Welcome back to BoatQuest! When we last left off, you were in the process of helping Silver Sextant learn to be more confident.
“That is a good attempt,” you say, referring to the carefully scrawled red message on the latest torpedo. “Your implication that their ship is not as good as mi- ours is particularly pleasant to me. However!” You say, and take the marker before scrawling a large message. “You must remember to bold, be confident, and never back down.” You stand back and reveal your masterpiece: FROM ARROW, WITH LOVE, plus a basic sketch of yourself, winking and pointing at the viewer.
Silver Sextant sits back on her haunches and claps lightly, nodding approvingly. “Oh, wow,” she says. “That’s a good one. Right… I think I’ve got a good one…”
You take the time to completely fill up the two torpedos, going for every mean scribble doodle, and passage of technical information that you can think of and fill into the margins. However, you’re sure that your new and improved torprudeos will not only damage any enemy you face, but also horribly demoralize them.
It’s now late evening, but you have a few hours before bed. What would you like to do?Codex updated. http://pastebin.com/Nv98D7KV Changelings, Codex, the Crystal Empire, Tokens, and Wall of Storms all added.
>>27293282
Let's play cards with the crew in the lounge or have some cocktails on top of the boat in our beach chairs.
>>27293404
This. And then afterwards install our spotlight and check out dive suits.
Well, Rivet and Sextant have covered their duties for the day, and you’ve managed everything you need to get to in between your other activities. You take a quick check at the instruments to make sure that everything is running correctly and once that’s done, you make towards each of the crew and invite them up to the observation deck Sextant seems a bit reluctant to leave her maps, but after a brief period of squeaking and distress you manage to convince her to come up. Rivet literally drops everything and makes her way straight towards the observation deck.
The area is surprisingly spacious and comfortable. Ponies don’t do uncomfortable, but this is more a lounge than a deck, upgraded by your party module and insanely cozy by all accounts. Two tables are in the area, one of which is designed to let five ponies sit and view the window, the other designed to seat ponies in a circle. Finally, your two crew members come and sit down. Sextant takes a squared off, careful seat, while Rivet immediately kicks back and puts her hind hooves up.
“Whassup?” She asks, and Sextant looks you expectantly.
You produce a deck of cards. “Poker,” you say. “Appaloosan Hold ‘Em. We play for CHORES.” You produce a number of paper slips, each of which has one of the unassigned tasks for now. “We’ll be doing this every week, and you get to assign the tasks to whoever you choose should you win a slip.”
“I’m not entirely certain-” Sextant starts, but you know the sound of DOUBT when you hear it, and cut her off.
“Nonsense!” You say, divvying out the chore slips. “Let’s play!”
Who wins? Who loses?
>>27293814
We lose and have to do everything. But we try to make it look like we were just going easy on them - this time! Because we're such a generous pony.
>>27293814
Odd post number we win more than lose, even post number we lose more than win. Let's see if lady luck smiles on us.
>>27293898
We could go for [1d20].
>>27293929
Sixteen, huh? Okay, well since we have two votes for lose already, I say that means we lost sixteen out of twenty hands.
>>27293929
>>27293814let choosie roll :^)
You are, as ever, one hundred percent confident as you move forward and play the game. Yeah… as it so happens, that isn’t always terribly helpful when it comes to poker. It takes you twenty hooves to lose, sixteen of which you lose. But a captain must never show weakness, and you keep your stunning smile on the entire time. Surely, if you seem happy enough they will assume you were just going easy on them and that you could have crushed them if you want.
The two of them go at it long and hard. Sextant’s constant anxiety-ridden and worrying gaze leaves her inscrutable, and for the life if you, you just can’t tell if Rivet actually gives a shit if she wins and loses. They play well into the hour, about twice as long as you end up playing, and the pile is actually about even when they finally decide to call it quits.
They both look at you and down at the slips of paper in their hooves. “Well, uh,” Sextant says, looking at the slips she has. “I for one plan to keep a lot of my chores… Y’know… I really want to help the ship and be a good officer.”
“Pfft? Really? I’m just gonna give them all to YOW,” Rivet says, jumping as though she were kicked. “Yeah. I mean, I really want to make sure that everything is all sorted out fairly.” She gives you a weak smile, though you could swear that she shot a glare over at Sextant.
All things considered, you end up with a little more than a third of the slips. It’s well into the night, and after dinner it’s about time for bed. But you have maybe half an hour before its time to turn on. Tomorrow, you finally arrive at Portunio!
>>27294134
Spend half an hour reading the codex to learn everything we can about Port Tuna. We need to be prepared for tomorrow.
>>27294134
put a damn picture in the link from the general next time so I can actually find you
>>27294247
this is fine
Well, you’ve got to be prepared for what comes up, so you take out your Codex and flip through to find the entry on Port Tuna, er, Portunio. It takes you a bit to find it, given how dense the pages of this book are, but you eventually find it and give it a read.
You barely manage to finish reading it before the clock lets you know that it’s time to take a nap, the phrase echoing in your mind as you slip into your bed, curling up into the covers. You quickly drift off to sleep, and dream of the high seas.
The alarm goes off and you strike it quickly, practically bouncing out of bed as you fix your hair, wash your face, eat your breakfast. Rivet has just woken up, while Sextant turns in, having spent the night doing a late watch. You make yourself some breakfast. A quick check the instruments makes you think that you have until about noon before you arrive. What sort of last-minute preparations would you like to do?Portunio has been added to the Codex.
>>27294745
Trip
>>27294745
Make sure our cape with the epaulettes is ready. First impressions are everything.
>>27294808
The crew too, they have to pass uniform inspection. Rivet I'm not worried about, but Silver might need help. Did she bring anything worthy of the sort of impression The Best Ship deserves?
>>27294831
Be shocked if either of them forgot to bring their capes.
>>27294879
Capes ARE really important. I'm sure Sextant can repurpose her most durable map into one, if need be.
>>27294808
Is our spotlight installed? Have one of the crew shine it on us as we get off before they join us.
>>27294910
The one that's strong enough to start fires?
>>27294947
Yes.
