Colonizing the Dark Continent (For Weiss Ritter)

[Xatarias]

"Huh. Well I hope you can keep a lid on it while you're otherwise occupied," Milly raises an eyebrow as she struts after your hulking escort, "Wouldn't want a furry observer during all your dealings... Unless that's your thing of course. I can swing it."


You're fairly certain she's joking... Like ninety percent.


(Charisma roll: 13)


The marketplace is bustling with activity, the noonday hours the peak time for interactions commercial and otherwise. Securing provisions is harder than you thought it would be, each merchant demanding a price more exorbitant than the last. Apparently maritime traffic still hasn't picked up since your initial landing, and now that your company has devoured most of its initial food supply, you are now beginning to feel the merciless grip of supply and demand. You fork over a sum of silver far larger than your liking for a week's worth of food.


"Jeez," Milly says, pulling Shen'ri away from the broken remains of a grandfather clock. "Makes me wonder if we should be in the business of grain shipping... I knew I should have bought stock in that Aldmari venture... Makes me regret the ivory inlay I got on Bert and Louise here... Almost."


The way she strokes her pistols reminds you never to trust Milly with anything financial.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"That's-!" Nathaniel flushed and froze as Milly all but skipped forward. A dozen different responses sprang to mind. All of them were incomplete, stuttering messes. "...Not. Happening."


It was the best he could manage.


The young Brightland expected negotiating in the marketplace would be a welcome distraction. How wrong he was. As he'd learned when first purchasing the metal needed to purchase the Forest Folk's silk, essential goods were often worth more than money on frontier regions like this. He'd entered Newport expecting that food would be more costly here than in the heart of Avalon and its well-established farmlands. It was the degree that took him off-guard. The only silver lining was that the high prices did indeed seem to be more the work of market forces than any resentment for the damage he and Cynthia's skirmish had inflicted.


"Mm..." Nathaniel grunted noncommittally at Milly's words. She wasn't completely wrong, at least as far as he knew. As a commodity, food was consistently, if often moderately, valued. The buxom corsair's business track record wasn't the most encouraging, though. He could imagine her losing patience with a slow, steady, and likely boring source of income in favor of some high-risk, high-reward venture that would inevitably suffer from some complication...


"Well, maybe we can if we can somehow save up enough to comfortably resume farming..." Nathaniel shrugged sighed. "I guess Claire is our next stop."


Unless the maid wanted to meet himself somewhere specific. The young man was keeping an open mind...quite literally. His consciousness did a quick scan to look for the fair featured right hand of Cynthia Lentani. If she preferred to keep this lessons of theirs a secret, he wasn't about to barge into the Skittering Crab loudly proclaiming his intent to platonically elope with the woman.

 

[Xatarias]

No sooner do you conduct your business when a now-familiar mental presence seizes roughly at your extended consciousness and all but leads you by a noose through the crooked streets. It isn't a mental compulsion in the sense of Agatha's domination, but you do experience an irritating buzzing in your mind that does not yield until you propel yourself in the "correct" direction. You hear Milly and Shen'ri stumble after you confused and worried.


Eventually you come to the beach where Claire sits perched on a sun-soaked boulder.


"You're here," She states simply, "Good."


She adjusts her position expectantly. Meanwhile, your companions stumble breathlessly up behind you. Shen'ri, who is more sensitive to your mental state, crouches and bares his teeth at the diminutive woman. Claire, unimpressed, waves a hand and sends your furry bodyguard into whining mess.


"Can we start?" she asks completely oblivious to Shenri's sensitive condition.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Ngh...!" Nathaniel grunted as he felt Claire lead him around like a capricious little sister who'd just seized hold of one of his ties and was using it as a leash to drag him about. Except his mind was somewhat more sensitive than any article of clothing.


"The meeting..." Was all he managed to get out to Milly and Shen'ri before the motley trio arrived at Claire's designated rendezvous.


