The Lambs Fight Back

[jdd2035]

The Peregrines was once again in port it was one of the longest cruises that Cain had underwent the purpose was to make money. This time Cain had brought whale oil and that wonderfully expensive ambergris to port in exchange he would be bringing small amounts of gems, exotic woods and incense including jasmine, mur, and frankincense. Every thing was going well the salty breeze coming off of the harbor it was cool on his face and was a comfortable contrast with the warm sun.

All Cain had to do was make sure papers were signed at the moment letting his crew do what they did well and load the Peregrines belly with her cargo. Through the hustle and bustle of the port Cain heard someone calling to him "You there!" A loud but cheerful voice plowed through the entire port right to Cains ears. Cain turned to see who it was. It was a monument of a man standing some six and a half feet tall with long golden blonde hair very few men looked like that and he was approaching with his hands clasped behind his back. "How may I help you?" Cain said with a smile recognizing the large man or at-least thinking he recognized him.

The blonde haired man introduced himself "I am Jack O'Brian and I would like to book passage on your ship."

Well there was something that didn't happen every day. After the displeasure of transporting Mr. Smith Cain would have probably told any one else but Jack O'Brian no. But Jack or as he was better known as Post Captain Lucky Jack O'Brian was different Cain had read about every single action Jack was involved in every win, every loss and every strategic retreat the meeting was a moment that gave Cain the goose bumps. "It would be an extraordinary honor but may I ask why not take a liner?"

Jack grinned and replied "I have heard of your action against the Might of Corone that was an impressive bit of seamanship, also I can not really afford to pay for a birthing on a liner. I have ran into a patch of bad luck when my prize agent disappeared with all of my prize money. And besides liners take their time and stop at many more ports than you will and I would like to return to Corone quickly. I am hoping to get a commission."

Cain nodded those were all good reasons to want to book passage on a merchantman corvette. "Welcome aboard than we will sail with the tide. Also you will have use of my great cabin."

Jack laughed "what nonsense what stuff! You are the Captain of the Peregrine I will do no such thing as take your cabin I'll be happy with fourteen inches of space in your gun deck."

Cain would have insisted but then he knew all too well that Jack would have insisted right back so Cain merely nodded and showed the way to the Peregrines boarding ramp.

[jdd2035]

Jack was on time in fact he never left, any able seaman or rated man on the Peregrine that was not busy wound up being tasked with giving him a tour. Every deck, spar and piece of cordage was given exact detail to the eighth of an inch to the length, breadth, and acreage for Jack as he paced up and down the length of the Peregrine save for the quarterdeck his hands behind his back from time to time he complemented the boatswain, masters mate and even Cain "A crack ship! A crack ship. Lovely lines bluff bow and you crew smart with their watches."

Cain felt a bit off with some one he respected and had read of or heard about for years looking over his shoulder. He felt pressure to try and impress his guest while at the same time try to make every thing look as if it was the normal way of doing things on the Peregrine. He felt a hand on his should "just so Captain!" Jack said with a wink. The wave of pressure seemed to slide off Cains shoulders and in quick succession the Peregrine got underway properly with the crew never missing a stay.

The crew set to its rhythm holy stones on the deck which finally pushed Jack up onto the quarterdeck his superstition about officers walking on a wet getting the better of him. Jack shook his head "This isn't my place a ships officers and her Captain are supposed to be on the quarterdeck I am neither. I am merely a guest on your ship."

Cain chuckled "You're invited stop worrying so much. Besides I think the crew see's you as something of a good omen." The ship did seem to run smoother, there was less of the common bickering that existed even on truly crack ships let alone a merchant ship who's crew changes almost with every port. the course was set and the sails were clewed up double reefed on either side saving the Peregrines spars for when there was a powerful need for speed. Even so she clipped along smoothly at just over six knots on steady airs and heeling leeward a good fifteen degrees.

The weather was beautiful for sailing the breeze was coming off the Peregrines starboard beam reach maybe a little abaft but the Peregrine seemed to like it. Not as well as four points abaft on the board but sill she seemed to enjoy the the wind where it was at. The water it self had a steady roll to it and given the wind it all made sense. The water was warm and the evening promised to be a smooth one.

