A Curious Story

[gedren_y]

Some months ago the Consort's Duty was forced by a major squall to make berth in Hojaroja. Her captain, Missa Drewsa, had her curiosity piqued when she learned of a stretch of beach called Dead Sand, so she took a stroll.

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Despite the name, the stretch was filled with growing things. Laying out among them Missa found a curious thing, a beautiful white staff that appeared to be very old. She couldn't in all good conscience just leave it there.

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Another curious thing; the surf was amazingly soft given the recent squall.

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To be continued . . .

(I'm sorry about the image sizes. In my haste I forgot to crop the screenshots before uploading them.)

[gedren_y]

It wasn't long after Missa returned from Dead Sand that she met with the captain of the Knight, another ship which curiously was also in Hojaroja because of the squall. After a curious discussion about the fickle nature of fortune, it was eventually decided that they would sail in convoy to Elysabethtown.

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It was early December, and Missa was feeling dejected about the pitiful trading in port. Her longtime lover, Callum, in a curiously chipper mood suggested a stroll to clear her head. She chose to take her old staff and walk a very narrow stretch of sand not far from Fort Elysabeth.

At first she was curious about this oddly bright moss, but then she caught sight of something wondrous.

The world has gotten curiouser, and curiouser, because on another beach, among other plants, Missa has found another old staff. The bush she found it in was situated among some precariously positioned stones.

Just then the curiously lone cloud dissipated, and the increased daylight glinted harshly off the top of this new old staff. Missa blindly swung her existing old staff into the bush. That resulted in a clang on the rocks, and a squishing from the moss. Thus another old staff came into her possession.

Another curious thing is that the bright December sun makes it difficult to discern the depth of the water, and the choppiness of the waves, along this little stretch of sand.

Are you curious for more? Well then . . .

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To be continued . . .

Edited June 21, 2018 by gedren_y

[Ayrlego]

Great effect with the lapping waves, the use of the curved bricks really adds a sense of motion in the second scene.

[gedren_y]

Given all her recent experiences, it was a curious decision by Captain Drewsa to reverse course, and once again attempt to sail for Trador. With this decision made, Callum impressed upon her the idea that they should have her wondrous finds examined by the scholars at the Trador Museum of History, that is should they actually make port.

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Curiously enough, the Consort's Duty did reach its intended destination this time, nearly a month after the Winter Solstice. Even better, their salable cargo went for much more than they were expecting. Missa and Callum indulged themselves in some fancy additions to their respective wardrobes. Such additions would be readily called upon for their visit to the Trador Museum of History.

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For such a good trading season, the streets around the museum were curiously empty.

When Missa and Callum finally encountered someone who could identify the finds, he blanched to a curious pale yellow, told them to wait in the corner by the window, and ran to fetch the Administrator.

As he negotiated his way into the space, Callum found himself repeatedly bumping what had to be a very expensive chandelier.

It wasn't long before they were met by a man clad only in brown.

Administrator Louvre immediately recognized Missa's first find, as it had recently been in their collection. It's a scepter used centuries ago by Hades priests of The Order of The Faith, and was thought lost when a ship carrying a load of their artifacts bound for the museum in Kings Port sank. Curiously the ship sank thanks to the same squall that landed the Consort's Duty in Hojaroja. A hand full of trunks from the ship had been found on the beaches of La Sombra, but most of the artifacts were thought to have gone down in the deepest waters of the area.

The other was a scepter used by the priests of Zeus from the same period. The serendipity of the find made the Administrator curious to hear Missa's tale of the finds in their entirety.

Missa was curiously generous in offering to turn over both scepters without seeking compensation. They were symbols of a faith not her own, after all, and would hold no religious significance to her.

Administrator Louvre countered with the idea of the museum contracting the Consort's Duty to transport all the other recovered artifacts, along with her two finds and a letter detailing all that transpired, to the Grand Halos History Museum of Kings Port.

Callum noted that they did have the space for the trunks Administrator Louvre described, but that they were already slated to join one of the protected trade convoys bound for Nova Terreli. If speed of delivery could be a non-issue, the Consort's Duty would be able to keep the artifacts in her hold until they could berth in Kings Port, which Callum projected to be some time in April.

After a bit of negotiation, a contract was drawn up.

Curiously, the artifacts the museum had been able to recover were in a guarded storeroom exactly one floor below them.

And on the roof, one of the guards was enjoying his vantage point. The man's idle curiosity lead him to discover that the private bath chamber of a luscious woman was visible without impediment.

Has your curiosity been piqued? Even if it hasn't, you should expect what comes next . . .

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Wait for it . . .

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To be continued . . .

Edited June 21, 2018 by gedren_y

[Bregir]

Curious indeed! I wonder, though, if not the Order would want its artifacts back, rather than see them hidden in someone else's museum? Perhaps the red cloaks will interfere?

Who knows? ;)

[Maxim I]

What a curious story :) looking forward to see where this leads to :)

[Ross Fisher]

Very curious. Padre François would be very interested to get hold of both of those staffs. 

[blackdeathgr]

Very nice work a=on all the mini builds! LDD has never looked better!

[gedren_y]

It is a curious thing, how the misfortune of some can garner dividends for others. The disappearance of the Wringe II, and with her some valuable cargo, made the Consort's Duty's salable cargo sell in Nova Terreli above the expected price.

That first week of March, 618, had curiosity seekers asking about the Consort's Duty's other cargo. Someone had started a rumor that there was something magical in one of the trunks from the Trador Museum of History.

For this reason Captain Missa Drewsa has kept "Lady" Julianne Caprice with her as escort, to deter curious people from interfering with her duties as the captain of a Crahaish neh Triuri ship. Julianne does this with a dazzling display of dexterity involving a bolas, and a wicked looking blade.