>>27294952
make sure its turned up all the way
You want to make sure that your cape cape cloak combo is all in order, so you take the time to get it out and get dressed up in it, lint-rolling it with some difficulty, checking it for stains, and then it occurs to you. You HAVE to make sure that your crew is appropriately garbed, and so you make your way over to the other members of your crew to check them out.
“Rivet!” You say. “We need to make sure that you’re properly adorned for our departure!” You step into the engine room and she looks over at you and shrugs. She puts down her tools and crosses over a bit deeper into the engine room and rummages around for a second. When she comes back, she’s garbed in a olive green dress outfit for a military uniform. She glances you up and down and pops away for another second, and her dress military outfit has now been adorned with a yellow cape.
“How’s this?” She asks, giving a quick turn around (and giving you a quick view at her bounteous booty) and then looking at you. “It’s not quite as kickass as yours but I think it’ll do.”
>>27295050
You have correctly identified what I was looking for.
It was a cape.
>>27295050
>bounteous booty
Kinda forgot that she was an erf. Give her a hoofbump of approval and go check on silver.
>>27295050
Ask her if the spotlight is ready for our arrival before we leave.
“You have the cape,” you nod sagely. “That was the most important part. Did we ever hook up the spotlight? I need it to make a sufficiently dramatic entrance.”
She shook her head. “Nah, but if it’s okay with you, I can surface so that we can put it up. It might delay us a little bit.”
Would you like to surface? With the time it will take Rivet to hook up the spotlight you’ll arrive about an hour later, but you need to do it anyway.
>>27295251
Do it. Also, is anyone else lurking?
>>27295251
Nah, let's make sure Silver is ready. Also need to make sure she knows how to radiate confidence with her body language and such.
>>27295251
Yeah, that gives us enough time to see Silver. Do it.
>>27295279
Yes.
“Sure,” say with a nod. “The extra time will be valuable to my many, well-crafted plans anyway! Make it so, engineer and uh… Masterful Machinist of Clockwork and Divinity?”
“Yeah, something like that,” she says with a shrug, and makes her way over to the bridge. After a brief delay, you feel the sub start to pitch upwards, heading towards the surface. You make your way over to Sextant’s cabin. It’s still pretty much pristine, all except for the map corner that has slowly started to grow and take over the room. Soon, the entire submarine will be nothing but maps, you note gravely.
Your bat is currently lying on the table, snoring softly as she rests on her forelegs, muttering phrases like “compass” and “map it harder” as she rests there.
>>27295567
Jostle a map and see if it wakes her.
>>27295567
>your bat
Figures he'd go for the only skinny bat in existence.
>>27295643
>Forgetting Tara.
>>27295567
Watch the bat sleep. Be the first thing she sees when she wakes.
>>27295567
I'll map you harder, alright? But that's gotta wait to later, let's wake the bat andmake breakfast for her
You gently make your way forward, hooves clicking lightly against the deck and gently lay your head down on the desk. She’s kind of cute when she’s sleeping. You’ll have to map her harder later, whatever that means. You gently raise a hoof and tap one of her maps. She starts to wake up slowly. “Huhn?” She said. “What’s going o-” And in the space of about a second she realizes that there is a very handsome crystal pony face in her view and then proceeds to lose any understanding of what that means and lets loose a loud, frightened squeak, flinging herself backwards. Some strange mixture of flight magic and physics occurs as she goes tumbling over the back of the chair, collides with the wall, and falls onto the bed, covers flying up and covering her.
“Captain,” she says, muffled by the fabric. “How can I help you?”
>>27295858
Pausing here, I guess.
>>27295858
This >>27295320
>>27296019
That's a shame. It was a really short session.
>>27296066
I ran for more than three hours. That's good enough for me.
>>27296079
But I want more of the thing you do without compensation on your free time. How dare you.
>>27295858
Its time to get ready, Silver!
We'll be arriving in Port Tuna little more than an hour! Now let me see your dress uniform!
beb
a boop for you.
another bump
Alright Boat Quest is back on. Drawfag reporting reporting for duty sirs! I should have a couple of sketches of Rivet done in the next few hours, just doing some Mothers Day biz.
Here are the sketches of Sexty I did earlier for those who weren't in the CYOA general.
>>27300446
>>27300565
I bet she looks gorgeous with her hair down
fat bat rump bump
>>27301460
Does >>27300565 look like a fat bat butt? Rivet's the curvy one. Sextant's skinny.
>>27301744
You're assuming that I was even talking about >>27300565 in the first place.
>>27300446
Rivet when?
>>27301783
So that was just a random unsolicited announcement that you like fat bat butts?
Okay.
You pat the bat on the head. “Up and ‘attem,” you instruct her. “We don’t have long before we arrive at Port Tuna-”
“Portunio,” she corrects you.
“That’s why I said. Anyway, we need to make sure that your confident entrance is up to snuff before that happens.”
“Alright,” she says, sounding a little bit defeat, and slowly pulling the covers off of herself. “Just let me get some breakfast.” You immediately hoist her up onto your back and start off towards the kitchen/observation deck.
“An excellent idea!” You say. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’ll prepare you some food so that you are sufficiently energized.”
She lies down on your back and grumbles. “Wake me up when it’s ready.” You make your way over to the kitchen and start frying up an omelette for her. You’re in the process when you hear a clanging sound. You pause for a moment, straining your ears. This turns out to be a bad idea, as in a second a massive scraping sound rips through the hull. Then everything goes a little topsy turvy as the horizon in the observation deck suddenly tilts. Are you going into the sky? What the hell?
>>27303801
Did Rivet hit something while surfacing? Because that is not a noise we should be hearing.
If we have an intercom, call down to the control room and ask Rivet what the hell happened. If not, just thump on the floor and shout. The control room is right below us, anyway.
Oh, and don't forget to put down our bat first.
>>27303801
Kickass we can fly now.
>>27303801
Did the boat somehow jump off a conveniently boat-sized ramp?
“Hah!” You say. “Rivet truly IS a genius. She made the submarine capable of FLIGHT!” You smile as you look at the ocean disappearing rapidly behind you. Then you balk. “Wait. That makes no sense.” You make your way over to the intercom and poke the button. “Rivet, did you hit something? What’s going on?”