"Certainly..." Nathaniel said even as he spared the golden Hillfolk a concerned glance. He hadn't planned on Shen'ri being present for this and wasn't sure how their mental link would interact with one between he and Claire. Plus the way the deceptively strong waif cowed the mighty native with a mere gesture was...concerning.


"Is there any particular emotion you are curious about? This may be easier if I know what memories to focus on," Being helpful was only part of it. Nathaniel didn't want to risk Shen'ri being uncomfortable or giving Claire complete access to some of the more compromising or...private memories unless he had to. They had a bargain and he would honor it, but that didn't mean going out of his way to offer Claire everything he had when there were alternatives.

 

[Xatarias]

"Hold up."


Milly's command is punctuated by the click of one of her flintlocks as she levels the weapon at Claire's head.


"This bitch can't just crawl into your brain and tug you along like a guppy on a line. Shen'ri's right, you need to learn some manners and I'm-"


Milly startles as her hand quivers and drops her piece. She barely has time to look surprised before her intended targeted springs up and knife-hands her in the throat. You realize that Claire must have somehow used her abilities to disarm the irate pirate woman. Luckily it seems forcing victims to their weapons on themselves is not within the quiet maid's repertoire of psychic tricks, but looking at Milly gasp on the sand, you realize that lack of compulsion doesn't make this assassin any less deadly.


"We can start with this," Claire says picking up Milly's beautifully customized pistol like one would a shellfish, "People often engage in highly irrational behavior that requires violent intervention. Perhaps you could explain the cause so that I might predict these responses."


Milly coughs and shoots her a poisonous look.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel tensed at the tell-tale clicking of the flintlock. Before he could even open his mouth to try and diffuse the situation, Claire was upon the fiery redhead. First with her mind, then with a perfectly executed chop to Milly's throat.


"Milly!" The young Brightland fussed, rushing to the pirate's side and reaching to help her to her feet.


His jaw clenched when Claire spoke up again. Some small, irrational part of him did want to lash out at her in turn. Milly had waved a firearm in the maid's direction and Claire's understanding of feelings most took for granted was rudimentary at best, but not so long ago he'd watch Agatha gleefully take Telai hostage with a flick of her mind. Something like that happening to the people he loved all over again was among the many fears that had shattered his dignified mask the day before...and now Claire was almost casually making it happen.


He couldn't really blame her, but Nathaniel did need to take a breath before speaking.


"Yes. I think that's a fine idea," Nathaniel turned to Claire, his expression severe. The young man's mind reached out to link with the waifish assassin's own. He didn't want something like this to happen again. This time, he would be taking a more proactive role in Claire's lesson.


Naturally, the first memories that sprang to mind were his of Agatha during his brief stint as her captive. The fear slowly giving way to outrage when Telai fell under her spell and Milly was tauntingly threatened as well. The anger when she sheer scale of what Agatha had done and planned to become clear. His urge to choke the life out of her being only barely kept in check by the false-priestess's own pistol and fear of what she might do to Telai if he failed to break her concentration swiftly enough.


Hopefully it helped. There was also Cynthia Lentani as a way to make Claire empathize with what Milly and so many others had done. Emotionally stunted as the maid was, her bond with her mistress seemed ironclad and built on more than just abstract duty. He couldn't imagine Claire doing anything less than seething if a hand or sufficiently wounding insult were raised again the raven-haired cutthroat of a businesswoman.

 

[Xatarias]

Claire takes in your lesson with a frown, clearly not relating her own experiences to the ones you show her. You get the sense that Cynthia is the sole exception to her mission-oriented mindset, the center of her world. The relationship unique in its dominance of her actions and you have a hard time extrapolating that experience to the love and mutual respect "normal" people often experience.


More disturbing is the self-sacrifice Claire is willing to assume on behalf of her mistress. Claire never considered a scenario where her more-than-employer would come to harm because she would be dead before she let that happen. The dynamic is wholly one-sided and while you can't speak for Cynthia's feelings on the matter, seems awfully exploitive. It certainly doesn't detract from Cynthia's reputation as a manipulative cutthroat.


