Previous threads:
I. http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13143306/
II. http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13153397/

And, as always exposition-nary questions are fine, I'm all about this being approachable.

Augh, the accursed third thread.

go to sleep tomorrow we go SHOPPING!

Go to sleep for now, make sure that our money is secured.
If there's a chair, make sure that it's wedged against the door.

>>13180177
There's no real need to go shopping. We need to be careful with this money, and we already have 3 sets of clothes.
Though I suppose a baker boy hat might be appropriate to get.

More importantly though, we've got to figure out a way to get Gains disgraced and thrown out of the Academy.

Clean up a bit first, use room luxuries to the fullest! Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Then sleep.

>>13180177
>>13180233
Alex takes precautions to make sure the room is locked up tight.

Too tired to even scarf down her dinner, Alex collapses into bed, crawls under the comforter and throws her head on the pillow. Its difficult to find sleep in this bed, its too soft, and too big. Sleep brings dreams of a ship, mists rolling around. Someone at the helm, tall, lithe.

She awakes to something wrapping on her window, stones probably. Gold morning light glints into the room. Along with a smattering of rain.

>>13180279
>She awakes to something wrapping on her window, stones probably
Well, wake up, then. Steal a look out the window first to attempt to see who's trying to get our attention, before opening it.

>>13180301
Alex pulls on her jacket and peers down into the street. Ruby Egirous, one of the working girls from the other side of town, waves. She's wearing a fine shawl, her hair is frazzled, it must have been a long night for her too.

Alex and Ruby spent a while in the orphanage together, she's older, and has been out on the streets some time longer.

"Hey, Alex?" She calls up.

>>13180377
"Oi! Ruby, morning ta ye! What kin Ai help ye with? Wanna come up fer a sit?"

Anybody else imagine Alex speaking with a thick faux-Cockney/Sigil accent when she's speaking with others of her class?

"Sounds lovely!"

Ruby is upstairs in a minute flat. She pulls her hair over her shoulder and sits down in the room's chair. "So how've you been?" She says with a smile, taking a flask from her boot. "Nip to keep away the cold?"

>>13180470
"Nah, I'm good. Been doing odd jobs to get by, an sometimes helping meself to a bit of a five-finger discount when the blues ain't lookin'. How's yerself, Ruby?"

>>13180513
"I saw you come in last night, was wondering what got you the flash room. Does Alex have herself a new beau?" Ruby says. "Same old, same old for me. Had to kick Mr. G just the other day, when he had gotten himself a bit of the glue. So that's a little less coin." She chuckles. "Murk Water Boys been keeping things together for me now though. Its, well, its money."

Quick question: the room and board was 1 mark. Was that for an entire month, a week, or just a night?

>>13180593
Just the night, a meal will run you a quarter mark, and Alex got herself a nice room.

>>13180566
who is Mr. G?

>>13180606
If that's the case, I think once our conversation with Ruby is over, we shower, use the facilities to our heart's content, check out, then find much more affordable living arrangements.

But for now:
"Ah, now that'd be tellin'! But aye, Ai got a bit o' scales, an wanted ta feel bit pampered, is all.
"Ai'll be yer regular Alex come the morrow."

I just had a thought: Would Gains frequent any bordellos or other places where working girls, well, work?

"Well, 'Lexxy, I wont keep you. But there's been some trouble east of the river. I thought I should give you a heads up. Murk Water Boys and the Splints have been butting heads. Some of the sisters at Saint Antrim's have been a little worried about it."

>>13180663
He's just a John.

>>13180692
"Hey, Ruby, know a Gains Knoveri?" Alex asks, and provides a description.

"Hmm? Nope. Never met a Knoveri." She sees herself out.

Alex cleans herself up.

>>13179975
can i get the unedited version of that pic?

>>13180786
Okay, so there's some gang trouble going on; we'll need to be careful.

Once we take care of our balance here, I'm thinking we should try to find some more affordable accommodations.
What kind of price ranges are available for small rooms with a bed, and board included?

>>13180805
>There you are, sorry, I don't know the artist.

Morning in New Cerafte brings out a storm of activity, the fishing boats are arriving again with the catch. On the road in front of the pub house, a pair of constables make their way down the road.

The markets are to the west, if its a shopping expidition for today. East, through the smoky industrial and over the river are the slums, with the bordellos and Saint Antrim's Home for Boys and Girls.

>>13180871
hey thanks! sorry to interrupt.

>>13180858
The cheapest boarding houses would be in the east side. They'd be in Alex's price range, a month there might only run ten or fifteen marks a month. The market district would be safer, but rent there might run forty.

