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"Wait, I have a question about Sebastias!" The Navigator and First Mate ponder the port.

"A big one. The biggest of ports in the Karibs, if I may say so. Big market, but the goods there rarely sit still for more than few days. Blackspice and Brownpod Plantations, along with Crimsonpeel and Puffcloth, and also some Sweetpod."

"Some locals also deliver Bitterfruit and Sugar from the Bear Islands and Saint Marco there. I wager there will be some other goods there." The Navigator draws his finger from Sebastias to the west.

"The winds are mostly westernly or northwesternly from that point on. Costas then Fedeira and Palovilas. Or Pointas. It won't be much of a hassle to reach Las Argentas from Sebastias, but Guidea for example would put us sideways to the wind, and towards Copana, against it." He then taps Mediana.

"The winds in the strait between Costas and Sebastias are quite slow, but fickle, so there's much travel between Mediana and Sebastias. Mediana's Spicebark and Sugar usually end on Sebastias market, too."

A) "I see it now. Onwards, to Madus!"
B) "I see it now. We sail to Capus!"
C) "Alright, how about... (insert port/area here)"

"That's all I need to know - it seems our Master has a word to say!"

"That I do, that I do!" The Company Master steps closer, and the royal man alongside him. "Captain Finley, this is, by grace of the King, Count Mauricio de Salaterca."

"Greetings, Captain." The Count raises his plumed, fur-trimmed cap towards you.

"He has an expedient offer of Charter of Goods for our Company, and, seeing that your ship is soon to begin its voyage..."

"The Charter is thus: Our beloved King, blessed by the Goddess, will have a great need of Blackspice, to be delivered by 25th of Late Winter this year, in the amount of five hundred Coffers."

"Twenty five shiploads!" Cries the Purser. "In winter times? That's past the harvest! And His Majesty wants it in less than eighty days, too."

"By the grace of our Majesty, the Company will be rewarded handsomely - and by extension, those who deliver the spice. The Royal Treasury will pay eight hundred ducats above Lusitanian market price, per Coffer, if you deliver the whole bulk, and four hundred, if the amount will not be exact or you will be late by even a fraction of a day."

"I know this is your first voyage to the Karibs, Captain-" The Company Master claps his hands and smiles widely. "But please do not put a wrongful impression about your great personage by rejecting this charter. Tis' coming from the King himself!"

A) "We can deliver five hundred Coffers of Blackspice before 25th Late Winter - this I swear on my name and honor!"
B) "I am honored to be recipient of His Majesty's word, but, regrettably, and with great pain of both my heart and my soul, I must decline this Charter."

"What Trade Goods of the Karibs we might expect in Winter to be aplenty?"

"Bitterfruit has its second crop in Winter. It's quite valuable as a brew. There's also Crimsonpeel, a dye, and Redleaf, for brewing of teas, both having their harvests coming to a close in next few weeks. And Spicebark, a sweet-smelling tree bark."

"If anything else is scarce, there's always Sugar we could fill our hold with. It's inexpensive to buy and its usual harvesttimes in Karibs are about to begin, but we can't expect to score large profits on Sugar alone."

"In Autumn, however, when we had a trip once, we were able to get large quantities of Blackspice and Brownpod and even some Puffcloth, all three very valuable to Lusitanian royals and merchants. I wager if we're fast enough, there might be still some on the markets there ready for shipping."

"Alright."

A) "What goods did Santa Julia carry on your trips?"
B) "What was your usual route and your usual Captain?"
C) "Are the seas rough and dangerous in the Karibs?"
D) "That's all I needed to know."

You ask for Adequate armaments and respond that 400.000 Ducats is enough of an investment.

"Splendid." The Company Master quickly enshrines your decisions on the parchment. "In few days' time, I will send for you to show you the ship and acquaint you with the crew. By then we should also have the cargo ready."


The Lusian Port is... not very busy. The dark clouds overhead and chilling wind effectively scares most traders and sea-goers to wait somewhere warm and comfy for warmer, sunnier days.

Company Master Pablo Afonso de Amiencafaya takes you down the wharfs to Santa Julia, a Ship smaller than several Galeons and Traders anchored nearby.

"Here she is." He leads you to the boarding plank, and several crewmen descend from the ship.

"Luis de Panama, your first mate. Alberto de Sota, your navigator. Xavier d'Albaret, your Frankish purser. Hermann Schmidt, your Saxon gunner. Alejandro Rio, your doctor." The men shake your hand, one after another.

"These officers will help you during your voyage to Karibs and back when you're their Captain." The Company Master is then taken aside by a newly arrived courtier.

"We've finished loading the cargo and our men are securing it below deck. The holds are full, sir." Says the First Mate.

"Same for cannonballs, muskets, gunpowder and white arms. Good to know we will be properly armed for this voyage." Says the Gunner.

"Good monsieur," The Purser chimes in. "Let me show you the ship's ledger, so that you're aware of the Company goods we're taking for this voyage..."