The world is a series of actions and reactions to the sullen maid. Fear and anger are simply obstacles for a body to overcome in its pursuit of executing the proper course of action in any given situation...


But no, Claire has already gone outside her mission parameters in seeking you out, even manipulating her orders to fulfill... Some need to relate to others.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel paused his efforts with a frown of his own. This wasn't a wholly unexpected development. He'd seen enough of Claire's behavior and felt enough of her mind to have some basic grasp of just how different she was. Still, musing over something in theory and actually experiencing it through a psychic link were two very different experiences.


Claire's sense of duty was unlike anything he'd experienced or expected, though. A fanatical bond yet...one he hesitated to think was as saturated with emotion as he expected. Claire was dedicated to be sure, but it wasn't born of love or admiration so much as...purpose, perhaps?


Memories of what Agatha's mind had felt like sprang to mind as Nathaniel pondered how to proceed. Everything he'd experienced and heard so far pointed to the false priestess being broken and sculpted into the monster she had died as. He wasn't sure she and the enigmatic maid he sought to tutor were so different in that respect. It also raised a rather disquieting question: if the Syndicate hadn't trained her, then who did? Cynthia certainly possessed a ruthless enough reputation, but did she have the means to turn a human being into a psychic weapon all on her own?


Nathaniel gently reached out to take hold of Claire's. That train of thought, her recognition that she was deviating from her all-consuming purpose by meeting him like this, it might have been the key! There were feelings there that went beyond grim determination or contempt for the fear, anger, and other emotions that could cripple her ability to perform her mission. If the two of them could examine that together, perhaps they could use it to build a foundation of understanding. If Claire could grasp how she might be moved to act "irrationally", then there was hope she could use that knowledge to relate to others as well.

 

[Xatarias]

Claire flinches as you direct her attention towards the actions that edified her slight deviation from the super-assassin mindset she so ruthlessly maintained. She reexamines your past experiences, this time paying more close attention to your more abstract thoughts. What would happen if you lost either Telai or Milly? Could you go back to being that brilliant but lonely scholar locked in with his books and imaginings?

 

[Weiss Ritter]

It was Nathaniel's turn to flinch as Claire began to poke and prod at the foundations of a worldview that had been challenged by the rigors of the Dark continent.


What would happen if he lost Milly or Telai? Or both? Grief. Anger that would run either hot or cold depending on which would let him destroy who or whatever hurt them. After that...? Oh gods...what would he have been left with? He'd come to the Dark Continent to see more of the world than just what his books had taught him. Now he could scarcely imaging exploring these lands without them. Their loss would...taint it all for him.


And back home, in Avalon? He had his family and their love. It wasn't nothing but...he wouldn't have left for the Dark Continent if that was enough. He needed something more, whether it was the stimulation of studying an alien land or the company Telai and Milly offered him. Without them...what? Struggling to find books worth reading? Savoring what time he could have with his family when they weren't occupied with the business or political posturing it took to maintain their position...? He loved them but he wasn't a child anymore, nor were his siblings. They all had responsibilities, awful as he had been at living up to them since he arrived here, and that...that sometimes left less time for love.


He could live with that. For his family. But not happily.


...Oh gods, that was a horrible thing for him to think.

 

[Xatarias]

Claire reels from the revelation, seeing the pieces fall into place. Your choices forming the character she witnessed now. It meant... With help, she could become what she wanted to be. You sense curiosity, anger... But mostly fear. What would she do without a firm hand guiding her actions? If she wasn't just a tool- honed and efficient, yet defined in its purpose and use- then... What was she? Could she feel for someone else? What would it be like for someone to feel that way for her.


Claire abruptly spins away, staring at the sea.


"Thank you. I don't think I will be needing your help anymore... I will keep my promise. Goodbye."


She dashes off, leaving you and your companions behind. Claire was shown the true depths of her potential and was relapsing into the comfort of her previous mental state. Even now you can feel the iron clad walls of her defenses being thrown up, determined to never let anything but directives penetrate.