>>13180871
well we do need to get that hat, and maybe we can go get a knew knife. The less money we have the harder we are to pickpocket anyway.

>>13180944
Then its off to the markets. In the day, they're much more inviting, peddlers push carts of wares along the streets, selling pies and other baubles. There's a hatter hawking his wares. Baker boys caps will run you a half mark.

>>13180985
alright well get you one of those hats and lets set off to find a blade smith

>>13180985
Alright, pick out a baker boy hat that fits us well, and that looks durable.
I don't know if we need a new knife; isn't the one we have good enough?

Also, I wonder if the Sisters would give us room and board for a donation of 7 marks a month.
I'm trying to find ways to conserve money; we won't get paid until we finish the job.

Alex picks out the hat and tries it on with a crooked smile. She pays up front and heads on her way. "Murder Row"is a row of shops selling weapons of all manner, mostly for the ship crews and soldiers. Swords, pistols, crossbows, even alchemic bombs.

>Need weapons?

>>13181076
Did you want to buy a new weapon, or head back 'home'?

>>13181083
I honestly don't know if we need a weapon now.
Our job is to discredit and embarrass Gains Knoveri, and get him kicked out of the Academy. Murder and assassination is a lot more expensive, and we haven't been paid that much.

What kind of knife did we have again?

>>13181186
You've got an iron shiv.

>>13181252
>>Hey folks, sorry this isn't going very quickly tonight. Wanted to pace things out a bit, and not just make this a wild crime spree.

>>13181252
maybe we can get a grappling hook or maybe some smoke bombs?

>>13181252
I'm for finding new housing, preferably with the Sisters if it's much cheaper than getting a regular place.
There was one other player who wanted to get a new knife.

Don't forget that starting tomorrow, we're going to be gainfully employed, too.

>>13181315
Grappling hook and rope from a rigger and boatswain comes to a mark, with a bag to stow it in. Smoke bombs from a chemist are made up in an hour, six of them for two marks, top quality with wicks but that also burst on impact.

>>13181315
Those sound expensive though.
We've only got 48 marks until payday, and we still need to find dirt on Gains, and find some way to get him expelled.
It won't be easy if we're supposed to be working at a tobacco shop in addition to doing this job.

I simply think it's premature to buying stuff when we don't even know how we're going to do what we've been tasked to do.

>>13181389
Okay, 3 marks. I admit, that's cheaper than I expected.

What are the prices on knives? I'm looking for a switchblade, easily palmed, but with a blade thick enough to be used as an improvised crowbar for light and medium weights.

>>13181326
Alex makes her way across the bridge, into the decrepit and rotten wooden buildings of the oldest part of the city. Saint Antrim's is a big building, taller than the rest and made of greyed stone. Alex swallows hard and knocks on the door. There used to be a brass ring to knock, but its been stolen for quite a while.

Sister Babrik opens the door. "Alex!" She says, surprised. She's an older woman, deeply carved olive skin, and billowing robes. She ushers the girl in, past the wooden statue of an angel of mercy. "Well. Let's have it." She demands.

>>13181446
>Well. Let's have it.
Uh...what'sshetalkinaboutwillis?
Is that something that the character would know?

>>13181443
A machine made switch blade would cost a mark. A heavier, hand made one will cost two.

>>13181446
"uhhh... could stay here for a while? i mean untill i can get a place to live?"

>>13181486
>Sorry, bad delivery, she's just a nun at the orphanage and wants to know what you're up to.

>>13181504
"Oh. Is that so. We don't see you at temple, but now you need a place to stay?" She leads you through the orphanage, past the tiny class room where the boys and girls are trying to learn to read the Good Books. "Don't tell me you're in the family way. Or do you want to offer me a pittance for rent, hmm? Is it dirty money Alex?"

>>13181504
Might want to also mention we've got a legit job lined up at Chosho Tobacconists, but need a place to stay until we get our first payday.

>>13181536
Go with >>13181562 that we have a legit, respectable job lined up, but need somewhere to sleep and wash until we get paid enough to put down rent somewhere.
We're willing to pay a part of our wages as rent, of course.

>>13181562
"Oh, I see. So you're working at a little bastion of vice. Alex, I'm so sorry, but you can't stay here, unless you're ready to throw yourself before the choirs up above and put on a habit--"

There's a loud knock at the door. The sister excuses herself, opens the heavy door. Alex watches the conversation a moment, until the old woman is pushed aside by a tall man in a dirty suit.

"We wouldn't want for nuthin' to happen here tonight, would we now." He says, circling around her and leaving.