As the rhythm grew with able seamen hauling lines, the ships vibration and rock with the waves and all hands that were not needed sent below decks to begin eating supper Cain invited Jack to dinner in the great cabin with the boatswain and a few of the midshipmen. Jack accepted the invitation and with in the hour he and the other invitees were all with in the great cabin each with a glass of red wine in font of them and there was din of conversation between the various guests.

[jdd2035]

Dinner consisted of several courses starting off with cheese a very creamy Stilton some soft tack, pared with a smoky Gouda and a sweet red wine. As the wine began to be passed around Jack leaned foreword and asked "Prey tell me all about your action with the Might of Corone!"

As they ate Cain began explaining the entire event the chase with the privateers how he sent them on a wild goose chase with a decoy raft and then the first encounter with the Might followed by the second encounter and the final battle. Jack nodded as he ate the last of the cheese and stated "I am not sure rather it was good or poor luck getting caught in the Might of Corones wheels, but I think that it was as close to gaining the weather gage as you could get. And in the end you came out on top very well done!"

Cain smiled and nodded he knew he had gotten very lucky and was about say as much when the next course of the dinner came in a wonderful soused hogs face, saddle of mutton and a salted brisket and topped off of with a thick port almost black in color. As the faces turned red the conversations turned into a kind of fur ball where every one was yelling at one another trying to be heard over the din. The individual conversations lead far a fields with Cain and Jack discussing some of his more famous battles and Naval strategy in general.

The final course was a very heavy pudding made of hardtack, figs, other fruit and rum and washed down with more rum. Faces were very red and every one was quite jolly and had gone from casual conversation to singing half forgotten songs, or just sinking into a half sleep while at the same time trying to maintain some sort of conversation until the dinner ended in earnest and every one crawled, shuffled or was drug to their hammocks.

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The next morning Cain was bright eyed and bushy tailed with Jack being just as active finding his place pacing back and forth from the bow to just before the quarterdeck.

As the ship passed through the water that was like oily glass Cain had caught one of his younger midshipmen heaving over the rails. Cain looked upon the midshipman and grinned at him "Have a little more grog than you should have last night?" The pale, green faced lad looked up miserably and merely nodded pitifully. That was something Cain needed to nip in the bud and had just the way to do it. Cain looked at the young midshipman and nodded toward the galley and ordered "Scullery."

The poor midshipman nodded and skulked his way to the scullery. As Jack approached he said "That was crule."

Cain retorted "The midshipman, was drunk on duty, and failed to render proper obedience. Further he needs to learn how not to drink so much cleaning greasy smelly and sometimes ...fermenting food will teach this lesson well and I won't have to use the cat." Cain referred of course to the cat and nine tails.

As the ship got set into its rhythm for the day Cain ordered his boatswain up to the main cap. To get to the main cap you would have to climb the ratlines up to the main brace where the main mast and the main top mast meet. Than you climb a second set of ratlines up to where the main top and main royal mast meet followed by climbing up a latter to the very top of the mast. One hundred thirty five feet above the deck. Once on the top gallants main brace tree Cain met his boatswain with a book.

The reason why they had met was at the boatswains request. The boatswain was mostly human but with some orc down his family line somewhere. He was an exceptional seaman and a strong charismatic leader the unfortunate thing like most seamen he was illiterate. While it was not exactly an embarrassment it was still something that made the boatswain some what self conscious. So up on the highest point on the ship far from every other crew member as possible Cain had began teaching the boatswain how to read.

It was there that Cain had saw the first of several sails on the horizon, a few minutes later the look outs on the mizzen and fore masts shouted the same and Cain ordered from where he was at to bare up to them. (To catch up with the other ships.)

[jdd2035]

As the Peregrine closed in on the fleet it became quite apparent that this was not just a gathering of miscellaneous ships but a fleet of tradesmen ships belonging to the Republic of Corone. Each ship was within the previous ships wake and each roughly a cable length away from one another and they were all low in the water. These ships were not the common merchant vessels that were typically modified from an older military vessel like the Peregrine or were built not to have cannons on them. These were specifically built to defend them selves the largest of the tradesmen ships was an eighteen gun twelve pounder the smallest was a brig rigged sloop with ten four pounders.

It took the better part of a day for the Peregrine to catch up to the fleet of tradesmen and during that time Cain spent a little more time teaching his Boatswain his reading after that he spent time teaching others of his crew seamanship and navigation. It was Cains determination to make sure that by the end of this cruise every member of his crew was able to reef a sail, steer the ship, load and fire one of the ships great guns and tack into the wind. He had the Peregrines port side watch run the guns in and out and a dry run in every part in between while at the same time the starboard watch was drilled in reefing and furling and unfurling the sails.