Missa's duty on this day is to meet with Dearji the Windsong, on a quiet residential street, about arranging her passage to Kings Port, a curiously fortuitous thing given her current contract with the Trador Museum of History.

Missa gave Dearji a full accounting of her 'adventure' since landing in Hojaroja. If there had been someone curious enough to brave getting near Julianne, they would have heard the tale, assumed the level of coincidence to be unnatural, and the fervor about her cargo would have gotten worse.

Dearji was quite pleased that her passage to Kings Port would be aboard the Consort's Duty. Another curious coincidence was the fact that Dearji's plan to stay in Kings Port for two months dovetailed nicely with Missa's plan to give her crew an extended shore leave. Dearji was cryptic about why she planned for a two month stay in the Terraversan port, but Missa decided to leave that curiosity alone.

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These two house were built using curiously similar designs. Another curiosity is that they were both built on the purchased lots with the intent to have a small 'yard' that would abut the other's. It was agreed to that the two property owners would, with the addition of an iron fence, share the stretch as communal garden space. One owner is an amateur astronomer, and the other a great believer in national pride . . .

. . . and leisure. He let his wife decorate, and behind his chair she chose to frame their son's ghastly artwork.

The amateur astronomer only let his wife choose the doorknob. She has since divorced him. He thought he had made a grand find with the curious lump now placed above the window. He thought he found gold, only to be informed what he had was pyrite, the substance used in making the paint covering the detail above his door, and on his wooden telescope.

In the garden, between the fence and a curious bed of brightly colored moss, were planted some well sought after mushrooms, a strange crowned plant with bulbous protrusions, several of a wheat-like stalk plant, . . .

. . . one corn stalk, and . . .

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Wait for it . . .

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. . . three pineapples!

Still curious? I hope so because . . .

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. . . to be continued . . .

Edited July 10, 2018 by gedren_y

[gedren_y]

The mid-April weather in Kings Port was curiously warm. In that heat the city was bustling with activity. The salable cargo of the Consort's Duty had gone for nearly four times the amount of what they had sold in Nova Terreli.

The rumors of the previous port hadn't followed Missa and her crew, but curious onlookers were still aplenty. It took nearly four hours to get the consigned cargo transported to the Grand Halos History Museum of Kings Port. For this duty Missa and Callum again dressed in their finery.

The travel through the city showed them a curious mix of bombed-out devastation, beautifully restored properties, and numerous new construction projects. Their destination happened to be one of those beautifully restored properties. They would soon find out that Archduke Oldis was personally involved in that restoration.

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The museum staff were in a curious rush to get the delivered artifacts into display cases, and onto the marble floor of the Grand Hall. Whilst that was being done, Missa and Callum were introduced to the Archduke, and curiously enough he offered to give the two a tour himself.

As the trio explored, the Archduke explained that he had lobbied for the wealthy elite's assistance in not only the restoration of the building, but also providing replacement artifacts for display. All signs of the destruction brought on by war, and the subsequent looting and vandalism, had been erased.

All about the museum were newly built display cases, with lovely floridly written descriptions attached. Another curious thing was that nearly every description the group stopped at had something written about the Archduke's effort in acquiring the subject, or some familial connection to the piece. Apparently the old man is determined to cement his legacy.

It was coincidence on top of curiosity that had the trio admiring a Zeus inspired chandelier as the new display containing the scepters was being moved into place. Since Missa hadn't the time to give the museum an accounting of their acquisition, the description mounting held as a placeholder a newspaper printing of a recent Order of the Faith proclamation.

Archduke Oldis was quite pleased that his barber had neatened his mustache, and that today's outfit did not require a corset.

Missa marveled at the efficiency and speed of the museum staff in getting her finds ready for viewing.

Callum is fascinated by a carving of a reclining woman across the way, which curiously resembled his lady love.

"Hey, boss," workman Alvin Poe called out, "We don' want to be crashin' that shandy-leer, right?"

"Quite right," crew chief Benjamin Dale replied, bringing the display case to a stop, "You push your end to your right, and we'll get the sides aligned with the wall."

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Curiously it seems that advance word about the museum's newly acquired artifacts had reached the Order of the Faith priests. A protest quickly sprang up outside, complete with signage carried by some anonymous priests.

The priests were obviously there to protest the fact that the religious artifacts should have been turned over to the Order of the Faith. To maintain their anonymity the priests wore cheese cloth over their faces. The robes worn by the priests were most commonly used by the priests of Zeus, but those who listened carefully would recognize the lead priest's voice as belonging to a priest of Hades.

Curiously this group wasn't protesting about religious artifacts, but rather the government's failure to prioritize the restoration of their homes and businesses.

The priests were doing their level best to keep the protest civil to avoid any destruction of property. Their reasoning was that both groups needed popular support to get their issues dealt with. Happenstance was about to deal them a crushing blow, however.

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This portly youngster, Justin Needles, had nothing to do with the protesters. He was just using the crowd so that he could ambush his friend with this dirt clod.

Sadly the dirt clod did not strike his friend, but instead struck an already nervous horse. That horse was hitched to a carriage which was quite suddenly careening down the lane, smashing through numerous stalls. Inside that carriage happened to be the wife of a local vintner, who had been hoping to see how the museum had displayed their donations.

The carriage driver, curiously enough, was out of his seat attending to the nervous horse when the dirt clod landed. He had seen the direction from which it came, but not its thrower. It was he who pointed to the noisome protesters as the source of the current devastation.

These events would sour public opinion for the Order of the Faith for well over a month, until Justin Needles owned up to his actions in a public confession.

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Here ends the tale of the curious events in and around the lives of the Captain and crew of the Consort's Duty . . .

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. . .  for now.

[Mesabi]

Great Series of Builds Gedren, and great story telling.