The sister curses the man as the door closes. "Alex, you need to go."

>>13181621
who was that?

>>13181640
"He's one of those Splints. I'm surprised you don't know him. Oriel something, he runs all the girl's inns. I'm sure that they'll offer you a place to stay." She snorts, urging you to leave.

>>13181681
"Jus' cos' I be withouts roof ova me head, means I'd fall in wit' those Splint berks. Ye should know me better'n that, Sister."

Looks like we'll have to find cheap housing elsewhere, unless others wish to take up a sidequest to deal with the Splints; it'll probably mean working for the Murk Water Boys, though.

>>13181681
Nun is fast becoming annoying, but why're these Splints hitting up this place?

>>13181728
Than its back onto the streets. Its lunch time, and the working class fill the streets from the factories. The man, Oriel, stamps back up to the young girl. "Hey. You. You know the sisters?"

>>13181780
If Alex had to wager a bet, it would be because the temple does provide a significant sum for the operations of the Home for Boys and Girls.

>>13181784
Look at him with a critical eye.
"Everyone who's grown up here knows, the Sisters."

And if this is normally Murk Water Boys territory, add in "An' this be Murk Water Boys grounds, so push off, berk."
If that's too aggressive, don't say it.

>>13181836
He follows you down the way. "Well 'course you know them. But the sister did let you in, didn't she, which gives me the impression you earned her likefulness, ay?"

"Push off, berk."

"Fair enough, fair enough. Just hear me out. Just convince the sister to pay her pence for the month. I'll even split it with you. Splints ain't got need of the money, and looks like you may."

>>13181784
"Much 's anyone does. Jus' hopin fer charity. Not really yer business, though."

>>13181898
"dont think i dont know what goes down in this town buddy. I know that i work for you then the murk water boys are going to have an eye out for me. An' I don't care how much protection you are going to calim to give me, i aint doin it."

>>13181898
"An' get me bacon an eggs broken by the Murk Water Boys? Not on yer life."

I think we need to find lodgings, preferably within Murk Water Boy turf. 10 marks a month.

>>13181997
>>13182002
Alex takes two sharp corners, telling him off thusly. As they pass an alley, Oriel grabs her arm and pulls her against the wooden slats of a dirty shack.

"Roight. Fine. Dear doesn't want to work. Then maybe you want to donate to your little orphanage and we can forget the whole thing."

Need info on Knoveri if we're gonna break this motherfucker. Maybe the Murkwater Boys can help, but whats their reputation like?

>>13182057
1. Can we palm our shiv with our free hand?
2. Were there many people on the street? Any constables?

>>13182057
GET YE SHIV!
STAB GUY IN NECK!

>>13182151
>1. You can try (I'm not taking this as suggestion)
>2. Nope.

>>13182057
Right, fuck, big nasty guy with a hold on us? No sir.

Don't give him a single half-pence, lest he decides he's in a position to try taking all you got.

"What were ya expectin me ta give ya, the clothes off me back?"

If he doesn't back off, we may have to fight dirty.

>Waiting for a second, what's the plan?

>>13182191
Seconding this, and if we have to get violent, I suggest a kick straight in his balls, palm the shiv, and then stab him either in the throat or in the eye.

>>13182225
does he have a tight grip on us, or can we break free?

>>13182225

If he insists on thinking that mugging an urchin is a profitable venture, look down the alley and say

"Hey, Amus, we got a live one here!"

USing an actual name for the ruse might make it a bit for effective. If he's daft enough to look, nut him and hobble his leg with your shiv so he can't chase.

>>13182233
I would advise against killing him, just give him a kick in the junk and run.

>>13182233
>>13182191
"Well, I don't know. I'm sure you've got a little tin on you. And if you don't I can find some work for you." He snarls a grin, black and green spots on his teeth.

Alex forces her knee into his crotch, and pulls her shiv from her waist. The ganger lets her go, throws a wild punch. She draws the knife across his arm. He wails.

"Hey, Amus!" She starts, "Got a live one!" She runs down the alley. Oriel following behind.

"Get back here!"

Alex cuts across a road, Oriel knocks down a wheelbarrow and gives chase. She's running for the river, Murk Water territory is to the south.

>>13182366
I say go south, into Murk Water territory. He'll only follow us if he's stupid, and then he'll get killed.

>>13182366
Looks like we are going to need some friends in this little gang war, lets go to the south to ward this guy of and see if we can warm up our relations with the murk water boys.

>>13182366

Whelp, fuck this then. Murk Water Boys turf, it is.

