Completed The Jib is Up!

Work Thread #1 + Spooning

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A city floating in the center of a lake, Ravok is a place of dark beauty, romance and culture. Behind it all though is the presence of Rhysol, God of Evil and Betrayal. The city is controlled by The Black Sun, a religious organization devoted to Rhysol. [Lore]

The Jib is Up!

Postby Karyk on June 3rd, 2017, 2:34 am

Summer 65, 517

Karyk stepped off the Ravosala, pack and axe bundle over one shoulder, his building kit in his opposite hand. He looked up at the massive walls of the Shipyard, finding them oddly reminiscent of Syliras' own walls. Today was his first day on the job, having been hired the day previously. He approached the first of what he assumed would be several guards, and presented his paperwork. The Ebonstryfe paladin eyes him up and down, seeing that he was a probationary citizen, judging this newly arrived outsider. But he handed back the documentation and waved Karyk through. Karyk repeated this several times, impressed and surprised at the level of security for a shipyard.

Back in Zeltiva, the shipyard was open for anyone to just walk through. Due to it being the city's lifeblood, nothing too terrible happened at the docks. Too many people relied upon it for work, so they policed themselves. Clearly Ravok took a different approach, leaving nothing to chance. At least his tools wouldn't be stolen this way. Eventually he found the man he'd talked to the day previously, his new foreman. Karyk had already forgotten his name. Clarence? Clency? Frank? Something like that.

The man nodded at Karyk's arrival, "Nice and early, that's a good start. You best be as good as you said, especially being a Zeltivan. We don't allow laziness or shoddy craftsmanship. You step out of line, only being fired will be the best case scenario. Our crew works at this dock, you'll meet the others when they get here. We're finishing up a saique right now. I'm going to assign you to working on the rigging. The rest of the crew will be doing cabin work and detailing."

Karyk nodded at this, and the man began walking and talking, leading Karyk over to a warehouse. "Our lumber is stored in here, workshops are up front. I see you've got your tools, if you need anything and don't know where it is, just ask. We don't need you wasting time. Go ahead and get settled in, look around a bit. The rest of the crew starts showing up in about a half bell."

Once again nodding in response, Karyk was left to his own devices as the foreman wandered off. The shipwright set down his gear, and made his way into the warehouse. There were stacks and stacks of lumber, cut to size in most cases. It mostly appeared to be planks and beams, since keels were custom work. As he moved from stack to stack, he could see they were in order from oldest to youngest in terms of being seasoned. It was a very organized and efficient system.

Moving over to the opposite side, he found coils upon coils of rope, of many different lengths. There were stacks of chains, pulleys, fittings and the like as well. Karyk wondered where the sails were stored, unless done as custom jobs and put on last. He looked around and didn't see any pitch either. Probably in a different area. Continuing to wander about, he found himself in front of a pile of blocks, picking one up. These ones were very finely crafted, definitely a fine attention to detail in the wood and metal work. Karyk was impressed. Where Zeltiva was more of a living organism, giving birth to ships and breathing life into them, Ravok felt more controlled. Here, they seemed to control every aspect of the ship building. It was commendable.

Karyk set the block down, heading outside to the work shop, to see what tools were available, and to find where the sails and pitch were stored.
Last edited by Karyk on June 29th, 2017, 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The Jib is Up!

Postby Karyk on June 4th, 2017, 7:30 am

After wandering around for a while, finally finding the rest of the gear in another tucked away warehouse, Karyk stepped outside to lay eyes proper on the ship his crew was assigned to build. It was a medium three masted saique, a ship designed to maximize cargo space, used typically by merchants and always staying fairly close to shore. Karyk saw that all the masts and yards were in place, as was the bowsprit. It appeared to be mostly pine wood, which was fairly common in these northern parts. She was a beauty of a ship to be sure.

Eyes running over the ship, he saw that all of the shrouds and stays were already installed, rope lines that help support the masts. That made the next step obvious. He needed to accessorize the yards for the remaining riggings. That meant a lot of blockwork. Karyk turned back into the first warehouse, finding a large coil of rope. Bending down at the knees, he scooped it up, and heaved it over his head so that it hung across his chest from one shoulder down to the opposite hip. Wandering over to the organized piles of blocks, Karyk grabbed several in a heap in his arms.

