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[Iituem]

The eyes, brain and heart are all in your satchel.  It's a bit of a mess, honestly, but you shoved your paper into your waterproof scroll case, so it should be fine.  Hopefully.

[That sort of spell is advanced, and requires a lot more practical knowledge than you have.  You barely know where to start.  You'd need an arktothrope to study, and you suspect from observation that the werebear curse is mind-bogglingly complex and employs multiple disciplines of magic.  That said, you know that the trigger is related to anger in some way, so maybe you can start with that.]

[Survival: 6 + 1 (Sensible)]  You stay put, waiting for the others to find you.  A good fifteen minutes pass and your teeth and chattering.  You hope they haven't gone off without you.

[Harry Baldman]

"Yeesh, at the rate we're going it's a wonder you haven't lost more people."

Egil looks around.

"You haven't lost more people, right?"

Do a headcount. Anybody I remember that's currently missing?

[Rolepgeek]

Tadisill shouts for the others to follow him before heading back to where he thought the werebear was, which should be too hard. There should be tracks, with how many people had been moving, and it was just continuing in the direction they'd gone to find Egil.

He keeps a grip on the other end of the spear, so that Egil doesn't become separated again, and once they've reached the corpse, looks for blood or any other trail their missing compatriot might have left, since he must have stayed back to harvest the organs. He had been a hunter, after all, even if this blasted storm was here. So much backtracking...perhaps some of them should stay with the corpse, and harvest it, while the rest looked for Sinimis? It would make sure they knew where they were, at least.

In any case, Tadisill figures that shouting to get the man's attention should work once he was really looking.

[ATHATH]

Yell once per minute. Retract my limbs into my robe to conserve heat (leave my head out, though).

[Iituem]

Sinimis: Oh thank the gods they've found you.

Everyone Else: You actually manage to find the hatcuri scholar, Sinimis.  It turns out he was just waiting not far from the corpse.  Looks like everyone's -

You glance around.  No, actually, everyone's here.  Even Roderick and Elaria, who have been fairly quiet this whole time.  Now that's fortunate!

[8+1, 7, 4, 4, 6+1] You get lost twice more, but you eventually manage to find that light in the distance again.  As you follow it the snow starts to thin out and you catch sight of what lies ahead...


The first thing you see is the lighthouse.  It does not inspire confidence.  Rather than the stone towers you have seen before along more civilised coasts, this appears to be a wooden shack on tall poles where someone has set fire to the roof.  You are amazed that it hasn't fallen down in a stiff breeze and set fire to the rest of the town.

The town itself mostly consists of rough wooden shacks clustered around a handful of large stone manors and official buildings, flanked by row after row of warehouses by the docks.  The docks are the only truly respectable part of town, consisting of six large piers and a dozen smaller ones.  Several wooden cranes are visible all over the dockyard and you can see huge wooden racks where fishing boats have been stacked to prevent damage from the ice.  With said ice reaching all the way up to shore it is no surprise that what would otherwise be a hive of activity on the docks instead resembles a ghost town.

As you get closer, you catch sight of a large wooden sign by the docks.  The first four words have been painted on in black, well-rounded and clearly official and faded to a dull grey from years of exposure.  The part added on was clearly scratched on after.  Nevertheless...

Welcome to
    Port Hopeless

[Dutrius]

Welcome to
    Port Hopeless

That's an encouraging sign. At least we're here now.

[ATHATH]

"Salvation at last!"

Search for a place to stay and a job.

How powerful is kyrite?

[Harry Baldman]

"I need me some fire to sit by and thaw out," Egil says, looking for the nearest lit hearth.

[Iituem]

Congratulations on surviving to the actual town!  Everybody receives 1XP.

You have to climb up a ladder from the ice to the docks, but upon setting foot upon them you are greeted by a bored-looking guardsman in a blue tabard, shouldering a musket.

"About bloody time," he says.  "You the last lot?"  He looks with some distaste at your blood-stained clothing and haggard faces.  "Miserable bunch, aren't you?  Well, before you can get cleaned up you need to visit the port administrator.  This way."

The guardsman beckons and walks off without waiting for you to follow.  He leads you to one of the big stone buildings and takes a left and ushers you into a small wooden cabin adjoining it.  A pinch-faced old Samakhet man waits behind a high desk for you inside.  A warm fire is blazing, but there are no seats for you to sit on.

"You the last lot?" he demands in a creaky old voice.  "Good, then I can piss off home.  Freezing in here.  Papers, please."

The guardsman takes papers from each of you and hands them to the administrator, who looks through each one and stamps it before giving them back to you, making a note in a logbook.

"What do we have here, then...

"Egil.  No last name?  Hrmph, Weylanders.  Right, you're here on charges of 'serial manslaughter'.  That's a new one.  Ten years.  House Ival are your wardens.