Finally the Peregrine had caught up with the tradesmen after all the proper signals were passed among the respective ships the individual captains began sending jolly boats to the Peregrine inviting the crew to dinners all up and down the fleet and of course Cain sent his own invitations back to the various fleets. Finally after all the invitations and r.s.v.p's were sent it was settled that a grand dinner would be held in the grand cabbin on the eighteen gun, twelve pounder. As it turned out the ship was called the Monique. It was another multi-coursed meal with lots of rum, wine and porter.

Over the duration of the meal several conversations were started and stopped but one predominant one was between Captain Barton of the Monique and Jack.

Captain Barton asked or stated "So, being a Post Captain and in such a position that you are in have you heard of any of the movements of the Imperial forces?"

Swallowing a bite of a meat pie Jack replied "Well the lions share of the Imperial navy is set up defending their port in Radasanth. But recently I have heard that a squadron of ships has been sent to these waters to cut out Republic trade ships."

Captain Barton wiped his face after swallowing a drink of a red wine and asked "Do you know who is leading this squadron?"

Jack nodded "Yes its Commodore Evans of the Marlin a bold seaman of a Captain and has a bit of luck on his side. I have known him since we were shipmates on the Champion...Before the Civil War."

Captain Barton nodded and asked "What do you think the odds of encountering this squadron are?"

Jack shrugged "I couldn't make a bet on that. But it would be best to make all the speed you can."

The dinner ended after desert and more wine, rum and porter Cain and Jack returned to the Peregrine and sat down to relax. Cain asked Jack "Mind telling me the parts you didn't tell Captain Barton?"

Jack nodded "The Grayling is a crack frigate a twenty four eighteen pounder and it's entirely the rest of the squadron is too."

Cain asked "Is that all?"

Jack nodded again and said "That's all I'm sure of."

After the little conversation Cain flopped in his bed and instantly fell asleep.

[jdd2035]

Normally Cain doesn't have a hang over but what ever was drunk last night surely did a number on him and when he stepped out side of his great cabin every thing was at first bright and loud. Jack was not faring much better and as they both squinted at the horizon they struck up a conversation about the events of the previous evening.

Jack started off by stating "I saw that you were sat between the two ladies in green last night" as he stretched and popped his neck and shoulders.

Cain winced at the memory "I remember both of them both had teeth of golden yellow and their breath smelled like they rinsed their mouths out with brine."

Jack laughed before wincing in pain "don't, don't make me laugh so early in the morning especially after last night. What was that clear stuff they had us drink? It smelled like vodka but had a kick like a thirty six carronade."

Cain made his way to the scuttlebutt and began drinking from it before washing his face and turning back to Jack and stated "If we're going to get any thing done today we'll have to pass out some thinned down grog. Jack agreed and when the quartermaster had made his mix and passed it out to the crew things began to smooth out. There was something about a mix of water and rum and work that cures a hang over and by eight bells of the forenoon both Cain and Jack were in bright spirits once again. The crew of the Peregrine was close behind Cain in terms of brightening spirits. Oaths were sworn in haste and over the rails about never drinking any thing heavier than grog ever again.

It was about half an hour of the first bell in the afternoon when the lookout shouted "ON DECK THERE!" in a hesitant, deprecating howl. "Sail on the port bow!! Two maybe!" Hesitant because reporting the tradesmen fleet that every one knew about would be absurd and deprecating because he should have done so long ago instead of staring down at the deck.

Most of the crew took little notice but Cain, Jack and Grimand looked attentively at the hazy ships looming unnaturally large some four miles ahead and growing rapidly clearer as the Peregrine saild towards them- she was making five knots already on the steady wind.

"Who is that fellow that carries his mizzen-topmast stay under the main top? How old fashioned." Mentioned Grimand the Boatswain "I believe i can make out two more behind them I am surprised they have come up with us so soon."

Jack looking through a telescope stated to Grimand "who are you calling old fashioned? That's Commodore Evans and the Imperial squadron."

Cain was thinking clearly now and ordered "Mr. Grimand Haul your wind! Hard to port, hard over. Let fall the main courses, there! Strike the pedant. Forestaysail, maintopgallent, Vanguard, vanguard there clap to the main brace. Bare a hand, bare a hand. stir up your men!" He shouted.