>>13182423
Alex has a love/hate relationship with the Boys, as I recall.
Though I think both of them can agree that the Splints are right bunch of wankers.

>>13182366
hey OP, do you think we could get a map of the city next thread? it would be really helpful.

>>13182461

That is super vague. What sort of love/hate relationship have we got?

Do we hate them? Do they hate us? Is it something more specific? Do we not agree with their methods, yet acknowledge them as a better alternative to other gangs?

>>13182384
>>13182423
>>13182436
Alex twists to one side, Oriel slams into a building wall, grabs the back of her shirt. She trips, rolls away as he collides with the dirt road. She bounds over a puddle and past a dice game in an alley. More boots join the chase.

A pistol shot rings out. And then a meaty thump. Oriel collapsed behind her, Alex turns, one of the Murk Water boys clenches a pistol. He directs two of his cohorts to drag the man away. "You alright, kid?"

>Map next thread, sure thing, I can cook one up.

>>13182518
The sort of jobs the Murk Water Boys offer girls like Alex aren't appealing to her. Not to mention the fact that she'd be the low rung on the ladder in the hierarchy and wouldn't likely be much better off to sign on without them.

>>13182523

Well, the Murk Water Boys are already looking good in my eyes.

"Yeah...thanks alot."

If they ask about why he was chasing you, just tell him the guy was pressing St. Antrims, an' then us, too, when the Sisters wouldn't give. Got a bit nasty, so we hobbled him and made a run for it.

>>13182523
>thanks OP

"You guys just saved my skin. thanks."

>>13182568

Ah, so it's that they're not terribly useful to us. Was worried about some kind of bad-blood.

>>13182569
Seconding this.
We're not going to join them just for saving us, though. But thanks are in order.

>>13182569

Well, suppose more like TRIED to hobble him.

"Thanks, thanks a lot." Alex says.

"We should thank you. Been waiting for that pimp to do something dumb like that for a while. Sam Wagner." The boy introduces himself. He's a head taller than Alex, a little older, though she doesn't recognize him from St. Antrim's. The pistol he carries is long, with a dark wooden handle. There's a cigarette tucked behind an ear. "You shoot dice?"

>>13182679
>"You shoot dice?"
"Nah, ain't got the scales. But I owe ye a game, when I get some ta spare."

I'd rather save the money we got fronted for things we need immediately related to the job, and for lodging.
If we need to play some games of dice to stay on the Boys good side, let's use money we get from working at the Tocacconist.

>>13182679
what kind of pistols are around during this setting, the muzzle loading flint lock ones or revolvers?

>>13182732
"Fine, fine. But you should do us the honor of an introduction at least. Don't think we've met."

>>13182746
>Flintlocks are most common. Magic guns are the purview of the nobility.

>>13182774
"Alex. Alex Carvic."

>>13182774

"Alex Carvic. 'S a right pleasure to meet you. You hanging about here often?"

Wonder if he's yet figured out whether Alex is a girl or not.

>>13182811
>>13182774
DId the murk water boys even know that Alex was a girl in the past?

"Well its a pleasure Alex. An' yeah, you could say we spend a fair bit o' time around here."

>>13182811
Alex adjusts her cap.

"I hate to ask, but is that Mister or Miss Carvic?"

>>13182808
>>13182804
Maybe we should be giving a fake name for the time being?

>>13182845
"Wot, can't ye tell?"
How important is it to us, that Alex's gender be kept secret?
I'd like to keep them guessing, but if straight out asked, just answer honestly.

>>13182845

DELICIOUS AMBIGUITY.

"Y'know, you'd be surprised how often that happens, even with the people I try ta look out for."

Wouldn't mind trying to keep them guessing either.

>>13182870
"Given Oriel and the rest of the Splints? Well, they're that way. And I wouldn't want to offer a nice girl strong whiskey, being improper and all. But consider it tabled Alex." He says, placing his flask on the table his gang was shooting their dice at. "Don't recognize you from around here. You live in the docks?"

>>13182939
"Nah i just kinda wander around the city looking for the next place place to rest my head...."

>>13182939
We were homeless before (and I guess still); did we normally stay in the docks district?

>>13182939

"Most nights, yeah, I like the area. Find the ocean kinda...relaxing."

>>13182974
"You sail 'en? You seen the southern colonies an' the like?"

His associates come back and take their spots around the game. They snicker to themselves at Sam. He shuts them up with a flash of his gun before replacing it in his jacket.

"No, not really." Alex answers.

"Mmm. Well, Alex, you should best be off. See you again."

>Back to looking for a place to stay? A boarding house perhaps?