“I’m not entirely certain…” The erf answers back. “Either I somehow made the submarine accidentally fly, we suddenly experienced a totally kickass boat-sized ramp out in the middle of nowhere, which would be great… Or the massive magical signature floating a couple of hundred feet above us is a ship that somehow scooped us out of the water?”
Meanwhile, Silver Sextant grabs the mostly complete omelette and puts it on a plate, and drags it over to a table where she starts to eat it.
>>27304020
Rivet, please deploy the cannon and aim it straight up. Do we have a megaphone? Never mind, I have VOLUME on my side. I'm heading topside to give that flying thing a piece of my mind,
>>27304020
Look up.
And tell Sextant to treat her food right. Dragging is no way to move an omelette. Nor a plate either.
>>27304041
Almost forgot:
>Rivet truly IS a genius. She made the submarine capable of FLIGHT!
>Either I somehow made the submarine accidentally fly...
We're so in sync. We must waifu this pone.
>>27304041
Seconded.
>>27304042
Seconded.
>>27304052
Seconded because it means I can have Sextant.
>>27304076
She's mine fucker.
>>27304106
Fite me m8.
You start to respond, but then turn back to Sextant. “Navigator!” You said. “Carry that plate with dignity! We do not drag our food, nor our plates, we carry it with all esteem.” She pauses in the middle of dragging it and picks it up with her wings, slightly confused. She carries the plate over to the table and sets it down, looking at you until you nod approvingly.
You look back at the intercom. “Rivet, deploy the cannon. Can you aim it from down there?”
“Yeah,” Rivet says, a bit distracted as she fiddles with the dials down below. “But there’s some sort of jamming happening. They might have stuck a device up there… Grab your musket before you go.”
You nod and pop down to the armory, moving as fast as you can. You grab the rifle and check it: it’s currently fully charged. With it slung over your back, you make your way up to the top deck. As you pop the hatch and look, you immediately see a massive airship blocking your view. It’s like someone made a giant balloon and just started to tack things onto it. Looking at the side of the ship, you see two massive metal claws. They appear to be hanging down and clutching at the sides of the vessels, holding it out of the water and a few hundred feet out of the water.
‘You look around at the deck, and there’s a big hunk of metal over on the cannon, like a series of locks strung over the fixture, each of them crackling with blue runes. You’re then startled as a massive figure drops down in front of you, at least your size and a half. He unfurls two giant wings, and reveals himself as a griffon. His cat half is a standard lion, but his fore half appears to be a giant black eagle, a thin jagged beak. He’s dotted with scars and has a series of straps and items hung carelessly over his body.
“Good afternoon,” he says with a voice like gravel, deeper than any stallion you’ve ever met. “My name is Gorgon. Shall we discuss business?”
>>27304212
Depends. Are you buying or selling?
>>27304212
Shoot him in the face.
>>27304237
Fine. Check if he's a pirate, then shoot him in the face.
>>27304212
Generally speaking I don't entertain unsolicited callers, but I suppose I can make an exception, if you explain why my ship is floating.
>>27304259
I would be fine with firing the first shot, but only if we are absolutely sure he has malicious intent. We should aim for the center of mass, though, not the head. We did get some practice with our gun earlier, but I don't want to have to take any more chances than we have to with our aim.
“Sure,” you say. “I don’t usually accept unsolicited callers, but I can make an exception. Are you buying or selling?”
“Well, shall we say that I am selling the safety of your ship,” he says with a surprisingly pleasant cadence. “You see, I am a pirate and-”
“Oh,” you say with a nod. “That makes this easier.” You sling your gun forward and fire on the stun setting, aiming for the chest. You don’t trust yourself to hit the head. He grunts as the powerful magic blast strikes him and his eyes flicker with anger for just a second. Then he looks at you with some disdain and punches you. It’s like being hit with a freight train, and you slide backward halfway across the ship. There’s a powerful gust of wind and he bursts forward, gaining on you quickly, a growl welling up in his chest.
>>27304358
Switch to kill, fire again.
>>27304358
I am not only offended that you hit me, I am offended that you pulled my submarine out of the water. That is the opposite of how a submarine is meant to work!
>>27304381
I am CONFIDANT that it will work this time. Keep it charged.
You draw from within your confidence and feel the energy seep out and into the crystals in the hilt of the gun, each of them starting to crackle with the magical power. You set the charge up a notch, and fire again, but he’s in the air now and swerves to avoid your bolt. You fire again in a bit of a panic, and this time you manage to nick his wing, but he’s up again in a moment and swats at the gun. The gun flies off your body, strap ripping as it clatters across the deck.
Gorgon takes a moment to poke at his wings, clearly pained by the damage. “That was not pleasant,” he said. “Now, are you going to continue this, or can we please discuss this like gentlebirds?”
You can negotiate, of course. If you dive for the gun, you might be able to grab at it. You might be able to drag things out if you think one of your crewmates will be able to pull something off.
>>27304537
You can't seriously expect us to act like this is all fine and dandy when you threaten me like that. Your formality just makes the seriousness of what you're insinuating all the more surreal.
>>27304537
>can we please discuss this like gentlebirds
Tell yourself whatever you need to in order to sleep at night. You are not a gentlebird. You are a criminal and an asshole. You might as well ask if you could hold a civil conversation with a fucking manticore.
>>27304537
>If you dive for the gun, you might be able to grab at it. You might be able to drag things out if you think one of your crewmates will be able to pull something off.
Dive for the gun. Keep fighting him. If we last long enough then I'm sure Rivet will get up here eventually with a pneumatic goat launcher or some other damn crazy thing.
You roll your eyes. “Your attitude may seem genial, but a TRUE stallion can tell your lies for what they are! Don’t try to confuse the question! You are trying to rob me!”
The griffon starts to rub his eyes. “Oh great,” he said. “Another pony from Equestria, here to tell us all how to live our lives, Let’s just keep this all quick and easy. I have birds to feed, I have things to do. Three tokens and I’ll drop you off. Hell, even if you’re in the area I’ll leave you be. C’mon,be a sport.”
>>27304745
Three tokens in exchange for what? My ship? I already have that. If you have anything to sell for three tokens maybe I'll buy it, but if you're just robbing me than at least admit it. You sound like a delusional dumbass that is trying to delude himself into thinking he's less of a scumbag than he really is.