A midshipman came running aft to report the foreroyalyard across, and the frigate sudden turn, coinciding with a heavy rol, threw him off his ballance: he fell sprawling at Cains feet.

"Kid!" Shouted Cain "Mr. Agon, this is carrying a proper deference too far!"

"Yard across, sir if you please" The Midshipman a young tifling of about sixteen said and in seeing the excitement in Cains face asked "Sir whats a foot?"

Cain said with a grin "Evans and his squadron is a foot Mr Agon. Mr Grimand, backstays to that mast at once and preventers. Do not let them set the shrouds too taut; we must not have it wrung. All stunsails and kites to the tops. Give her what sail she can carry. And thin I believe you may prepare to clear for action."

[jdd2035]

Slinging his glass, Cain ran up the mast head like a kid. The Peregrine had spun around on her heel and was now steadying on her course, close hauled and heading nort leaning far over to her port side as the sail increased upon her and her bow wave began to fling the water wide.

The Imperial frigates were fading a little in the haze, but he could see the nearest signaling. Both had been sailing on a course designed to intercept the Peregrine - they had seen him first - and no they were following his turn in chase! They would never fetch his wake unless they tacked, however; they had been too far ahead for tha. Beyond them Cain could make out a larger ship; another farther to the south west and something indistinct on the blurred horizon - perhaps a schooner. These three were still sailing large, and clearly the whole squadron had been in a line abreast, strung out to sweep twenty miles of sea; and they were standing directly for the path of the Tradesmen fleet would travel the next day.

Thunder had began to grumble and crashing as the sky became overcast and now in the midst of a distant peal there was the sound of a gun. The Commodore, no doubt calling in his leeward ships.

"Mr. Grimand" Cain shouted "Alerarian Ensign and two or three hoists of the first signal flags that come to hand, with a signal gun to windward- two guns."

The Imperial frigates were cracking on: topgallant stay sails appeared, outer jib, jib of jibs. They were throwing up a fine bow wave., and the first was making perhaps eight knots, the second nine knots; but the distance was drawing out, ond that would never do- Cains very first concern was to find out what he had to deal with.

Below Cain the deck was like an ant hill kicked over; and he could hear the noise of the decks being cleared and the removable bulkheads being moved for action. It would be some time before the apparent confusion resolved itself into a trim, efficient pattern, a clean sweep fore and aft, the cannons cast loose, their crews standing by them, every man at his post, guards at the hatch ways, and wet sand strewn across the decks. The sailors had been through the motions hundreds of times but rarely in earnest. Cain believed they would perform well: most men did, in this kind of action when they're proper led and the Peregrines crew were a decent set of sailors. A little over zealous at first but that could be dealt with.

Cain considered ~how much powder was there filled? Twenty rounds apiece was yesterdays count and plenty of wads: Hails was a good gunner. He would be as busy as any one at the moment, down in the powder room.

Jack had scrambled up to where was Cain at as nimbly as a monkey and asked "What sort of action are you planning?"

Cain looking out over the Imperial fleet and replied "That Imperial squadron means to take the entire Tradesmen fleet as a prize and prolonging the Civil War even longer. I plan to prevent that by giving this squadron a wild goose chase that they will not soon forget."

Jack nodded and before letting himself back down onto the deck asked "What help can I be?"

Cain didn't take long to reply "Lead my forecastle cannons if you please."

[jdd2035]

Addendum to spoils request. 1 pair of .30 Cal caplock pistols.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Judgement

Plot

Story: 5

This story concentrated on the Imperial Fleet attempting to take the Tradesman’s fleet, under Cain’s guidance, as a prize and therefore prolonging the Civil War. The story itself takes a little time to get going but is actually the right length for such a tale as this. It has good moments of tension and builds well, from the appearance of the heroic Jack O’Brian to the beginning of the chaos in post six, right the way through to the confrontation with the Grayling and the Dolly before Evans’s flees with the Tradesmen hot on his heels.

One major criticism that can be made is that the conclusion of the thread, given the warm victory scene in the final post, was very sudden and flat and written very “matter-of-factly”. As a reader, I would have wanted to hear about what Cain might do next and what might potentially await him in the future. Instead, there was a brief description about what repairs had been made to the Peregrine and then two sentences about Cain’s rewards for his effort in repelling the Imperial Fleet.

