Round 2 - OOC

I'll read more in-depth later, but the phrase "dawn's early light" made me think of the hit's resemblance to the American national anthem

I noticed that too. We do have an American amongst us.



In addition, Nova's flag is a spiral, and the Mafia hit was accomplished via whirlpool. Coincidence? Or clue?

Will read more later... going out for a birfday movie.

I'm so sorry hons i'm totally out of this, I had the most busy weekend and then my little one needed her mommy really bad, so I haven't been around much at all, afraid i missed all if not most of it and I have no clue where to start :S

Help?

Rawr, I kick it -old school- American y'all! Native-like, bitches!

*clears throat*

Yeah, I noticed that too, and thought 'fuck, am I the only American?" Odds are that it's just a coincidence (since I'm not mafia), but I checked and found a couple references to the colonies. It could be more subtle - something about Francis Scott Key, or the colors Red White and Blue, or some lyric of the song, but I think it's just flair that happens to nod in my direction *waves to flair*.

Is my reading comprehension that bad? Where is this mention of a whirlpool?

Dead Men tell no Tales. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf. Yeah, there's definitely something going on there. Anyone with a storybook name? Heavy references to an existing story in their bio? This is not a genre I'm well versed in (duh).

Dread Pirate Rabbit -- Definite take off from The Princess Bride if you are looking for a bio with a storybook theme.

The major themes are paranoia, urgency, despair and loss. Those are somewhat at odds with the dawn's early light, which jumped out at me in the reading as well. I think it is a good potential clue, and Captain Piestewa might want to watch herself, guilty as she seems!

The red rays of the sun also jumped out at me, along with the black smoke. Many have red and black as their colors, so alone it is not much of a clue, but it supports the following.

The final clue I feel is the loving caress of that which kills her. To me, this sings of the bio of Devilish Mary Williamson, the young Irish lass who joined the Navy to track down her love, found him wanting and killed him. Of course, they say that the things you love are what always kill you in the end, but that was a trifle literal, in both cases.

Mary's flag is a sunrise red heart pierced by swords on a smoke black field. There are your reds and blacks. Her bio also speaks of her taking better armed ships, which would certainly apply here.

Those are the two that leaped out at me - I'll read back through this evening. I look forward to everyone else's paranoid ramblings!

Fyre accused Lemmy first, did some of the research on the different ships, and was really honed in on the fairy tale theory. In spite of earlier accusations, she voted for Vudu.

So, was Fyre being a nuisance to someone? Or perhaps the mafia thought she had already gained too much trust, and would be hard to get lynched? Who knows the motivations of mad men *waves arms*. A frame up job is possible but she didn't fight -that- hard to get anyone lynched.

The dawn's early light could refer to the victim, actually. Her flag was a bloody sunrise. In fact, an especial point was made of this in /ooc after I incorrectly referred to a sunset. So that could be a bit of character perspective put in.

The loving caress is interesting and stood out to me as well. I don't know if I'm pulling the same conclusions, but Eros, the name of her ship, stands out as well.

Interesting observations, but so far I am confused, except for one thing that stood out to me; the dead captain was handed the note on land and fled to sea, if she was running from a pirate hunter, which we have something like four I believe, then that would be the LAST thing she would have done as she would have been safer in port.

Just an observation...

Laha

Hah, that was my thought process as well Laha; I"m going to have to go back and re-analyze that one to see if anything else jumps out at me

I'm thinking we are all over-analyzing.

Oops, sorry Veri, I mixed up my references. The whirpool was the lynch. My bad. The dawn's early light thing still stands though. On further research I find it compounded by the completion of the phrase.

The song asks the question, "Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light..." and the hit from today quite clearly answers with, "By the dawn's early light, the Captain could see..."

That's awfully coincidental.

As far as Devilish Mary, I admit she may be suspect but I think she's one of many at this point. I did a little brainstorming about "Dead Men Tell No Tales" which is a book by E W Hornung, and although I have never read it, so I might be missing something key, I know that the main character of the book is the sole survivor of a shipwreck.

We have two bios whose characters mention being sole survivors of a shipwreck or some sort of martime accident; one is captain darsa, who caused he wreck in question, and the other is Captain Squirrel Lips, whose crew died during a game of hide and seek taken too far.

Of those two sole survivors, Darsa has a red and black flag, if you are hooked on the color theory. The story could be seen as a parallel.

However, conversely, Devilish Mary's red and black flag could be a give away, as would be the lover's caress. Dead Men Tell No Tales is, essentially, a story of love and betrayal. The main character's love was aboard the ship that sank, and as it turns out later in the story she is, indeed, alive, and in love with someone else. Or, at least, confused over the matter of who she actually does love. So there's a parallel there as well.

That's if we want to analyze the title of the hit, too, and it doesn't help explain the Big Bad Wolf thing... incidentally, that's not a literary reference. The Big Bad Wolf would be more of a media reference in general, as the title of that Mafia hit was a song from a movie.
((Edit: Poorly phrased on my part - yes, it's a literary reference since the fairy tale itself was published *probably* in the 1800s, but I meant it's more a movie reference as that title specifically is that of the song from the Disney movie. End Edit!))

