed if I used magic to get laid?” I couldn’t keep the faintest tremor out of my voice. I hadn’t done anything with my party member yet, but that had certainly been on the table. (Bluff 3+8=11) 

“You catch on quick!” Sandara cackled, “nah. It’s not some moral stand, whatever the starry eyed girls who join up think. Besmara just takes a shine to certain sailors, usually female pirates, and gets offended if someone ruins them.” 

“Ruins them?” I scoffed, “sounds a bit prudish.” 

The smile faded. “No, it’s not about the sex. It’s about afterwards.” She explained. “You literally charm a girl’s pants off and she wakes up the next morning satisfied and a bit confused, that’s not really a problem. Oh, she might gut you for it if she pieces it together, but Besmara considers that fair play, and revenge is good for a growing girl. If you take someone Besmara took a shine to and push her into doing things she’d never do normally, to the point where looking back on it with a clear head she sees a sex puppet wearing her face? That’ll fuck her up, might turn her off of the whole pirate lifestyle, and that’s when Besmara might send a serpent to crush your ship. Same thing goes for tying her down, though there’s a lot less gray area there. Got it?” 

“Got it.” I nodded seriously. “That makes more sense.” So just don’t traumatize them? I wouldn’t want to do that anyway. Probably for the best to have angry sky mommy keeping me honest though. “How are people supposed to know when someone is off limits?”

“That’s not Besmara’s problem.” She dismissed my concern, “I’d suggest just not being an asshole to any girl you sleep with; it’s what most smart guys do. Anyway, what did you want me to come here for, if it wasn’t to get your rocks off? Answer quickly.” She snapped the last part, trying to shock me into forgetting any prepared lies I might have. (Sense motive 13+1=14)

“I wanted to work with you to try to make some money gambling.” I responded defensively. “I figured that if I learned how to play some of the games that are popular on the ship, we might be able to trick some people out of their money and make a pretty penny. I pretend to be a total novice, we bait them into a big bet.” In doing so, I get you in my party and hopefully finish that mission. 

I stopped to let her laugh. “Seriously?” She wheezed, “You honestly charmed a girl so you could convince her to help you hustle for pocket change? Why me, though?” Good. She’s interested.

“I don’t know how to play most of the games,” I admitted, “and people go into dice expecting cheats. So I was hoping you could suggest some more physical ones that I could fake incompetence with? I’d prefer ones that require hand eye coordination or manual dexterity.”

“Okay. So… eh, Hog Lob?” She suggested, “That’s mostly about technique. Where and when do we practice, though? Maybe you’ve got a cushy job, kitchen boy, but I’ve got work in the morning.” 

“I have a spell,” I explained, “it lets me go all night without sleep.”

“I’m sure those ladies you don’t need to charm appreciate that.” She mocked. “Can you cast it on me too? I'm not staying up all night just because you don’t need sleep.”

“Of course.” I confirmed. Of course, that scuffle ended tonight’s spell. I’ll need to reapply myself, too. “Keeping three people awake would be a whole day’s worth of casting, but I can manage two.”

“I’ll think about it,” she hedged, “we don’t have a hog, so it’s not like we could practice tonight anyway. It sounds like it could be fun, but I’m not exactly hurting for loose change. Have a nice night.” She watched my reactions carefully, still unsure if she was actually a mark. Well, that could have gone worse, but not by too much. Hopefully she’s not a gossip; I do not want rumors flying around.

I reapplied Keep Watch and went to check on Owlbear; he didn’t seem like he’d be the most exciting company, but I didn’t feel like spending another night completely alone. He wasn’t sleeping yet when I arrived, instead shifting repeatedly in an attempt to get comfortable. 

“Hey, Owlbear,” I called from the shadows. “Are you doing okay? My name is Emrys.” His eyes went wide and he tried to scramble to his feet. Unfortunately, tried is definitely the correct word. The chain around his waist was tight enough to make it nearly impossible to stand up quickly, so he fell back down on his ass. 

“Woah, woah, woah,” I soothed, “calm down. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I regretted that I couldn’t cast Dancing Lights without ending Keep Watch; I was clearly freaking the poor guy out. 