In the technique section below I touch upon the need for consistency, and this applies also to the way the story carries itself throughout the thread. Overall this was an enjoyable story, if not a little lost in the nautical details, but the conclusion hurt your score here. My advice would be to make those final stages of your story emphasise something that your character has learned or felt after the events that have happened – perhaps they have taken something valuable from the experience? Or perhaps they are left in a state of exhaustion? Maybe Cain would consider re-grouping and chasing the fleet? It’s always best to give the reader some closure.

Setting: 5

This is an area that felt quite mixed. Early on, there was a feeling that the some of the posts (chiefly the opening post in the port) could have also been given a little more attention. For example, the reader was made aware that there was this large, sprawling harbour and there didn’t seem to be any real description of the area. This was a little disappointing considering that a harbour of that sort of nature would usually be a hive of activity (and at one point you do mention Jack bursting through the “bustling” crowds, giving the impression that it was busy and certainly very active) and it felt as if a prime opportunity to grab the attention of the reader and pull him or her into the story early on had been missed.

However, for the most part, the story was set on the Peregrine and the surrounding ships and it was an amalgamation of a lot of smaller technical details that brought these vessels, and their workings, to the forefront of the reader’s imagination. The writing displays a sound knowledge of such ships and their inner workings, but I did feel that there were sometimes a lack of description to add those badly needed splashes of colour and life to the bare bones of those details. This is touched upon again in technique and my advice here would be to help the reader visualise these details in their head and allow themselves to be pulled into the scene.

Pacing: 6

The pacing of the story began well enough, and was ok throughout, but perhaps suffered from the early grammatical issues that are addressed below. Despite a slow start, the tempo and tone of the thread picked up dramatically from post six as the Peregrine prepared itself for battle against the Imperial Fleet and the sailors on board the ship were throwing themselves around, barking orders at each other and readying the vessel.

At that point, everything became quite exciting and the ensuing battle allowed the pace of the thread to remain at a constant, high-intensity level. As the end of the thread approached, the tempo understandably drops a couple of bars before completely flat-lining at the end as a result of the poorly written conclusion. There isn’t much more to say on this subject other than to advise that the story and pacing of your writing will often coincide with one another, so the upkeep of consistency in one will often help improve the other.

Character

Communication: 5

The story has a number of characters in circulation and getting the various personas of these characters, and all of the conversations between them, over was something I felt would be a struggle. However, for the most part, this was something that you had a good attempt at.

Cain’s obvious respect for Jack was conveyed well. A slight criticism would be that the conversations early in the thread seemed a little bland in that they were, from Cain’s perspective, perhaps a little too “starstruck”, but the following two posts in the thread showed more of what I would expect from a ship’s captain (“Cain retorted "The midshipman, was drunk on duty, and failed to render proper obedience. Further he needs to learn how not to drink so much cleaning greasy smelly and sometimes ...fermenting food will teach this lesson well and I won't have to use the cat." Cain referred of course to the cat and nine tails.”).

I also enjoyed Jack’s dialogue as Cain’s companion on this adventure, and the part he played in conveying his respect to Cain’s position on board the ship as well as adding his own experience to the battle when it was required in the cold light of day. All that being said, it did feel as if the conversations between the other captains did seem quite nondescript and unexciting. Whilst there were a lot of nautical terms being used and discussed, there was very little else that made the reader want to bond with any of the other characters. My advice here would be to perhaps introduce little nuances for each of the supporting characters – perhaps an accent or a habitual stutter to make the dialogue, and their personalities, unique.

Action: 6

This category was one of your stronger ones in this thread. The majority of your character’s actions in the story have a purpose, which is always good, and are followed through with very few loose ends. Cain, Jack and the captains all behave in a way that befits their role in the story, and the way that you handled Jack’s character later on in the thread earned you some credit here as we saw him transform from advisor to reliable and experienced overseer during the battle with the Imperial Fleet. Cain also performed well in overseeing his ship and commanding it well under pressure, devising tactical plans to see off the threats that they encountered.

Overall, as was touched upon above in dealing with the supporting characters, there could have more of a personality behind the actions of your other captains – something to separate them from the crowd – but otherwise the feeling was that the action catagory was well attended to.