Anyhow based on today's hit I have three people I am looking at; Captain Darsa, Captain Piestewa, and Captain Mary - not necessarily in order of who I suspect most.

They're probably all wrong.

There are at least four Captains who would have the skill and ability to not only relieve a person of their goods, but to plant a mark on them and do it discretely and quietly.

Captain Mystique:

"Once she arrived in the closest port, which Panther Pete's ship had just sailed from, she put in time, and learned even more about making a life on the sea. Odd jobs, and many lifted bags of gold fattened Mystique's coffers until she had enough to buy her own ship, and hire on a rag tag crew of misfits."

Captain Santiago Ortiz:

"At 14 years old Santiago was living a life of reckless abandon. He didn’t know what the next hour held in store for him, let alone the next day. Having escaped from an orphanage two years before, he was enjoying his careless freedom. Santiago was, however, homeless and jobless, so his primary source of income was what he could steal from unsuspecting individuals."

Captain Darsa:

"As she grew, she steadily amassed her own fortune, by means that were less than honest. She managed to pilfer a coin here and there when booty was brought aboard, and slowly, slowly her stash grew until it was too large to hide aboard safely. She noticed that they seemed to frequent a particular portside town, visiting the portside town once every couple of months or so. She searched the town until she found a reputable goldsmith who began an account for her which she kept track of diligently, threatening the life of the smith when her numbers did not *quite* match his, and assuring his honesty. Her pilfering grew more stealthy and more rewarding as she aged, and learned what would be more profitable to take."

Captain Piestewa

"She stole from others, and had others steal from her."


Any one of these Captains could have planted the mark on Captain Williams and slipped away with ease.

But how would the Mafia vessels know that the mark had been duly delivered and that Captain Williams was in a bother?

Signaling from shore with lanterns to the ships out in the darkened waters is one option. Only problem is that of any witnesses noticing what is going on.

The far quicker and more quieter option would to have a certain feathered fiend (aka Dominic the Parrot) fly out from shore after the mark was delivered to Captain Williams.

Of all the above suspects though, only two have ships that could not hope to go up against Captain William's East Indiaman ship. The East Indiaman class ships were amongst the largest of merchant vessels and were designed to carry both passengers and goods and defend themselves against pirates, often carrying a sizable armament as a deterrent.

There's no way Captain Santiago or Captain Piestewa's Sloops could take part in naval action against an East Indiaman. Thus it would make sense for the fast, light vessels to be in Port with a Captain who could plant the mark on Captain Williams and signal the waiting ships lurking just outside the Port (through a certain Parrot) .

Merec
Captain's Name: Santiago Ortiz
Ship's Name: Huracán (Hurricane)
Ship Type: Sloop
Nationality: Spanish
Flag: Two crossing spears on a black background.

Verlileah
Captain's Name: Nova Piestewa
Ship's Name: Powaqa
Ship Type: Sloop
Nationality: American, bitches!
Flag: An orange spiral on a red field

If this assumption is true, then one Mafia is on land at the time to make sure Captain Williams is suitably startled, and we know that at least two or more are just outside the port waiting to waylay the Aurora.



Captain Williams was outnumbered. That usually wouldn't bother the Captain of an Indiaman class ship. "The force of the blast hitting the deck" seems to indicate that the good Captain is facing vessels whose total combined firepower matches, or even exceeds that of an East Indiaman.

Forget three Schooner's or Sloops trying to take on an East Indiaman. No contest. Not enough cannons to bring to bear, and the craft are too light. Even a Barbary Corsair in conjunction with a Kobukson and a Sloop of War would hardly be a threat. And a rowing boat? Sure...

That leaves the big ships - 2 to 4 most likely.

Captain Devilish Mary - Brigantine
Captain Jack Morgan - Brigantine
Captain Mon Claire - Brigantine

Captain Solomon Caine (me) - Frigate

Cesare (Cuirasse) Bontempe - Caravel

Captain Rosa - Man-O-War

Colonel James O'Connor - Large Frigate

Captain Lilith - First rate ship of the line (essentially a Battleship)

Captain Ginger Ears and Dominic the Parrot - Stolen Flagship Galleon of the Andorran National Navy


Any combination of the above ships could take down an Indiaman - but this paragraph is telling:



The concentration of firepower from ships that could rock an Indiaman like that and deliver such a broadside that would splinter wood that easily narrows the list down to:

Captain Rosa - Man-O-War

Colonel James O'Connor - Large Frigate

Captain Lilith - First rate ship of the line (essentially a Battleship)

Captain Ginger Ears and Dominic the Parrot - Stolen Flagship Galleon of the Andorran National Navy


Take away Captain Rosa's Man-O-War and Captain O'Connor's Large Frigate and you have two ships that easily outclass Captain William's East Indiaman.

Captain Lilith - First rate ship of the line (essentially a Battleship)

Captain Ginger Ears and Dominic the Parrot - Stolen Flagship Galleon of the Andorran National Navy

The poor Aurora would never stood chance against a ruthless combined broadside from those two hulks of ships.

That's all for now...