"Well, what the hell was that about?" Milly croaks. Shen'ri whines at your side.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"I...see..." Nathaniel frowned as Claire spun away, his hand twitching as a suppressed urge to raise it and offer aid was dealt with.


Her entire worldview, the very foundations of who she was, had just been drawn into question. This reaction was only natural, but if she feared what she would become without a firm hand to guide her, could he at least offer and equally firm hand in support? If she wanted to hone her mind and body into living tools of her mistress, that was ultimately Claire's choice, but fear of facing the unknown alone shouldn't have been the deciding factor.


"Thank you..." Nathaniel's voice was little more than a whisper as the Sprite-like young woman dashed off with the considerable athleticism he was coming to expect from her. He even physically flinched as he felt the steel walls around her mind snap back into position. Claire wasn't the only one left with food for thought now. In many ways he'd aspired to be something like the maid-turned-assassin. Endlessly logical and patient, never allowing sentiments to cloud his judgement in the service of the Brightland clan's goals. So stoic, so dignified...the perfect leader. His failures to live up to those ideals were still failures in his eyes, but...well, it was disquieting to see them taken to such an extreme.


"She is...complicated," Nathaniel said after along moment, offering Milly and Shen'ri both reassuring hands to their shoulders. "I believe she was trained to be a human weapon. She wanted my help to understand the emotions we tend to take for granted and...either she's decided it isn't worth it, or it's too much to take in all at once. It's up to her now..."

 

[Xatarias]

Milly looks after the fleeing woman, open hostility written on her face as she massages her injured throat.


"Good riddance," she mutters, snatching up her fallen weapon.


Shen'ri, a little more attuned to the situation meekly suggests for you to avoid the "she-devil" at all costs, no doubt mistaking the maid's unhesitating aggression as something similar to the bare sadism of Agatha.


"Well, we've got more than a Maid with relationship issues to worry about," Milly says harshly, "Now that we've secured provisions, we need to figure out what's next."


The long walk to your headquarters will provide ample time for planning your next move.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Between Milly being physically assault and Shen'ri likely reliving his time under Agatha's...tender mercies, Nathaniel wasn't inclined to press the issue or make excuses for Claire. Certainly not now, while tensions were fresh and he couldn't think of any gains worth the risk of it blowing up in his face.


"Yes. Like the Forest Folk..." That's what Nathaniel intended anyway, barring any pressing matters awaiting him back at the fort.


He'd need to see if the Hillfolk would be better off staying at the fort and around Newport or accompanying him on a diplomatic mission to their historical rival, assemble a team accordingly, and prepare his equipment. Loading at least one pistol with the non-lethal rounds his talents as an alchemist could produce seemed prudent, as well as oiling his sword with a similar compound. It might have been well within their rights to kill any squirrel warriors who attacked them in self-defense, but even that ran the risk of increasing tensions between the clans and his expedition.


Besides, you could always kill a captive but you could hardly make a captive out of a corpse.

 

[Xatarias]

Thoughts gathered, you sit with Milly and Telai around some boards propped up on barrels that serves as a makeshift table in the fort's courtyard. With many hands working on the place- furry and otherwise- it's coming along nicely. More spacious quarters are being erected for the men and the walls are all but complete. Some distance away, the foundation of a large log-hewn warehouse is being measured out. If and when you manage to secure trade goods and other raw materials, you will have a safe place to store them.


"We'll be able to replace some of this timber with stone if we can secure passage along the river up to those limestone bluffs," Telai muses, "Of course this will do for now. A lot better than we started with, that's for sure."


Milly, no doubt disinterested in landlocked construction, is all about the upcoming mission.


"Great, we've got a house. But it won't mean much if we can't get the silk from those tree jumpers."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Or a safe route through their territory," Nathaniel nodded at Milly. Having stone added into the fortifications would be reassuring if Agatha's reinforcements were openly militant in nature or if Cynthia felt the need to flex her muscles again. The metaphorical ones. Not well-developed ones she had beneath her-He wasn't thinking of that anymore!