>>27304745
Not sure what he means by tokens either. Not that i'm feeling very inclined to deal with a delusional criminal.
>>27304778
This is good. Keep hitting him with uncomfortable truths to delay as long as possible. If he looks like he's going to stop being willing to talk than switch back to fighting and dive for the gun.
Sorry, I was hoping to finish off this post. I'll be continuing in about 10 hours. See you all then.
>>27304745
"You're a ruffian and a scoundrel!" Challenge him to a fight mano a mano, unless he's a chicken.
And don't refrain from dirty tricks if the situation calls for it.
>>27304745
Theft is theft, regardless of how reasonable the terms are.
Could we bluff him that we could make the ship explode whenever we want to?
We have confidence after all.
Or just break down his argument that selling someone's ship back to them is stupidly circular and still theft.
>>27306457
Or we could go inside and ask Rivet if she can modify three tokens so that they will horribly HORRIBLY explode once we're safely out of the blast radius?
>>27306503
And wouldn't a thief who handles tokens often be able to spot that?
He said he had chicks to feed, how about just skipping the middle and see if he'll accept food instead? If he declines amd still wants tokens, then we can use that against him
>>27306586
That's actually a good idea. He's probably going to say no, and then we can point out that he's a lying sack of shit,
>>27304745
I say we just give him the tokens were like an hour away from an embassy, we can get more there. We just need to make sure he holds his word, we might just make a friend out of this.
>>27306904
I don't think I want a cutthroat "friend" like that thank you.
>>27306904
That's an interesting response to being mugged.
>>27306904
This guy is a terrible person and I'd rather we just shoot him in the face. On the other hand it might be better to stun him steal everything out of his airship and then leave him behind.
>>27306973
>leave everyrhing behind
>Not recruiting from his crew
We could get one half decent bird from his ship can't we?
>>27306904
No, we're the captain of the EES The Best Ship, the best ship of the Equestrian Exploration Department. We won't negotiate with pirates!
>>27307015
Maybe, I guess. I kind of doubt they'll be anyone very trustworthy following him, but it's worth a shot. It's probably all ponies and griffons like him. If we want to hire a crew we should find griffons and ponies who weren't part of a pirate crew.
>>27307015
>>27307052
Would we want to hire someone, who leaves behind his ship, crew and captain at the vague promise of something better?
>>27307015
He might have prisoners.
>>27307074
No, that's why I said "I kind of doubt they'll be anyone very trustworthy following him". There's always a chance there's a prisoner or something on there, though.
We should think of a way to bring down that balloon.
>>27307105
Yeah, I mean it like
"Reply to >>27307015
see >>27307052"
>>27307052
>>27307074
Well probably not from the crew directly then, but Pirates used to press gang raided crewmembers into theirs. 'Join us or die' is something few choose the latter on.
>>27307192
In that case I would have no objection assuming theres anyone like that in there but any pony or griffon who willingly follows a thief is not someone we want.
>>27304745
Wait! ANOTHER pony from Equestria? I thought we were the maiden expedition? Or have Equeatrians made it to Portuna at least?
>>27307019
You might have a point there, it is a little out of character. Just saying he really hasn't attacked, most pirates rather save there own skins then fight and have a chance of losing. That's why we're currently floating in the air and not destroyed over them just looting our destroyed boot.
>>27308076
I think ponies have made it to Port Tuna, but we'd be the first ones past there.
>>27308132
So if he isn't attacking to avoid the risk of harm, then we just have to convince him that we're willing to resist him strongly enough to cause harm.
If we weren't on a mission I'd say we should capture him and take him back to Griffonstone. There's probably a bounty on a guy like this. I can't imagine a group of people as money loving as griffons would take kindly to a thief.
>>27308348
Hadn't even thought about it from that angle. This guy is a disgrace to his capitalist ancestors. Get a job and cook the books like a REAL griffon.
>>27308645
Agreed. Shamefur dispray.
>>27308348
Are all griffons citizens of Griffonstone though? Otherwise I'd doubt that Griffonstone would care much about some griffon criminal far off their territory.
>>27309008
Fair point. Dump him at Portunio then if we can take him alive. Even if they're not ubercapatalists I bet they still frown on piracy and theft.
>>27300446
>>27300565
These are great!
Sorry about being late. Is anyone here right now?
>>27310129
I'm here, and I think anon is around here somewhere too. Anon! You here?
>>27310129
I am
>>27310129
>>27310171
M-maybe I could be your Anon tonight?
>>27310171
You know me so well, anon
>>27310129
Are you still here?
>>27310296
Holy shit guys I'm exhausted. But I'm gonna run.
>>27310334
We'll still be here to kick the pirate's ass if you need to take a nap first.
>>27310334
You're a saint and a scholar, QM. But don't burn yourself out.
“Captain Golden Arrow does NOT negotiated with pirates, nor does he take kindly to those without the common decency to so much as declare themself one!” You trumpet at him, point a hoof dramatically. “I have half a mind to drag you back to Griffonstone and turn you in as a coward and a lout! A LOUT!”
“Griffonstone?” The griffin asks. “What the hell is- you know, I don’t really care.” He gets to his legs and glares at you. “You’ve made it clear you’re not willing to cooperate, so I’m going to have to get unfriendly…” And with that, he sprung at you, full force.
You don’t have long to react, but as soon as he springs, you do, too, jumping for the musket. You’re in mid tumble when your front hooves reach it, and you deftly (read: barely) manage to make it onto your haunches, tweaking the gun to its highest setting and aiming straight for the griffon. This isn’t hard since as soon as your eyes refocus you notice that the mountain of a bird is right on top of you and about to probably rip your throat out. In your panic, you fire, and the report is deafening, the light blind. It’s like for a second the entire world is nothing but a shitstorm of angry magic and angrier light. It’s like ten hangovers rolled into two food poisonings rolled into one. And when you manage to see anything again, you see the griffon there, smoking. The entire front of his chest is little more than char, and he coughs a couple of times.