“Why?” He asked suspiciously. “It’s dark.” 

“I don’t really sleep,” I explained, “and you’re still awake. It seems like we could keep one another company for a little bit.”

“Okay.” He carefully shifted into a more comfortable seated position and stared in my general direction. “Now what?” 

I hadn’t actually come into this with a plan, honestly. I was just curious, so I asked him about himself. “Where did you come from? That’s a good place to start, right?” 

“Mom worked on the docks. I helped.” 

I sat down in the hall. “Started working early, I guess? I only just finished my education, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting much use from it.” Owlbear nodded, but didn’t reply. “I can go away if you want. Or stop talking. I’m not trying to impose.” (+1 influence). 

“Maybe talk tomorrow?” He yawned, “I’m sleepy.” 

“Sure,” I answered, “anything I can do to help you sleep?” 

“Stay?” He mumbled, embarrassed. “I’m sleepy, but it’s lonely.”

“Sure Owlbear.” I assured him, “I can hang out here for a little bit.” I sat down in the darkness and opened my menu. That damn reference document was a nightmare, but if I wanted to understand how things worked here, I needed to keep parsing it out. Alright. How about this influence and sway business? 

After exploring for a bit, I found that influence was sort of a measure of how much an individual respected me. Every character had a few traits they respected, and when I displayed those traits to them I’d gain points of influence. Sandara respected networking and audacity, for example, according to a log of knowledge checks I found on my character sheet. Explains why I got a point of influence from trying to charm her, even though she thought I was trying to get into her pants. She respected the ballsiness of the move even if she planned on kicking my ass over it. I could lose influence through neglect, poor treatment, or by being slandered by someone else. 

Sway accrued when I accumulated enough influence to matter, though the specific levels of influence needed varied from person to person. At the lowest level of sway someone would generally speak well of me, perform trivial favors for me, and avoid interfering with my plans unless there was some kind of conflict. Sandara was at this level, as was Conchobar. It was somehow separate from attitude, which was how much they liked me and approved of my actions, which might be why Sandara was so friendly other than the punch to the gut. Is this magic that makes me super likable, or do all these numbers just model normal behavior? It wasn’t clear, but the mechanical precision that everything could be measured with made me think it was at least partially artificial. 

I wasn’t particularly bothered at the possibility of this system making people like me quickly, just curious. I don’t really feel that close to anyone yet, but then I’ve always had more buddies than close friends. I miss the internet more than anyone in the frat. Does that make me an asshole? Probably. I hope they are alright, but what’s the point in worrying about it? Until I wake up from a coma and have to pay off medical bills on top of student debt, this is my life now. I sighed as I shook myself from my reverie. Probably for the best I got this mission upfront. I’d have dicked around solo and not even thought about it without my HUD telling me to make some friends. Note to self: get to know Syl better. She’s in my party, she’s magically inclined to fuck me, maybe I should put in some effort for once. 

The second tier of sway, where Kroop and Jakes both stood, was where I could expect someone to invest time and money into helping me if I was reasonable. They would advocate for me and would incidentally work to undermine my enemies if it wasn’t too inconvenient. If we came into conflict, they’d try to work something out with me. Jakes makes sense, I saved his life and he knows it, but apparently Kroop is just a big softy. 

Major sway, the highest level, was when someone was willing to essentially subordinate themselves to me. They would be willing to risk their own goals and well-being to help me, as long as I paid them back for anything they sacrificed for me. The document implied that this level of sway was extremely difficult to reach without consistent effort. 

I only knew Sandara’s favored traits because of a lucky critical, so if I felt like pushing her up to moderate sway I might be able to manage it. I might also try studying everyone and figuring out what they liked. I still wanted to finish that mission, and from what I’ve seen that means getting ten people up to moderate sway, or getting them into my party. I could work with that. 

Owlbear fell asleep pretty quickly with company; by the time I’d finished researching influence he was out like a light. He said he worked with his mom? He might not have ever lived alone until he got on this ship. No wonder he’s lonely. I quietly padded away back to the kitchen and checked my mission log.

Reclaim your belongings from the Quartermaster

Rewards: 1 exp, Beguiling Bangles 

Thank you! Something fucking normal! It might even be easy.