"I'll need to see if I can safely leave the Hillfolk here long enough to make the trip. They're...linked with me now, rather than Agatha, but even she kept them in a dungeon that might have been closer to Brokenstream's home than Newport. I wasn't in a position to take exact measurements..."


Nathaniel shrugged with a faint frown. "I'd prefer to take some of our better marksmen and women with me. If Brokenstream's or any other tribe of Forest Folk proves hostile, our muskets will probably serve us better than our blades in that forest."


He didn't look at Milly, but the corsair was definitely at the forefront of his mind. If anyone could pick off a leaping squirrel warrior through the canopy, it was her. But just asking her to come on another, potentially dangerous adventure that was landlocked no less seemed...presumptuous. At least not until he'd felt out any alternatives if she didn't volunteer.

 

[Xatarias]

Milly raises an eyebrow.


"Well, I'm glad you're talking sense now. If my feet can't grace the deck of my own ship, I might as well make sure your sweet ass doesn't get stuck by an arrow."


She grins with bravado and shoots a smug look at Telai who merely nods her agreement.


"I agree, you'll serve best where Nathanial can keep an eye on you. I must insist that I come along as well. I might not be a crack shot, but I usually can hit what I'm pointing at. What I'm not comfortable with is leaving this place undefended while the truce is less than a day old. Perhaps we should keep our group small and convey the message that we're there to negotiate and not start a war. We can't do much about run-ins with a few angry squirrels, but we can reduce the chance of an organized war party coming down on our heads. No matter how many we bring, we'll never have the advantage in weight of numbers."


Shen'ri whines, realizing you plan on returning to the forest and sending you a picture of him following after you. A simple size comparison of you to all of the various carnivorous creatures of the forest convinces him that you won't last long without him

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel perked up a little at Milly's eager acceptance of his unsaid invitation. "I suppose I've collected more than enough scars over the last two days as-is, haven't I?"


He smiled slightly and shifted his gaze to Telai. The Amazon's agreement and sporting acceptance of Milly's smirk both came as a relief. "True. And ensuring that small group has some of our best combatants in it will maximize our chances of withdrawing with our lives if the worst does come to pass."


Shen'ri's whine earned the Hillfolk a glance and a frown. This was the other key issue he'd been mulling over. Shen'ri's...less than flattering ideas on just how weak, feeble, and totally unable to survive without a towering Hillfolk guarding him he was aside, the native had a point. His expedition had only encountered a small portion of the Dark Continent's wildlife, and if even a fraction of what Shen'ri's mental images conveyed lived in and around these woods...yes, havig a burly Hillfolk on hand would be a relief.


Diplomatically, having him on hand to try and chip away at the prejudices of the Forest Folk would be a worthy goal as well. Of course, Nathaniel was completely ignorant on the history between the two species and was on thin ice with the squirrels as-is. Would that gesture be attempting too much, too soon...?


"...He would like to accompany me," Nathaniel gestured to Shen'ri while looking to Telai and Milly in case the mental communication left them out of the loop. "I'm strongly considering it. Brokenstream's tribe may not react well, but the journey there may be dangerous and I'm not sure if having a single Hillfolk I rescued from the false priestess with me will antagonize the Forest Folk anymore than Agatha already managed."

 

[Xatarias]

"There's also the other ones that didn't follow you to consider," Telai murmurs, "Let's just hope they decided to live a life of peaceful isolation, but after what they went through... Who knows?"


Shen'ri murrs an agreement, conveying sympathy for those individuals that he shared confinement with. If you are gaging his memories correctly, not all of the beast men retained the mental fortitude to hold to certain civilized principles. Things like community and altruism were foreign concepts to the band that fled after their liberation. Shen'ri sadly considers them something broken, an irretrievable loss to his people.


