Shen

Yeah, sorry, the combination of holidays + the semester nearing its end means my free time has shrunk considerably. I'll try to respond but I'd expect the game to slow down a lot until next year. :(

Alright, I'll try to amend it to the latter, since that's the direction where the other two are.

HP: 9/9 So by this point, John is seeing figures above staring down at him, and he's seeing them start working to tie the two boats together so he doesn't have to hold the rope. At the same time, he faintly sees the shapes of Gale and Jane on the other boat. One might think that John would go away from the flaming boat, but one might also expect to hear screams of agony coming from a flaming boat. Since he can't make out any screams at the moment, let alone Gale or Jane's screaming voices, he finally decides to take his chances and try to climb up to join the two people he has at least spoken to before. "Hey, thanks for the, uh, rescue," he calls out, not aware they speak a different language. He tries to climb up onto the deck with everyone else. So far he has no reason to distrust these people, though whether that holds true for much longer remains to be seen. Once up on the deck, John spots Jane and Gale having a tense standoff with one of the crew of this larger ship. He tries to offer a pleasant smile to the raiders, though he's still not sure he should trust anyone here just yet. "So who's your new friend, Gale?"

If there's one thing Johnstown is most well known for - besides their eccentric local naming conventions, anyway - it's their secret recipes for Fried Draken. Chickens are too valuable to butcher for meat in Johnstown; something about the area makes them lay richer, more flavorful eggs that fetch a small fortune at market. Thus, the Johnstownians have replaced chicken meat in their diet with the meat of an large, recently-domesticated lizard from the region. Believed by some to be related to dragons, these "drakens" are far larger than chickens - they're closer to sheep in size - and the meat can be cut into the same sort of cuts as with beef or pork, such as chops, steaks, roasts, or chunks. However, much like chickens, they have a mild and soft meat that, when properly cooked, "falls off the bone". The meat of the "draken" can thus be cooked in very similar ways to the meat of a normal chicken. While sauteed draken, grilled draken steaks, roast draken, draken jerky, and draken stew are common in Johnstown's day-to-day meals, the town's festivals and holidays typically involve large spreads of breaded and deep fried draken meat. Each family prides themselves on their own spin on the recipe, which usually involves a secret blend of spices, or a special ingredient in the batter. One family even tried to start a real restaurant in a nearby town, serving fried draken by the plateful! It should be noted that draken eggs taste and smell awful, like a horrifying mix of mucus and manure and black mold. Nobody eats them, not even other animals, so they're only ever used to breed more draken or to fertilize crops. They may taste and smell terrible, but they're decent fertilizer, at least. Thus, while the people of Johnstown raise chickens for their eggs and not their meat, they also raise drakens for their meat and not their eggs. As to the truth of the belief that drakens are related to dragons... well, probably not. They're probably just big dumb lizards that are too stupid to realize that when one gets led off behind the shed, they're getting turned into dinner. That said, who knows for sure? Maybe somewhere in those reptilian eyes, the light of draconic intellect shines, waiting for its chance to show itself. As for John Johnson, right now he's probably really wishing he was sinking his teeth into a hearty piece of fried draken instead of fending off seasickness and multiple exciting new forms of agonizing death.

HP: 9/9 Nothing about any of this is making any sense to poor John Johnson. Magic fire that doesn't burn? Crazy talk. Not even Old Jane the Wild-Talker would make up such a thing. And yet, here he is, seeing it in front of him with his own two eyes. "Jane! Gale!" he calls out, his eyes sweeping around for them, though he doesn't dare let go of anything just yet. "The burning boat! It's not... burning!" he says, as if that might make any sense to them instead. They're city folk to him, maybe they know a thing or two he doesn't.  

Oh, geez, I'm sorry, guys, I didn't realize you'd all posted! I'll get right on it tomorrow after my IRL appointments. Also, good luck with the job search! Edit: Had an internet outage last night, but it's resolved today, so I finally responded. Sorry again!

No worries! It's helped me a lot to have one less thing to stress over while I buckle down and work on film major homework. 😵

John may not be much of a sailor, but he does at least know how to follow directions. "You got it!" he shouts back to Jane, taking as firm a hold of the ladder as he can without losing his footing in the boat. His eyes keep going back to that other boat getting closer and closer to them, though. How long can they stay here like this before the other boat, and its crew, turns its attention to the three of them?

Hey, sorry, college classes started back up and dragged my attention back in their direction real hard! I'll try and post something in the next day or so. If we need to move things more quickly, just assume John follows Jane's directions to the letter for now!

Glad to hear you're feeling better! I've been nervous that people were waiting on me for the next post.

  HP: 9/9 As the little boat lists and rocks, John takes orders from his two more seaworthy companions, pulling this, tying off that, and so on. As long as he keeps his eyes inside the boat, he can concentrate on the here and now. The raiding ship catches him off-guard. A part of him still didn't want to believe it - what could be on that massive wooden thing that people would risk their lives to attack and raid it - but then, for all he knew, Aulrun was just a small side stop on the way to where the ship was supposed to go. "There's another boat!" he shouts, pointing to it in the distance briefly before grabbing the nearest railing or taut line for stability. He's unsure if the other boat can see or hear him, but he doesn't want to risk his new crew mates sailing straight into danger without at least seeing it coming.  

Take care of yourself! Sickness is real scary these days, so if you need time, I'm sure we'll all understand.

I'm just along for the ride. I hadn't expected to start the campaign off by hitting the water, but I didn't really set any expectations apart from "go with the flow". Since it's not like we necessarily have much influence in what our characters are good at right now, that's also probably going to influence their growth and class/specialization choices. Mind you, if we end up staying on the water and becoming pirates, I've got my own way to get back at y'all for that one... just need our friendly neighborhood GM to go along with my magic research plans in that case.

John Johnson surprises himself with how he's doing in this boat. He'd heard horror stories of seasickness from Doomsayer Jane; tales of men and women who'd died from dehydration because they couldn't stop throwing up, as it were. Nevertheless, despite the early shakiness and the slight quiver in his stomach, he's soon on his feet again, helping steer the boat with the others. He doesn't like the look of the ship. As big and... spiky as it is, it seems far more intimidating than accommodating, more like a warship than a freight transport. "Hey, you guys are from Aulrun; either of you ever seen this ship before, or anything like it? I don't know much about boats, now, but to my eye this looks like it's gonna have more cannons than coins onboard, ya?"

I don't remember specifying a direction, actually, but we can go with north, sure!