Universalis 1/Scene 3

Framed by GiacomoArt

Nicole jerked reflexively awake as something beneath the water brushed against her foot. Thoughts of the sharks caused her to squirm as far away as she could manage to get from whatever it had been, loosening her hold on the barrel that had carried her through the night. She spluttered as she took in a mouth full of sea water, and the barrel spun away as she scrabbled to get hold of it again, but before she had time to panic, her feet made contact again and she found herself standing chest-deep in the water.

Looking around, Nicole found herself in an inlet along a tropical shoreline, a few dozen yards from the beach, surrounded by flotsam from the battle. The passing of the night had obliterated all trace of the storm from the sky. Only a few white streaks of cloud marred the clear expanse of azure overhead. Nicole started to swim for the shore, but after some protest from the kinks in her arm, she settled on a wading instead, finally crawling up to collapse in the sand and stare up at the morning sun. Exhausted and aching from the battering her body had taken, she just lay there for a long time, her mind empty as she let the sun warm and soothe her, until thirst prodded her to her feet and she stumbled unsteadily off in search of fresh water.

Thirst and pain clouded Nicole's mind leaving only overwhelming survival instinct. Such suffering turns a man into a beast, and if healthy, rested Nicole would see this limping husk of a person, she'd refuse to recognize herself. Subconsciously, she felt this shame even now, and it fueled her struggle.

There was a patch of palm trees inward the land, not far from the shore. Nicole got there in what felt like ages, but just in time for a bit of hope: a large black crab (likes of which sailors called "palm thieves") was indulging in a succulent coconut.

Santiago Ramon y Lucientes had given thanks to Santa Maria de Cervello for the twin miracles of his freedom and his survival. He had slept on the wet sand for but an hour, a restless disturbed sleep, full of sinister figures and shapeless anxiety. He woke with a start, panicked and full of foreboding but no imminent threat presented itself. Rather, the clear light of morning brought with it an understanding of the fragility of his situation.

Seemingly the lone survivor among those washed up by the storm, he had picked his way along the shoreline, inspecting bodies and other flotsam for anything that may help. After an hour’s searching he had salvaged a saber and a wineskin and was starting to feel more optimistic.

“Santiago”, he muttered to himself, “you will be as a king-among-men should you survive to tell this tale!”

A moment later he saw movement on the beach ahead and recent experience of betrayal caused him to fall flat on his stomach and observe with caution. He watched the woman limp up the beach toward the tree line and after a moment of hesitation decided to follow stealthily. He was certain she had not been on the galleon, even secured in the brig as he was, he had come to know the composition of the crew. That made her a pirate. He saw her pause just in front of a patch of palm trees, a little way in from the shore. Santiago shook his head in an effort to shake the still-present sense of foreboding as he tried to decide how to react to her presence.

Replies

GiacomoArt

• tropical beach (4 coins)
  • along an inlet
  • clear blue sky
  • littered with flotsam
• Nicole Tissot (3 coins)
  • tired and sore
  • thirsty
• barrel (1 coin)

13 - (4 + 3 + 1) = 5 coins remaining

--GiacomoArt 13:43, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

EvilCat

Taking turn as per player inactivity tenet.

Events (1 Coin for an event, 1 for taking over Nicole):

• Nicole found coconut palms.

New components:

• Coconut palms (2 Coins)
  • A patch
• Coconut thief crab (3 Coins)
  • Large
  • Holds a coconut

12 - (2+2+3) = 12-7 = 5 coins left.

EvilCat 13:50, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

NeonWhite

Events (4 coins):

• Santiago survived the storm (1 coin)
• Santiago found the saber (1 coin) and wineskin (1 coin) [is this an event, or does it perhaps constitute attaching components to a master component (i.e. Santiago), or is the cost already covered by virtue of them having been created this turn??]
• Santiago sees and starts to follow Nicole in a stealthy manner (1 coin)

New components:

• Santiago (6 Coins)
  • named
  • possesses saber
  • possesses wineskin
  • had been a prisoner aboard the sloop
  • recent experience of betrayal
  • nightmare and persistent sense of foreboding

25 – (6 + 1 + 1) = 17 coins left

[Please correct my (estimated) coin expenditure as needed!]

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Actually, I think I'll pay for the tenet about free discovery of newly introduced components, so you don't have to pay for "found an item" events. (Not that rules say that you have to, they are free for interpretation via Tenets in this.)

-1 Coin, 4 left. Everything else is just fine, I'll just rephrase it a little for common format with other components %) Welcome. EvilCat 20:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)