The Nameless


The title, more of a name actually, crossing the divide between your consciousness clear and well thought out. Shen'ri seems to be catching on to human methods of communication faster than you expected, even if his vocal cords will never allow him to voice actual human speech.


"Well big or small, we need to move quickly," Milly points out, "Sounds like every day we wait is an opportunity for their council to split apart, or worse, turn against us all together. I don't even want to think what might happen if those furry bastards decided to swarm, no offense Shen'ri, your fur is much nicer than theirs."


If you didn't know any better, you would have sworn Shen'ri grunted an affirmative.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel's uncomfortable shift said it all. He was aware of the dangers the half-dozen of Agatha's captives who wanted to kill him even after he freed them represented. Not just to the lives of anyone who lived in these lands, but to its stability as well. These "Nameless" could easily fulfill Agatha's wishes from beyond the grave if they ravaged even a small party of Forest Folk while they were still mourning and divided from the loss of their elder.


"Agreed. Very well. We will take a small, elite party to negotiate as soon as possible. I'd like Shen'ri to accompany us. We made need him to reach the Forest Folk safely, and he was a victim of Agatha as well. If any Hillfolk can help us argue that they shouldn't blame the entire species for whatever The Nameless do, I believe it is him. Perhaps we'll even be able to diffuse some of the tensions between the Forest Folk and Alestra's clan as well, if we're very lucky,"


Nathaniel shrugged slightly and moved to stand. As much an idealistic coup as that would be, he wasn't so blind as to believe whatever history the two races had would be so easily papered over. As long as it didn't significantly hurt his bargaining position to try, though...

 

[Xatarias]

"Hope for the best and plan for the worst, works for me," says Milly glibly.


It's mid-afternoon by the time you've conducted your meeting. With so much daylight already passed, it is agreed that the expedition will set out first thing in the morning. Milly and Telai go about their own preparations and Shen'ri seems to feel comfortable leaving you alone inside the fort. You have several hours to prepare and plan your impending excursion.


Nightfall comes, necessitating the lighting of a lamp if you wish to continue any desk work. You can hear the men begin to enjoy their leisure hours in the fort.


Telai is fiddling with a length of wood up on the battlements and Milly is off playing cards should you choose to interact with either on them. The Hillfolk have engaged in a wrestling match- the subject of much betting amongst several onlookers. From the way the few furry females coyly pretend to ignore the brutish display, you guess that more is at stake than a few exchanged coins.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

And prepare Nathaniel did. He had a rapier to oil with paralytic compounds and his customized pistol to arm with similarly drugged pellets. A proper musket was added to his arsenal, to be slung over his shoulder by a strap, in case lethal force was called for. The remainder of his time was spent optimizing his medical bag. The young Brightland didn't wish to make his load significantly heavier, which meant selecting his remedies with care. Some general purpose tools were thrown in, clean bandages and the like, plus some antivenoms his limited yet growing experience with the poisons employed by the Dark Continent's wildlife.


He'd also have to see what armor was available to someone of his size and build. Perhaps something leather, or whatever the scouts tended to wear? Too light to effectively project against gunshots or a strong thrust, but against wildlife or blown darts something like that could come in handy.


Once it was all behind him, Nathaniel quietly observed the Hillfolks' wrestling. His and Telai's time in Alestra and Ruan's caves immediately sprang to mind. Though Shen'ri and the others were unaffiliated with that clan, the similarities between that ritual and this one seemed too great to be a coincidence. Was this behavior part of some common, greater Hillfolk culture, then? Or was wrestling to attract mates just pure instinct for the husky species?


Either way, Nathaniel approached Milly after offering Telai a polite wave. After everything he and the corsair had discussed the previous night...well, checking up on her seemed prudent.


"Hey," He said with a faint smile. "May I join you for a bit?"

 

[Xatarias]

(Oh this will be fun )


A grown rises up from the table's occupants as Milly throws down her hand of cards.


"Them's three Maidens. Lucky Drail finished that cathedral for me, eh?"


