Rum Runner - Out of Character Discussions
9/9/2023 Carissa
- Note to self: Matthias also has a boat? Get clarification here...
- And to answer Michael: mermaids can be nice (we gave one barrels of rum, remember?) but selkies are generally evil.
- Who is Hugo if the thief is Ruffus DeOrange???
- Hugo is the Baron's son, a good friend of Ruffus
10/14/2023 Carissa
Given the current site-aversion amongst the group, I'm putting this all down mostly for myself to get it out of my head, and perhaps BOB's curiosity to how things are being perceived as well. And because my parents' flight is delayed and I'm finding things to do to stay awake before I pick them up.
What we know about the bottles:
- They were stolen during the ceremonial sealing of the bottles which implies to me that they were distilled at the Temple of Sunset. Again, huge ceremony with lots of nobles. Must be good rum, eh? That's before aging it 50+ years. It was two bottles and the Temple wants to punish the thief. The Temple suspects it'd be smuggled out to sell rather than to drink. It took them THREE HOURS to discover these bottles were missing.
- Key Information: There is a tax stamp inside one of them, meaning it had to be opened to be put inside, but word cannot get out at all costs which... well, that's a bridge for the incredibly loose-lipped priests we have with us to cross later. I hope they're prepared for that.
What we know about the theft:
- The Temple is surprised at the brazen theft. The Baron's son was also missing from the party. A lockpick was clearly used. The Flying Fish was hired to escort the thief to Mizzen, operated by Captain Hail, but was mostly destroyed in the process. The Captain and Ruffus at least made it to shore and into town.
What we know about DeOrange:
- A well-known ruffian, friend of Hugo (son of the Duke of Osterhold, questionable morals, strong fighter). Ruffus is a one legged man, goatee, and a very dubious character who has been in and out of trouble with the Cathedral since he was young. His leg is ivory, inlaid with pearl, lost in a carriage accident. Thorndike warned caution in dealing with the DeOrange family. Troy denounces him as a scallywag. Samara calls him very overrated. Ruffus's father is Gregory. Ruffus and friends trashed the Pelican.
Miscellaneous:
- Young nobles visit the bars to be "adventurers" or rub shoulders with pirates, but be still somewhat safe.
- There were three other sets of footprints when we were tracking them on Mizzen. Who else knows something?
- Some interesting song choices chosen by Ruffus at the college. Some maybe a bit too on the nose? Or looking into it too much? Hmm...
Current Thoughts:
- He has no need to sell the rum. He's rich, we've been told that multiple times. Mizzen may just be a safe house destination given the temple there wouldn't care about the stolen rum (they might even want that stamp themselves), and if things got too close for comfort, it's easy to offload in Mizzen by heading west. So why? To feel like an adventurer?
- Potential twist? Maybe Ruffus already knows who Vee is and sees his chance to rub shoulders with a pirate. Not that she is one. Nope. But if she was, which she definitely is not, and someone say, wanted an in with pirates, maybe you steal rum to get your foot in the door. Just a thought.
- He may not know a stamp is inside. Let's hope no one spills the beans.
11/2 Lisa
Okay. Not my thing, but when I flipped over to the Discord and got the all caps, I went ahead and read it. I’m not playing and am not reading the chat logs so I can’t comment on anything about the current game dynamics.
The only reason why I am posting is that a portion of the problem with the stamp and the Cathedral is my fault. At the birthday game, I thought we were running out of leads and thought Zora could use her connection to the Cathedral since she worked for them. I had no idea that doing so would put a geas on Jericho or a demand for the stamp to go to the Cathedral. Branwyn would have seriously smacked Zora upside the head for thinking priests in positions of power would do something just to be kind.
Anyway, as soon as I made my mistake, my head started working to try and fix it. I always have a plan. I just don’t spend much time thinking about them. Unfortunately, I’m not playing and I can’t fix it. So here are my thoughts on that one isolated issue.
Per the chat the terms were: Jericho must return to the Cathedral with the tax stamp by the end of the month
The priest did not say the stamp had to be handed over to that priest or the cathedral. I think a letter of the law argument can be made that Jericho fulfills his part of the bargain by returning to the Cathedral and showing the stamp to the priest. Then it gets returned where it belongs. One could say to said priest that anyone who would advocate not honoring promises to the church is not acting in good faith to the church. We have done what was asked and must follow through with the rest. Blah, blah, blah.
Since that instance of stamp knowledge revealing was my doing, if the group wants, I can come in for that scene and have Zora take responsibility for it. It’s not a big deal for me and if it makes anyone feel better about that interaction, I would be happy to do it. You know where to find me, but I think you all can handle it however you think is best. :)