Persona: 4

Whilst communication was about average, bordering on good, the feeling from the writing was that the actual personas of each character outside of Cain and Jack were not very well explored. The individual captains, Barton and company, were given very little in the way of individuality.

The majority of Cain’s persona crept out in the middle-to-late stages of the thread, whereas in the early sections his character also seemed a little stoic. The way Cain deduces that the Imperial Fleet is coming to take the Tradesmen as a prize and prolong the Civil War is perhaps a little fast and not quite realistic, but shows that he has a good gut instinct and is prepared to act upon it.

That said, there seemed to be a lot of dependency on external discussion to get a feeling for his personality, as there were not too many uses of internal thought. This also applies to Jack, although there seems to be a lot more indication of the type of person he is in the early stages of the thread. In this case the reader knew early on what to expect with him, and he lived up to that image.

Prose

Mechanics: 4

Mechanically speaking, the thread seemed to be a mixed in terms of quality. Whilst there were a few obvious typos and spelling errors throughout, there were many grammatical errors within the first six or seven posts that couldn’t be ignored. These consisted mostly of a lack of proper punctuation. One example I can point to is in the opening paragraph of post one:

“The Peregrines was once again in port it was one of the longest cruises that Cain had underwent the purpose was to make money.”

Unfortunately, this is grammatically incorrect. A suggestion I could make to tidy that sentence up would be:

“The Peregrines was once again in port. It was one of the longest cruises that Cain had undergone, and the purpose of it was to make money.”

The opening lines in a piece of writing can be some of the most important because they are the sentences that pull the reader into the story. As, in this case, the reader of the piece I felt a little off-put by the first sentence and, in fact, the lack of punctuation in the entire opening post. These types of errors continued until the end of post six. Whilst still not ideal, from post seven onwards the punctuation improved. However, please be aware of the overuse of the semi-colon. There were a few examples where the lack of punctuation in the early parts of the thread seemed to be overcompensated by too many incorrect uses of the semi-colon later on (“They would never fetch his wake unless they tacked, however; they had been too far ahead for that.”).

Clarity: 6

The thread was mostly very clear, and there wasn’t a lot said or done that was particularly ambiguous or vague. The only issue that the reader would really have would be getting to grips with some of the finer nautical terminology. It is quite clear from the writing that you have a good understanding of maritime terms and use them here to really bring life to the Peregrine, but without a proper description of what some of these orders actually did to the ship it was sometimes hard to follow who was doing what. Other than this point, though, clarity was fairly solid throughout.

Technique: 6

Technique is another area where the writing struggled to make an impression upon the reader in the early stages, with large improvements made later on in the story. In the first five posts there was a lot of what I like to call very “matter-of-fact” writing, where actions were described very plainly and had very little descriptive technique applied to it. Whilst this made the posts very clear and the action within the story very easy to understand, it also made the early writing dull and quite nondescript.

From post six onwards there was a lot more flavour to the writing. (“Below Cain the deck was like an ant hill kicked over”) and the reader could really start to imagine the chaos of a ship preparing for battle. It was at this point in the thread that the improvements that had been made really bled through into the writing and pulled the reader in, allowing them to feel as if they were actually watching the sailors prepare the ship for war. Your usage of various nautical terms within the dialogue also helped to bring specific maritime colour to the tale, and I could really visualise the shouting and panic above and below decks of sailors trying to get orders across. Well done on this part.

Finally, the only other point to note in this category ties in with what was said about the conclusion of the story itself. When compared to the rather exciting middle section of your story, the conclusion was poorly written and seemed rushed. The key to a good piece of writing is to introduce, and maintain, a good consistency of technique throughout the entirety of a story from beginning to end and my suggestion would be to think about this for future pieces you may write.

Wildcard

Wildcard: 5

What I really enjoyed about this particular thread was the high-intensity battle of wits as Cain and Jack tried to outwit the Imperial Fleet, eventually succeeding with the use of some quick thinking from the captain of the Peregrine. Well done!

Total score: 52

Judge's note

As way of apology for the wait in having this thread judged, I have added a discretionary amount of 10% additional experience and gold to the rewards. After making the required deductions for your requested spoils, your total rewards are as follows:

JDD2035 recieves 865 EXP and a pair of caplock pistols.

Please note that the pistols do not have any ammunition. You will have to purchase bullets from the Bazaar seperately.

Congratulations!

[Rayleigh]

All EXP have been added.