There’s a pause of such a long period you briefly thing the griffon died, but that he simply was frozen in place by the musket, but eventually he stumbles backwards. Then, he starts to laugh. “You!” He says in the midst of his uproarious guffaws. “I like you, pony! We shall be friends!”
>>27310438
Why aren't you dead? Rivet promised me that the highest setting made things dead?
Whatever. If we're friends, does that mean that you'll go away and let me continue now?
>>27310438
Oh shit, he has plot armor. I guess that means that shooting him again wouldn't help, but since he doesn't appear to be robbing us anymore I guess it doesn't matter.
>>27310438
Friends you say?
Well, friends don't rob each other, so sure!
>>27310438
This guy has some sort of mental problem, but if shooting the guy makes him stop robbing us then fine. Offer to shoot him again if he'll drop the boat, maybe he'll like that.
>>27310438
I like friends a bit more than I hate pirates! So why are you willing to befriend someone who just shot you?
>>27310438
Be impressed that he didn't die.
>>27310569
I'm going to stick with 'mental problems'
You look at him with serious confusion and check the musket and then him. “What?” You say. “If what Rivet said was true, you should be a little bit closer to a stain on the deck than uh, alive.”
Gorgon nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. Much better than most puny pony weapons. I am what you might call an outlier.” He signalled to his crew, flashing them a few claw-signs. The blimp started to slowly lower, dropping the sub back into the water with surprising delicacy.
“So I shot you,” you say. “And now we’re friends? I mean, I like friends more than I hate pirates, but I was expecting us to need to like, kill you.”
He shrugs. “Show of strength. It’s a griffon thing. Look me up in Portunio, or if you’re in any part of the Leovian Empire. I’ll buy you a drink.”Alright, I'm pausing. Sorry guys.
>>27310723
>show of force is a griffon thing
Not the kind of griffons I've met. Whatever tribe of griffons you come from it sure as hell isn't griffonstone.
>>27310723
>Look me up in Portunio, or if you’re in any part of the Leovian Empire.
Got it, avoid the Leovian Empire because it has a pirate problem. Message received.
>>27310723
Go back inside, call Rivet on the intercom, and tell her to take us back under. The spotlight can wait because from now on all ship maintenance will happen exclusively in port. No more shooting insane pirates in the chest.
>>27310723
Will do, weird friend. Also, can you tell us more about that Empire?
>>27310839
Specifically where it is, who is in charge, and what your bounty is in there since you implied that you spend a fair bit of time there.
>>27310857
But he might be a privateer, not a pirate, and then the Empire would probably never jail him.
Bumping, will deliver content later
>>27311705
That's why it's a question we're asking.
>>27311705
If he was a privateer for the Leovian empire then he would spend his time stealing from other nations, not his own, and he implied he spent much of his time in the Leovian empire itself by saying to look him up if we visited. On the other hand, if he isn't from the Leovian empire and is a privateer for someone else, then he would likely have a bounty in the Empire.
Or more likely he's just a pirate.
Let's ask Sextant if she knows anything about the Leovian Empire. Check the Codex as well.
>>27312918
Oh and we should allocate some resources for getting Rivet to make those muskets stronger, we might need that.
>>27312924
Definitely. Setting it to vaporize should do more than a ten second stun.
>>27312944
Apart from that, check for hull damage. We should think about some secondary defense mechanisms apart from our one cannon. Maybe something that electrifies the outer hull with 1.21 Gigawatts or something like that?
>>27312979
Agreed. Give Rivet a token all of her own when we get to Portunio and say she can buy whatever she wants and run wild with designing crazy ship defenses. Until then, I think staying underwater like >>27310836 suggested is a good idea.
We should never let a situation like this happen again. We really do need better defenses.
>>27313024
Make it two tokens and tell her it better be awesome.
>>27313122
Three tokens and we never want to have to worry about it ever again.
>>27313252
>spending the same amount on anti-pirate defense that the crazy pirate wanted to steal from us
The irony is delicious.
>>27313381
You're right. We should spend four.
Just been reading through the codex.
>The island of Portunio is a highly economic society, mostly populated by ponies with a smattering of griffons . . . the capitalist beliefs of the griffons mixing with the more selfless opinions of the ponies.
Good news, Portunio has the capitalist style griffons instead of the "prove you're tough enough to deserve your possessions" style griffons.He really should have said "it's a Leovian thing" instead of "it's a griffon thing".
“Griffon thing?” You ask. “Seems more like a Leovian thing. I’ve known my fair share of griffons and this sort of thing is.. Uncommon.”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Ponies turn everyone they spend too much time with into little versions of themselves. It’s a bit eerie, honestly. That’s what happened to that little vassal state in Equestria. The Leovian Empire is the true home of griffons, a mighty power dedicated to the truth and good of capitalism and power. Be prepared to pay out the ass if you want to visit. But I’ve spent enough of your time.” He reached into one of his pouches and passed a token over. “Here, for your trouble.”
He lifted off, clearly in some pain, and fly back up to his blimp. There’s a brief pause, and you opted to go back down into the submarine. You sit down in the captain’s chair and fiddle with the dials, setting you to dive deeper into the ocean. Rivet and Sextant look at you with some surprise.
“So what in the hell happened?” Rivet asked. “That was pretty fucking weird.”
>>27313710
I made a friend! And a token!
“I made a friend! And a token!” You say, holding up the alchemical coin up for them to see. “Hey Sextant, do you know anything about the Leovian Empire?” You ask, looking over at the bat. “The pirate was from there.”
She shook her head. “No… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.” She pulled out the Codex and flipped through it, looking for an entry. “Yeah… we don’t have anything on it. What information did you get on it? We should collect it.” You take a moment to gather up what you’ve got and scribe it all down.
You glance over at Rivet. “Hey, if I give you some tokens can you do anything to bump up our defenses? It is UNCONSCIONABLE that the The Best Ship was left in such dire straits!”
Rivet considers for a moment and nods. “Yeah,” she said. “I could probably rig up some lightning cables, lay ‘em into the outside of the ship. If we ever get grappled like that it’d make the person who did it not so happy. It’d take a couple of tokens.”
“Take two,” you say with a nod. “For now, we’ll dive deep down into the ocean to keep things safe for us. The spotlight, as excellent as it would make our entrance, can wait.”