Well, I did not catch the dawn's early light reference so shame on me as I stand in salute... There were though a couple of things that jumped out at me. The first one that jumped was the use of the statement "lost his footing" which immediately took me to Ol' Ginger Ears. I also noticed several references to wood and lovingly caressed wood which took me to Jessop whose rib cage is oak and to Cleene which mentions well polished wood.

In taking the Dawn's early light into consideration I notice that the Dread Pirate Rabbit mentions being bound for America (granted there are both No. So and Central...) but an interesting reference none the less. I also noticed when I reread the kill that there was mention of a 'key' which made me laugh if we are taking referrals to Francis Scott Keyes being the author of the Star spangled Banana/Banner.

Dude. We're -all- pirates. We all steal shit. That's what pirates do. Any of all of the pirates could have marked the Captain.

Grasping at straws there Captain Piestewa.

Of course Pirates steal - usually by ransacking places, looting merchant vessels, or through intimidation and the threat of violence. Discretion and subtleness weren't usually part of their repertoire.

However, not every Priate Captain began their life as a street rat, or learned to make a viable trade from fleecing others through thievery.

Some of you did, and you made that quite clear in your backgrounds as to your particular talents and/or inclinations.

My Dearest Captain Piestewa,

You come from a family of smugglers, you acted as lookout and know exactly what to look for, and how to read, interpret and send signals of a covert and clandestine nature. And while you do enjoy the odd tipple, you certainly found the time to derive pleasure from a life of thievery, and was even charming enough to convince others to do your dirty work.

Quite admirable really. A smuggler, a thief, and a Pirate Captain.

Slightly eccentric I might add, but who am I to complain if your dinner conversations with guests literally drive them to despair (and a watery death)? Each to their own.

Yours cordially,

Captain S. Caine.

Tipple is a funny word .

Edit: I'm sorry - I shouldn't be so flippant when you're clearly putting so much effort into grandstanding. It -is- sort of funny, though, and I really think people will see it for what it is. I'm not grasping at straws at all - you're the one trying to twist my bio around to fit your theory, when anyone can see that she wasn't a particularly good scout/pirate.

I would just laugh it off altogether if not for the fact that I'm a little disturbed at the absolutes you're trying to assert. It might just be a stylistic thing, but you tend to state things as fact when they really aren't. Nothing is certain. Everyone is suspect. And yes, that means when the American National Anthem turns up in a hit, everybody look at the American. It doesn't mean trying to cram my bio into your pet theory when it really doesn't make sense, any more than anyone else in the game. There have even been a couple of alternative explanations offered to the Dawns early light, and beyond that you've got nothing. You're clutching a slender straw indeed, friend.

Ye know, someone claimed we are all pirates and all want the same thing, but that's not simply true if you look at the bios. We have several pirate hunters, four I think, who's primary motivation is not plundering the seven seas, but destroying the pirates, which incidently provides them loot,supplies, and possibly slaves/ransom, in the process.

Pirate hunters are a breed far more dangerous then pirates, for when a pirate ship takes you, at least you can hope to be ransomed, but being taken by a pirate hunter usually led straight ot the gallows, and that is IF only that was what they were interested in.

Some of our pirate hunters aren't in it for fame or wealth, but something more terrifying, sadistic pleasure and/or revenge.

Also, a pirate hunter woundn't warn their prey ahead of time, as then the captain would just sit his ship in port, a pirate friendly port, where as no pirate hunter will enter due to their uhm...ah...status as hunters.

Laha

So would Cap'n Binky or Cap'n Dominic please clarify to me that you are indeed 2 players? Since the bios are tied together logically I kept reading that as one person with two interrelated bios but I noticed there were 2 votes given. Thus, I make the assumption there are 2? Thanks!

Run this up yer mizzenmast and see if it shivers yer timbers..

SOLOMON CAINE FtW!

Check it out...

STORY THEME



From the Mafia Hit:


The stories told that even pirates were reluctant to come this way. '

The rumor was that you could find the need to draw your blade at any moment and die for any reason.

Having heard many stories, the Captain suspected the meaning of this message.

There it was, just as the stories had always described.

Seems as though Caine doth protest too much...

More support for the Caine mutiny that is seething atop the glass faced mistress we call the ocean. Behold!!

FORLORN HOPE More than a ship's name?



MAFIA HIT:

Watching one's back in a place like this was important if you wanted to survive.

Caine was the only officer to survive his encounter, and thus achieve promotion to Pirate Hunter... Along with a raise, a secretary, and a big, fast, multi-cannoned ship...




Captain and crew made it to open sea just as the red rays of the sun touched the horizon. By the dawn’s early light, the Captain could see that it was already too late.

Too late by half. Hope there was gone. One might say, forlorn, eh?



and from the hit we have...

Even a craft as grand as this would have trouble when out-numbered.

Looks like a mirror's reflection of the bio to me...

Thoughts?

BTW: Rosa is STILL my pick for the SK. Can't wait to see that tonight.

I'm playing my judgements a little more reserved this time. It's way too open, crowded docks and the fact they ran into the blockade leaves way too many doors open for me.