A sizeable pool of copper- and even some silver- coins is raked in by the redheaded corsair. The table vacates quickly, the men clearly fed up being fleeced by a superior player and opting to spend their wages on more fruitful frivolities.


"I offered them another shooting contest, but they insisted on cards," Milly cackles, hugging her loot. "Few more nights like this, and I'll have myself a ship twice as grand as the last one."


A gross overestimate by your calculations, but why trod on her good mood? As you sit down, Milly immediately begins dealing cards.


"Well I hope you can play while you talk, cause I'm off the clock and looking to play some cards."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(I had a feeling you'd think so )


"Just so long as you don't make them mutiny against me in the process," Nathaniel grinned as he sat down, glancing over the cards curiously.


"Oh? I believe I can accommodate you there," His smile was friendly at first glance but there was a glint in his eye that loaned an almost wolf-like quality to it at the second. The Brightland was a far cry from being a professional gambler, but he had played quite a bit of cards with his family growing up. It was a fun family activity that helped train the businessmen and women to be how to read people, avoid being read, recognize the odds, and play strategically with their money.


He tended to excel in those games. Hopefully enough that even after all this time his experience and natural abilities would be enough to give Milly a run for her money.


"Friendly game, or were you hoping to make wagers?" Nathaniel asked blithely.

 

[Xatarias]

"Confident aren't we, already talking about stakes?"


Milly casts you her patented killer smile and begins dealing a second hand. Builders' Square then. The first stage of the game was a series of hands determining which player would get to put a card in the square. A set of four cards determined the terms of the second betting phase, in which the players place bets on whose first hand is better given the building in the square. A set of thieves was stronger than three knights with a graveyard in the square, but not with a castle.


Milly's game of choice was one of luck, charisma, knowledge, and supreme game sense. Being able to count cards to determine what might be in your opponents first hand was crucial, but not singular as a tool to win. Reading your opponent sometimes yielded even more information than simply remembering past hands and calculating statistics.


"Well seeing as you're nearly bankrupt, let's put aside material stakes. Best of three squares and the winner gets to make a request of the loser useable by the end of midnight."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Would you prefer I act bashful and reticent instead?" Nathaniel asked with a faint but clearly playful smile of his own. Bold words for someone who did tend to degenerate into a blubbering bag of hormones the moment just the right amount of skin was exposed and teased.


Regardless, Nathaniel's confidence didn't diminish once Milly's choice of game was unveiled. How fortunate he tended to be was quite debatable, particularly since he arrived on the Dark Continent, but his ability to read people and rapidly process raw numbers into useful data? Those were skills he kept as sharp as any master swordsman's blades.


"Hm..." Nathaniel thought for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure what he would ask of Milly if he won. A hug or even a quick peck on the cheek? "Certainly."


No sense in killing the mood. Or giving Milly less of a reason to take these three squares seriously.

 

[Xatarias]

(Intellect vs. Charisma: )


You check your main hand. A pair of peasants and a pair of drunkards, commonly known as a mob. The hand was best in squares comprised of a mix of cards- the village, the courtyard, etc, The short term goal should be to deny the square from forming pairs or trios of cards... And not let Milly catch on to what you're up to.


The first hands go your way and you lay down a smith and a purser, aiming for either a courtyard or a fountain- but playing as if a bank is your true goal... And then Milly lays down a beggar after winning a hand of her own.  Your best options for squares have been denied, but if you manage to insert a jester, the square builds into a festival allowing you a decently strong position for the wagering phase.


After trouncing Milly in the third hand, you complete the square and wager willingly but not overly aggressive. Hopefully she would be drawn in and overcommit her hand and leave you-


Milly pushes her stack of coins across the table- all in. The ultimatum is brutally simple for your mechanistic mind to comprehend: you could either concede a third of your pool, or match the buxom pirate.


"I'm just making this easier for you," Milly gibes, "What with that mob you have, there's no way for me to beat you anyway. My feeble wits are no match for the gentlemanly intellect of one such as you, Master Brightland. What's the matter, don't you want me at your beck and call for a night?"