Sextant looks back at you. “Captain,” she said. “Technically, there isn’t an embassy on Portunio yet… We’ll need to establish one. Are we going to have enough resources to make sure we set one up?”
“Of course!” You assure the bat. “We three days of tokens. We might as well return to Equestria if we can’t handle that sort of diplomatic operation.”
There’s a brief respite from the chaos of before. You’ve got a few hours before you arrive in Portunio. What would you like to do?
>>27313710
Speak seriously so they understand the wieght of what we're saying and it's not just "the captain yelling again." I fought a pirate captain. Seeing my immense strength and skill I apparently earned his respect and let us go. Being caught by surprise like that is shameful. I refuse to bring shame to ourselves and our nation and we're going to see to it that it doesn't happen again!
>>27313821
>>27313847
Fuck nigga, you write too fast.
>>27313821
Talk to Rivet about the Pirates apparent resistance to our boomstick.
>>27313894
This. But mention it casually, how you shot and hit him on the highest settings.
You take a moment to look over each member of your crew and then speak solemnly, seriously. With great effort and TOTAL MENTAL DISCIPLINE you manage to trim the confidence from your tone. “I had a fight with a pirate captain,” you inform them. “It was very difficult, very hard to manage. But I was VICT- I managed to win. We need to make sure that this is a resounding success. We will not fail Equestria.”
The two of them are very serious, looking at you with concern and paying the utmost attention. Rivet immediately pulls out a pad of paper and pen, holding the latter in her mouth as she starts to sketch something out. She glances back over at you. “So how did the musket work out?” She asks around the pen in her mouth.
You shrug. “Pretty well. He was surprisingly resistant to it, and even when I hit him with the highest setting he still kept going.”
She looks at you a couple of times and blinks. “What?” She asks, shaking her head in surprise. A single shot from that thing should have done pretty nasty damage to one of the Princesses. How in the hell did a mortal even fucking survive?”
>>27314056
Maybe it's not as good as you think?
>>27314056
Maybe the aetherical frequence modulator needs to be tweaked a bit so the magical wavelength coefficients are more synchronized.
>>27314109
Anon, those words are too big for Arrow.
>>27314136
Yes, and they mean absolutely nothing. Big words that mean nothing, isn't that perfect?
“Maybe the aetherical frequence modulator needs to be tweaked a bit so the magical wavelength coefficients are more synchronized.” You say in your best expert tone.
She looks at you blankly for a second. “That means absolutely nothing,” she concludes after a moment’s thought. “But nice try, Cap. Dunno. Maybe it’s just not as strong as I thought, or maybe that guy was just a fucking beast.” She shrugs. “Hard to say. For now, I’ll keep working on the defense you were asking me to do. Need anything else?”
If you don't, what would you like to do next?
>>27314216
That is all Rivet. Now, to making sure Silver is in ship shape for our debut in Port Tuna.
“That’s all for now,” You say, nodding to her. “But SILVER! We have work to do.”
Silver puts down her pen and looks very, very nervous. “Y-yes?” She says.
“We need to work on your outfit for our illustrious arrival!” You say. You stand up and start to push her towards her quarters. “Now come, let us see what sort of clothes you have that would be best suited to such an important occurence.”
“Um…” She says. “Captain, I don’t really have any clothes. I wasn’t part of the military and I didn’t really use many at the map store. So I kind of just go nude all of the time.” She does, however, reluctantly let herself get pushed to her room.
>>27314404
Pausing for now.
>>27314404
Well, clothes are in this season.
>>27314404
What, she never got anything when she joined up?
First thing we should do in Portunia: Buy Sextant some nice expensive good-looking practical clothes.
>>27315409
Does Port Tunisia sell jackets? She'd look good in a jacket
>>27316215
I'm sure there will be an op-portunia-ty
>>27315409
Obviously the only choice istight-fitting lingerie. Just tell her it'll make her confident and she'll love it.
But realistically, we do need to pick her up a cape or three.
>>27316215
Jackets would be cute as fuck, but we should also pick up some regal clothes. To make a good first impression and all that other voyaging shit.
>>27318118
For a good impression, the dress uniform should be first. Everything else will just be accessories.Especially the lingerie. Tight clothes for the smol butt might make Rivet jealous
What else is there in Port-a-tina? If we can afford it, another crewmember would be good.
I think we should make our very first priority founding an embassy once we get to Portunia. We're a silly character doing a serious thing for the good of Equestria, and we need to succeed at this now so we can fuck around later.
>>27315409
>>27316215
Why not a good looking practical jacket? Gotta give her something to put drawing utensils in. If she's used to being naked, she'll love learning how awesome pockets are. Most useful and least harmful invention ever!
>>27318118
But also this. We've got to look fancy at some point, and these tailors know the most about ponies. Something with +10 confidence buff.
>>27319968
Exactly. Something dark, with a high collar.
It'll be a bit of a pain to get the wings through it though.
Alright chums, what are your though's on my Rivet? I should have shaded her coat to be a bit darker to indicate burnt Orange but yeah.
>>27320480
The next pic I have of her captures her insanity a little better but its based off this design so if its not spot on, let me know and I may be able to tweak it.
>>27320480
I think making one of her eyes twitchy would be a good to show her insanity
>>27320684
She should also have more of a shit eating grin or at least a general sense of smugness to her.
>>27320480
That's fucking perfect! I kinda pictured her seeming a little like Kamina from Gurren Lagann, and that really nailed it.
>>27320480
I pictured her with a swept back mane but other than that that's great.
>>27320480
>>27320684
>>27320939
And heres Rivet being Rivet.
Let me know what you guys think of the cutie mark. Feedback may be incorporated into future designs,
>>27321300
If that's a rocket, it looks like she has rabies.
If its a torpedo, the words should be: blbbrhghrghluhubufhfb
>>27321373
I was going to do that and put the english in brackets underneath.
Alternatively i was just going to draw the Boat Quest title but went for this cause i love Event Horizon.
>>27321391
We need another torpedo that says "libera te tuteme ex inferis"
>>27321300
[waifuing intensifies]
>>27321300
Bitch be cray.
>>27322488
Hence the waifuing.