>>13183023
We should establish a hideout in an abandoned building, preferably near the murk water boys turf.

>>13183052
Alex passes a small, riverside house on stilts. She inspects it and decides that it fits these needs. The wood is rotted and dusty. A rat the size of a small cat is sitting on an empty bookcase.

>>13183052
Do we really want to set up shop like that in their territory without paying?
I think it's safer to go to a boarding house and get a cheap room. Besides, it'll also come with food, a bath, and clean sheets.

>>13183086
Is the house just abandoned? Can we squat it? And will we need to pay off the Murk Water Boys?

Sure, we won't have to pay if they don't find out, but if they do, it won't be good for us.

>>13183086
well if its unassuming enough and if there isn't to many officers patrolling about here, then I guess its goodbye wandering the streets, Hello Squatting.

>>13183104
She knows a place with cheap rooms, in the slums of Murk Water territory, for thirteen marks which includes room and board. Cleanliness, in the docks, would run twenty-seven, if she remembers the advertisement from the pub's board clearly.

>>13183119
>>13183123
Alex opens the door and finds her way it. Its empty alright, just four rooms, but more than enough space. She finds a part of a bed room where the wood is too rotten to walk on. There's no mattress, or bed sheets. In the kitchen, there's just an iron stove, no cookware, and an empty pantry. Street food would run just five pence a day, and comes to five marks for the month.

>>13183141
How much protection money would we be paying to the Murk Water Boys if it became known we were squatting?

Not only that, but keep in mind that if we squat, we're gonna have to buy our own means, too.

Initial investment to buy a mattress and some sheets, then 5 marks for food and whatever protection money to the Boys, and maybe some fuel for the stove when it gets cold...

This may be cheaper than a boarding house, and we might be able to get away with it.

>>13183214
The Boys would probably want another five marks. An average worker makes about a mark a day and barely gets by.

>>13183247
Alex won't save any money living here if she buys a mattress, and probably runs the risk of extra attention if she spends too much time improving the place.

But, as she leans against a counter, the place does have a certain, roguish charm.

>>13183305
So, 10 marks for squatting, and 13 marks for a room at a boarding house.
Oh, but I realized: if we squat this house, we don't have to worry about being locked out of the boarding house if we have to do anything late at night.

We might be able to get away with just a bunch of blankets instead of a mattress.

>>13183305
Eh well if the boys find us here we can play coy and pretend that we didn't know this was their territory, and you can find a pretty cheap mattress, you just gotta look for the ones with the big depressions in the shape of a body with piss stains or even period blood stains. Speaking of periods has Alex gone through menarche yet? Do she need to buy some "sanitary napkins" cause thats and expense that we gotta take into consideration.

>>13183436
I'd like to stay on the Boys' good side, and they could be useful in our plot against Gains Knoveri.
Keep in mind, we have less than a month to get him expelled from the Academy.
That's not a lot of time to find a weakness in a noble and come up with then implement a plan to exploit it.

>>13183381
Shack it is. Alex decides, she'll work out the details tomorrow. With that settled, there's time enough to work out a plan for Gains.

>>13183436
Yes. What do you think got her kicked out of Saint Antrim's? That, and an overwhelming desire to not study religion.

>>13183457
In cluding the boys might be risky as our patron told us to keep it a strict secret and Gains might be rather involved with the underworld since he is so keen on using common street dwellers to achieve his goals. If we are going to include the boys we are going to have to manipulate them or at least make a tight nit group that we can trust. Still I think we should consult Upton before we include the boys.

>>13183476
>work out a plan for Gains
We need to find out what kinds of offenses would get Gains kicked out, and if he's done any of them in secret.

>Hey folks, I'm going to have to retire for the evening here about. Next adventure to be held 22 December, same time, same /tg/.

>>13183578
Meet with Upton when he drops by the tobacconist next?

>>13183582
And sneak into the Academy after work?

>That would make for a good doctorate.

>>13183624
Oh, when you archive the session, could you add which session it is into the title?
Such as Urchin Quest 3.
It makes it easier to know which one I'm looking at.

Lookin forward to the next session. This is actually pretty interesting.

Goal is to evenetually become a privateer :p

>>13183860
Really? I thought it was to become a black ops independent contractor.

>>13183904
Actually, president.

>>13180871
>Artist source: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=586999
>It's from Pixiv, so you'd need an account there if you wanted to view the artist's gallery.
>The pic itself is fanart of Kino from Kino no Tabi. It's a great show and only runs thirteen episodes, you should check it out if you have time. But I digress.

>Polite sage; sorry for the interruption.