"You all have been in Karibs before, I wager?"

"Aye, sir. We've been back and forth a few times, myself specially included, and Hermann. We've heard it is your first voyage there. Mayhaps you have questions to ask?"

A) "I'm a metal trader. Where are the gold and silver mines located?"
B) "What was your usual route and your usual Captain?"
C) "What Trade Goods of the Karibs we might expect in Winter to be aplenty?"
D) "Are the seas rough and dangerous in the Karibs?"

You wage this is a good place to idle at, and make mental note to visit whenever you have nothing better to do.

You climb down from the cupola and then down the stairs to the command room again.

A quick glance on sensors reveals emptiness.

A) Bartending trivia time!
B) Zirconius series time!

You decide to ponder the mysteries of the universe.


You end up in the combat and tracking cupola on top of the command center. Flanked by photon cannons and torpedo launchers, you have, nonetheless, a near-perfect, half-spherical view of the cosmos itself. The hulking, black shape of hardpoints and thrusters docked nearby is, you wager, The Black Dragon of Angierach, and the other smaller, sleeker one must be Tyomas' ship.

The big, orange-yellow orb to your left is the Beta Carotenii star. The other, smaller and more distant, but still plainly visible orb is Beta Carotenii I. Somewhere around that nail-sized ball that science satellite runs in circles, at least no longer an annoyance to you.

The cosmos is filled with various galaxies and stars and twinklings and lights, unmoving, in great scheme of things.

To it, you are small.

You feel insignificant, to a degree.

And you feel like...

A) This is a good place to spend time at.
B) It's about time to do something more entertaining and less idle (pick an option from previous post)
C) You don't belong here, and you should move on to a better job.

You pass the parchment to the scribes who diligently make a copy and sign it themselves.

And with document thus signed you are invited to the chambers of Company Master of Luzia, Paulo Alfonso de Amiencafaya.

His room is quite square, with maps of Karibs, Stygia and the faraway Xin and the Root Islands plastered onto each of the walls flanking the door and in front of it. Bookshelves full of ledges and rolled up documents and scrolls line the gaps in the walls between the maps.

Company Master himself is seated at a large, intricately detailed ebony desk, a pile of parchment on his right-hand side, and an inkwell on the left-hand side, his fingers deftly inscribing something on the parchment in front of him with a white and ashen quill of some bird. The Company Master is a stout, clean-shaven man with hooked nose and small, but sharp eyes, and ears away from his cheeks, with sparse dark brown hairs, short and neat against the back of his head. He wears a dark red robe and a chain of gold on his neck.

He looks at you with a glance, and then takes interest in the parchment you're carrying. You pass it to him and he quietly reads the contents.

"So you want to work for our honorable Company, right?"

"Right." He brings the parchment to his eyes, reads some more, and glances at you.

"Albionese?"

"Yes." He nods and puts the parchment down.

"Good, sturdy men of the sea and pleasant trading partners, your folk." He stands up and moves to the shelf behind and to the right of him, and pulls out a large book clad in crimson leather. He flips the pages as he returns to his seat and traces some numbers and names down a list at one page, then flips to another - also full of names and numbers.

"Hm hm, hmmm, yeees... Mister Finley, we would be honored to have you as a Captain of one of our ships headed for Karibs in the coming year. If you're interested?"

"I have never been in Karibs."

"That is not a problem. The crews in our employ need a leader, not a guide."

"Right."

"All we ask of you is to get us spices, dyes, whatever that is produced in the Karibs and not in Lusitania. There's great demand for the exotic goods and even larger profits awaiting those who bring them to port." He traces some names on another page of his book.

"It takes slightly over two months to get to Karibs, visit the ports and return to Lusitania, if you follow the trade winds south and west and then north and east."

"What would be the Company financing of my expedition?"

"We get you a Ship and its crew, plus armaments of your choice." He says, taking an empty sheet of parchment. "Expenses for these will be thus called Company Loan; your voyage will first pay off these expenses, and anything else above that is Company profits. You will be able to fill the Cargo Holds of the Ship with some Company goods - that said, we sell Textiles and Alcohols to the Karibs - and you will be given some Company Money to purchase goods in Karibs with in case the Company Goods do not turn out to be very profitable, as it is sometimes the case. Whatever Company Money you do not spend on purchases, must be also returned." He lifts his quill towards the ink well.

"First things first, though - I need to ask you when you prefer to travel."

"Is there a difference?"

"Very much, in case of Karibs. While you can trade gold and silver pretty much whole year, it is Autumn and Winter that have the most precious of spices and seasonings available aplenty. That is not to say that other seasons are unprofitable, no, but you have to remember that Sea in Spring is usually calmest of them and in Summer the most violent. And in Autumn, when profits are the greatest, pirates also are active more than usual."

"I will sail..."

A) "In the Spring, when it is the calmest and easiest to sail."
B) "In the Summer, for I fear no inclement weather!"
C) "In the Autumn, as the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward!"
D) "In the Winter, which might be the best times of them all."