>>27323325
But anon, you don't stick your dick in crazy.
>>27323360
You do, if she's hot enough.
>>27323365
Then Silver is the winner there.
“Unnaceptable!” You say with a stern, captainly nod of your head. “As soon as we are in Puerto Tony-”
“Portunio,” Sextant says.
“That’s what I said,” You say. “As soon as we are there, we will be going shopping to find you all manner of adorable clothing for wear! Jackets, a cape of course, lingerie-”
“Wait what?” Sextant squeaks, prancing around a little bit. “No. No. Nononono-”
“Now Sextant,” you admonish her. “I’ll have you know that lingerie is EXCELLENT for confidence! I wear it every now and then myself just to get that little boost of confidence I need.”
She looks at you dubiously. “A-alright,” she says. “I guess… we can get some lingerie. But I’m going to need to have you help me get it. I d-don’t think I can do it on my own…”
>>27323971
Let's spend that token we got from the pirate on clothes!
>>27323999
Lets wait until we actually get to a store and see the prices before we start planning what we'll spend.
>>27323971
No problem! I'll show you how its done. TO THE STORE!!
>>27324009
It's important to set goals for yourself and folow them through. We're going to spend one token when we get there. Full set of clothes and spend the rest in a bar.
>>27324034
Yeah, because nothing could possibly happen that would require us to have some money.
>>27324113
Exactly! We're so awesome, what could possibly happen that we couldn't handle? Plus once we've got that embassy running, we can get a refill.
>>27324139
One time refill or unlimited refill?
“We have an extra token!” You say. “And we will set this goal and we. Will. Follow. Through!” You turn dramatically and point. “To the store!”
There’s a pause. Sextant coughs. “Sir?” She says. “We’re on a boat. We’ve got an hour before we get to Portunio.”
You hold your position for a second and then sag. “Yeah… you’re right,” you say. “After that, though. We will follow through!”
An hour crawls by with the last moments of preparation, and finally you arrive at your destination. You take the sub as close as you can until the seafloor becomes a danger and then you surface, sailing towards your location, beaming as you finally make it close enough to sea.
Portunio, the city of commerce and cooperativism. Also a city of too big a size in too small a place. Perhaps it’s a bit unfair (your home had the glorious foresight to make sure they had all but infinite space), but Portunio definitely feels cramped, like they poured a big city onto a tiny island and made up the difference by building up and cross-connecting everything. Each building has at least three stories and these bizarre planks make up walkways in a mad jumble that lacks any centralize planning. All of this makes the island look like one giant spire, all leading up to something between a cathedral and office building at the very top.
The dock is built a solid quarter-mile off of the island itself, sprawling wooden platforms dotting the ocean around it as you look around, ponies and griffons flying and trotting to and fro, with the odd zebra sometimes walking along. As you dock at the station, you see a bookish unicorn, a small mare with thick glasses looking nervously up at you and down at a clipboard in her magic.
>>27324160Unlimited refill, every time you start return to the island.
>>27324176
Talk to the mare, she surely is some dock administrative, eager to greet and assist us!
>>27324176
She looks like she needs some CONFIDENCE. Ask if she'd like to join us in our lingerie shopping later
>>27324176
Tell her that we are here to spend money and stimulate the local economy, because the codex said that this place is big on economic prosperity.
You grin down at the small mare. Clearly, she is in needed of some of your patented confidence-boosting techniques. “You, mare!” You say, starting down the ramp. “I’m here to stimulate things. We’re going lingerie shopping!”
The pink unicorn with blue mane takes a step back nervously, face flushing. “I… um… what?” She asks, flipping through her clipboard with confusion. “This… wasn’t in the clipboard,” she said. “I’m just supposed to offer you a token to bit exchange and collect the docking fee…”
She shakes her head and sets her stance, determined to push through. “WELCOME TO PORTUNIO,” she shouts. “I AM HERE TO GUIDE YOU THROUGH YOUR ENTRANCE TO THE ISLAND. FOR ONE TOKEN WE CAN CURRENTLY OFFER YOU SIXTY-THREE BITS. THE DOCKING FEE IS FIVE BITS A DAY! She stops and huffs, looking up at you. “Do you understand?” She asks.
>>27324355
Oh, no need to worry about that! We're on a diplomatic exploratory mission from the Equestrian Exploratory Bureau! We're diplomats in a sense, so we don't have to pay! So, where is the next store where I can buy some fashion for my nude companion over here?
>>27324355
Clap hooves. Well done, lady! You're learning fast.
We should change our spare token to bits and use those for docking fees. The embassy is going to have to be established soon
>>27324392
I'm pretty sure we do. Also exchanging our tokens for bits sounds like a necessary step.
Embassy ASAP and then we head to store
>>27324540
Well I guess it's necessary if there are things worth less than 1 token.
>>27324550
Shouldn't we be at our best for the grand opening?
>>27324578
Dammit anon, you're always right. How do you do that?
>>27324578
That's right, we need to look the part for the opening party.
“Oh there’s nothing to worry about!” You say, advancing forward down the ramp. Her eyes get wide and her magic gripped at your chest, pushing the unicorn back as she tries to hold you from just trudging into the city. “After all, we’re diplomats! Here to establish an embassy!”
“N-no!” She cries out, eyes clenched tight as she tries to focus in on her magic. “It doesn’t work that way! You can’t just get away with paying because you say your important! You don’t even have an embassy yet! Please stop! I don’t want to have to get serious and try and stop you!” She peels an eye open to look at you, expression pleading you to stop.
You pause and look down at her, then nod affirmatively. “Very good,” you say, stopping. “You’re learning already. I will happily exchange a token for the bits, and then use some of those bits to allow for a docking fee!”
She lets out a sigh, happy that you’re being at least somewhat cooperative. “R-right,” she says as you fish out the token. She produces sixty-three bits and then folds five into her purse. “There’s your money. Thank you for, um, agreeing. Did you need any information about Portunio?”
>>27324612
WWGAD
>>27324621
Put a hoof around her shoulder and make a sweeping gesture over the bustling town in front of you.
"Port Tony, the pearl of the East Sea, where the mares are pretty and the wine flows! We will have a lot of fun here together! Now come and show us around. We need clothes, we need to establish an embassy and we need to organize an opening party! We have a lot to do, .. what was your name again?"