"Sinny-miss Valenty-bus.  Weird, but you're not the first of your lot I've seen here.  'Grand Larceny', that's ten years.  CTC's looking after you.

"Sonja Cadmi.. Cadmil.. whatever.  'Receipt of Stolen Goods'.  Ten years.  House Chan for you.  Oh, and stop bleeding on the floorboards, love.

"Tadisill Coerpus.  Hah!  I knew a Coerpus here, six years back.  Got eaten by a bear.  'Grand Vagrancy', eh?  One of Erikssen's lot, then.  Ten years, and you're with Ival.

"And Talmyr Siriss, another lizard!  Two in a day, what luck.  'Witchcraft', haven't seen that in a few months.  Ten years, and House Chan.

"Right, that's you done.  Any questions?"

[Harry Baldman]

((+1 to Survival. Seems like that gets rolled a whole goddamn lot around these parts. Added a current sheet in OOC thread to keep track of original vs. current stats.))

"Can we rest someplace around here? Is that paid for in advance, or do we have to pay for that as well? Where's House Udil, anyway?"

Egil drags his palm over his face slowly, looking exhausted.

"Too many questions. Damn it all. Can I just lie down by that fire and nap awhile? I'll be gone right quick after that, I promise."

[Rolepgeek]

(+1 Woodworking. I'll get Detective/Perception next, depending on which is more befitting of a hunter. I'll end up with both eventually anyway...))

Tadisill thinks for a few moments, grateful for the heat in the room and for any delay to keep them there. The man was right, after all. It was damn cold outside.

"Ya. How we fint tese people we workin' for, 'ten? 'Dey ta ones who tell us where ta go and what ta do, ya?"

[ATHATH]

"Yes. What should we do next?"

Learn Rage (at the next safe, available opportunity). Turn to Talmyr.

"Witchcraft, eh? Would you mind sharing notes with me?"

[Iituem]

((+1 to Survival. Seems like that gets rolled a whole goddamn lot around these parts. Added a current sheet in OOC thread to keep track of original vs. current stats.))

"Can we rest someplace around here? Is that paid for in advance, or do we have to pay for that as well? Where's House Udil, anyway?"

Egil drags his palm over his face slowly, looking exhausted.

"Too many questions. Damn it all. Can I just lie down by that fire and nap awhile? I'll be gone right quick after that, I promise."

The administrator frowns.  "Five minutes, then clear off.  I've got a late supper waiting for me at home and I shan't miss it for your sake.  You need to earn your own way, but there's places you can stay.  McGee's flophouse is cheap, a ducat a week for a mat by the fire and three ducats more for whatever slop she serves up.  Newcomers usually don't have cash on them, so the House you answer to advances you your first week's board at McGee's.  You'll need to make enough money to pay them back.

"Udil is the biggest of the local manors, with the blue tiles.  If you have direct business with them, you'll speak to one of their low level ministers.  You don't speak to the Viceroy.  Ditto for the other houses; House Chan has the manor with the towers, and you'll speak to one of the Duke's men; the CTC has the building which looks like a refurbished warehouse - because it is.  You'll speak to one of the Governor's men if that happens."

"Ya. How we fint tese people we workin' for, 'ten? 'Dey ta ones who tell us where ta go and what ta do, ya?"

"That said, you won't be speaking with them directly unless you're after stable work with them directly or a Mission.  If you have a trade skill, great, go find a master and get a journeyman position with one that won't screw you over too badly.  If not, there's day labour but the pay's shit.  Maybe you can claim a plot and actually get a farm going, some people manage.

"Then there's Missions.  You've got ten years on your sentences, and there's two ways to work those off.  One, you sit out the ten years and try to survive long enough to buy your ticket home.  Two, you complete enough Missions to get home early.  Each Mission you complete on behalf of the authorities - either House or the CTC - will get a year taken off your sentence.  They usually come with good pay as well.  That said, they wouldn't offer the year off if they weren't stupidly dangerous, which is the only reason volunteers are slim.  But hey, if you're tough as nails, you've nothing to lose or you really want to get home, you can take a Mission.  There's a jobs board in the town hall where you can see what's currently available.

"If you've got a taste for the drink, you can get one at the Last Post, it's the only pub worth talking about in town.  And maybe there's jobs there too, but you didn't hear that from me.  Anything else?"

[ATHATH]

"Nah, I'm good. I'm going to check out the missions; do any of you chaps want to come with me?"

Head to the town hall and look at the job board.

[SOLDIER First]

Sonja leans forward to speak to the man, making sure to bleed just a little onto his desk.
"I will find someone to assist me as soon as I am able. Thank you for the information.
Now go enjoy your meal."
Without another word or glance to the others, she searches for any signs that a smithing master is looking for hires.