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(Oh...bugger XD)


"Hmph...!" Nathaniel scoffed even as a faint tinge of scarlet threatened to light up his cheeks. Don't think of Milly naked, Don't think of Milly naked, Don't think of Milly naked...or with a collar and leash...or either of them tied down to a bed while the other slowly climbed over them, fingers trailing over their stomach to playfully tweak a hardened nipple before-


Gods damn you, Milly!


The young Brightland cleared his throat and stared back at the smirking redhead with an almost contemptuously imperious expression that was rather undercut by his flushed features.


"I didn't say that. I was just taken aback by how eager you seemed to throw the game so you could do anything I ask of you..." Nathaniel cocked his head and feigned shock. "Oh no...that was you playing seriously? Consider this charity, then. I am nothing if not generous when it comes to poor, unfortunate, guileless, buxom, red-headed privateer captains who bite off more than they can chew..."


A third of his pool joined Milly's possessions as captives of their private little war. It might have been her style to risk everything in a single supreme gamble, but it could hardly have come as a surprise to Milly that her one-time cabin boy was somewhat more cautious and conservative than that. She was seeker of freedom and fortune who was willing to bet it all for the ability to enjoy the rest of her life here and now. He was a builder of plantations, mines, commerce, and perhaps one day the innovator cutting edge alchemical advances that would reap many fortunes...in time.

 

[Xatarias]

"Oh dear, are you so much a gentleman that asking favors of a lady is too much for you? When I said the reward was a request, I did mean anything. And we both know how overactive that imagination of yours can be- oops."


Milly fumbles her hand, leaning over to secure the discarded cards... Revealing a hand of absolute garbage.


"Well it seems you've got some ground to make up in any case."


You are dealt out again, and this time your main hand is very fortuitous: three smiths and a peasant. Three of any card is strong, and your second hand has all the pursers- you can spend them with impunity and easily have one left over to secure a marketplace in the square. You try to play it as slowly as possible, making it seem like the marketplace is the compromising choice after a drawn-out battle with your opponent.


Milly tries to make her larger betting pool work for her, but in the end you have a gem of a hand and make it work for you. By the end of the exchange, you earn back your losses and a little more. A few coppers in your favor doesn't equate to any real advantage, but it feels good. Milly grits her teeth as she hands over your winnings. It all comes down to the final hand.


"Well, looks like you're more of a shark that I thought. How beastly of you, toying with a feckless woman such as myself... You must be feeling confident, how's about we up the stakes a little?"

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel tried not to let his eye twitch at the sight of the utter junk Milly had once called a hand. Sadly, lost opportunities were the price one had to be willing to pay for caution.


His irritation was short-lived, however. The scion of the Brightland clan was better than that. He had self-control and was mature enough to be a graceful loser. Also, the incredible hand he'd just been dealt might have played a tiny role.


Nathaniel was careful not to allow a hint of elation into his expression. He fought to suppress any signs of a smirk as Milly's confidence and aggression marched her right into his clutches. The charming young gentleman was even so kind as to not look utterly smug as she pushed the small mountain of coins to his end of the table in a huff!


"The buxom buccaneer doesn't know how to handle a shark? Perhaps your imagination is active enough, my dear captain..." His customarily slight smile was absolutely impish. For a moment, anyway. Milly seemed to have a talent for wiping anything resembling confidence or stoicism from his expression at the drop of a hat. Or corset.


"Up the stake to what? You just specified that the request could be anything. How do you...go up from there?" Nathaniel frowned, equal parts puzzled and wary. Unfortunately, that overactive imagination of his was rushing to "help" him guess. Protracted cabin boy. Making Milly share some exotic techniques or...equipment she'd picked up in her travels. Relentless, merciless, slavish servicing...culminating in soft kisses, sweet nothings, and protracting cuddling-possible with a good book nearby for the in the morning.