Is anyone lurking?
>>27324763
No.
>>27324664
This sounds good.
>>27324763
I am
“Ah, Port Tony-” You say.
“Portunia,” the unicorn says drily.
“That’s what I said. “Portunia, the pearl of the East Sea, where the mares are pretty and the wine flows! We will have a lot of fun here together! Now come and show us around. We need clothes, we need to establish an embassy and we need to organize an opening party! We have a lot to do, .. what was your name again?"
The unicorn mare looks over at you with some confusion. “Cooked Books…” She said. “I can help you find some clothes, but you’d need to talk to the Mayor about setting up an embassy. We don’t usually do parties for new embassies, I don’t think… I could help you throw one, but you’d have to get the money and stuff on your own. Wh-what kind of store did you want to start with?”
>>27324834
>We don’t usually do parties for new embassies
Well, we're not going to establish just some random embassy, this is going to be the first Equestrian Embassy established under the guidance of The Captain And The Crew Of The EES The Best Ship™! So this calls for a party! And yes, I insist that you will be there. And help us throw it. This isn't just for the fat cats, it's for us and you native islanders!
So, Cookie, show us to the most jaw-dropping fashion place this island has to offer and then to your fine mayor!
By the way, this is my crew [introduce crew]"
>>27324901
Anything I could add to this would just be agreement.
>>27324901
If you keep up like this, somebody might confuse it for roleplaying.
>>27324956
I welcome these people to confuse their toothbrush with my dick.
I'm just suggesting lines of dialog for a character I'm not directly controlling, that's far from RP'ing
>>27324972
I'm pretty sure that was a compliment. You're kind of nailing Golden Arrow here.
>>27324995
He's a some kind of lovable mix of Space Dandy, Guybrush Threepwood and Zapp Brannigan.
“Well, we're not going to establish just some random embassy, this is going to be the first Equestrian Embassy established under the guidance of The Captain And The Crew Of The EES The Best Ship™! So this calls for a party! And yes, I insist that you will be there. And help us throw it. This isn't just for the fat cats, it's for us and you native islanders!” You say as the four of you start off towards the store, passing through the street. Making your way downtown, walking fast and all that.
“Well, I guess I can help with that,” she said. “Food, decorations, entertainment, a place… I’ll bill the embassy for the charges,” she said. “It might be expensive, but you can call it diplomatic costs…”
“Right, right,” you say, waving away your concerns with her hoof. “I’m sure you’ll do fine taking care of all of that. Now, Cookie, take us to your finest fashion boutique on the whole island.”
“Right, well, that would be the Excessive Emporium,” she said. “It’s pieces are quite beautiful, but rather difficult to work in,” she says. “And they charge upwards of several thousand bits… Uh… Did you just want to select a price range?”
>>27325068
Yes. What can we get for on bit?
>>27325075
...one token, I mean.
>>27325075
Well, let's make that 58 bits. One token minus the 5 bits docking fee. I think we should get something stunning and practical for 58 bits. Or even multiple outfits. Something stunning and then something practical.
>>27325077
I like the token idea. Since it's value is variable, we might be able to buy something more expensive than it's worth at the moment.
>>27325087
Clearly we need something that is stunningly practical and something that is practically stunning.
>>27325129
“Well, we have a single token to spend on these sorts of frivolities,” you let her know. “Important frivolities, they are. What sort of store would allow us to manage such prices.”
She pauses to consider for a moment and shrugs. “We could try the artisan markets,” she said. “You could probably snag four outfits for a token there.”
“Excellent!” You say. “Take us there! By the by, my loyal and fanatical crew: Rivet Burst, the genius Earth pony machinist who can handle any sort of mechanical malady without delay.”
“‘Ello,” Rivet says. “Nice to meet you. I’ve never been to Portunio before.”
“And of course, our Chief Navigator and Cartographer, the exception Silver Sextant, a map master without compare.”
“Hi,” Silver Sextant offers. “I like maps.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Cooked Books says. “I hope your voyage is a successful one… Oh, and, um, none of you have a crystal jammed into your foreheads, do you?”
>>27325228
As a crystal pony, that sounds vaguely racist.
>>27325228
No, but does it give you supernatural resistance to getting shot with a powerful magic musket at point blank by any chance?
>>27325258
Oh, this is good.
“Excuse me miss,” you say, your tone a bit sharper than usual. “I am a crystal pony, and given your negative tone, I find it a little unfair that you’re asking me-”
“Nonono,” she says, shaking her forehead. “Crystal ponies are only crystalline when they’re channeling max power. This would be a small crystal lodged into your forehead…”
You roll your eyes and flip your mane up to reveal your forehead, with nothing there. Exchanging glances, Sextant and Rivet do the same.
“Phew…” Cookie says, practically deflating. “Okay, sorry about the interrogation, it would just be really bad if we let one of them in…”
“These crystals,” you ask. “Can they grant powers? Like extreme, almost impossible durability? That can defy even the most POWERFULLY charged of blasts?”
Cookie thinks for a second and then shakes her head. “No.” She said. “Minor increases to durability. But that’s just because well.. That’s not important.” She looks back at you. “Why?”
>>27325414
Oh, nothing important. Just exploratory captainy things.
Pausing for here. How am I doing? I will suck dick for critique.
>>27325455
Oh and tell us more about the mayor and those foreheadcrystalthings.
>>27325471
4:36 a.m. and I'm still here playing.
>>27325471
I'm enjoying the campyness of the characters. It might feel a bit random sometimes, but it's not obnoxiously random. Considering i'm not sure where you're going with this exactly it's hard for me to give any meaningful comments. But everything seems to be falling into place just fine if you ask me.
>>27325471
I like the characters because they're over the top and that makes them fun to play with. It's only been a few days and nothing else in the 'main quest' has happened, but I don't really mind somehow.that's the second cooking based name now
Shhh
>>27327346
No.
>>27325471
I am having lots of fun! This is pretty good for something that doesn't have any rocks in it.
>>27327495
Maud pls
Sorry guys, but I've been running for like a week straight. I need to take a day off.