Making his way outside, Karyk soon climbed the gangplank onto the stout ship. After several trips back and forth, Karyk amassed a sizeable pile of blocks and rope at the base of the mainmast. Finally, he gathered his kits and axes and made his way to his new work area. He cut a long length of rope, and threaded it through the mounting eyes of several blocks, tying it off with a simple bowline. He then tied a two half hitch with the opposite end around his waist, tucked his axe bundle into it, then moved over to a dangling ratline that hung down from the topmost yard.

The rope dangled down the center of his body, and he reached up above his head. He stepped down on the loose end of the rope with bent knees, pressing it against the deck with his right foot, slipping his other beneath the slack rope, holding it up. He gripped the rope, using his feet as both brake and base, he straightened his legs, pulling himself up using most of his body's muscles. Once off the deck, he tucked his knees to his chest, letting the rope slide between his, locking in place further up. Then he pushed up once more, his hands moving over one another four times. Progress was slow, but Karyk climbed hand over hand, inching along like a caterpillar up the line as he repeat his knee tucks and push offs.

Arms burning, Karyk climbed higher and higher. About a third of the way up, he felt it get more difficult, as the blocks he'd tied off were now being lifted off the deck with him. Karyk remembered to breathe out through his nose as he pulled himself up, inhaling as he tucked his knees. Hand over hand, feet scooching and locking, he climbed, until he reached the top yard. He hooked an arm over it, and pulled himself up and over it, straddling it while he caught his breath. Karyk pulled the blocks, and undid the hitch around his waist, tying it around the yard this time. Then huffing as he started his descent, he repeated the whole process until he had all of his tools and an extra coil of rope atop the mast as well.

He stood now, leaning against the mast, resting from all the climbing. Casting his eyes out over the city and the lake, Karyk realized he'd rarely seen any view as beautiful as the one he had now. Zeltiva might be his home, and he'd forever love it, but no one could ever accuse it of being pretty. Ravok, on the other hand, was picturesque and pristine. Its architecture both practical and artistic. The lake was massive, practically a sea, and so calm and serene, covered in a light fog that Syna was busy dissipating.

Karyk was about to set to work, when he saw something odd, way out at the end of the yard on which he stood. Grabbing a ratline, Karyk walked along the yard carefully, trying to figure out what he was seeing. Right at the edge was something shiny. As he got closer, his eyes showed his confusion. There, atop the yard, sat a spoon. And not just a normal wooden, or even tin spoon, but a fancy, decorative one. Karyk couldn't tell if it was painted brass or gold, but it had a blue and white design painted into it that reminded him of the rolling surf back home. Why in the petch was there a spoon, particularly a fancy and likely expensive one all the way up here? Surely some fool wasn't eating soup up here when tying the ratlines, that just seemed terribly inconvenient.

But Karyk wasn't about to pass up on a few trinket. Especially because he knew the kids would enjoy something like this. He reached down with one hand, the other gripping the rat line tight, and clutched the spoon. Bringing it before his eyes, examining it further. It was an exquisite design. Pleased with this unusual find, he slipped it into his pocket, and prepared to get to work.
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The Jib is Up!

Postby Karyk on June 29th, 2017, 3:27 pm

Karyk sat atop the yard, and grabbed one the first block. He hadn't seen any iron bands in the warehouse, which only the fanciest and newest of ships in Zeltiva used, so he decided to use the groove and notch method, as his mum had called it. This meant that he needed to adjust the yard first, a common practice back home. Karyk set down the block, and fetched a mallet and chisel from his pack. Karyk sat stride the yard and scooched down toward the end. He leaned forward, torso against the yard, making sure to cross his ankles beneath the wood, just in case he slipped, he could lock them and save himself.

Chisel in his left hand, mallet in his right, Karyk set it at a half angle against the wood. He tapped the chisel with the mallet, digging a thick shaving of wood, driving it in a shallow cut. Karyk moved further along, chipping away as he worked his way from the top of the yard down and around the backside. Karyk went through, evening out the notches from his rough cuts. Once the groove was carved, about half the width of the rope Karyk intended to use, he needed to carve the set notch for the block's eye bolt. He sat upright, locked his ankles, hooked an elbow around the yard, and slowly eased his body to the side, swinging to side and hung himself upside down from the yard.

Karyk tightened his stomach muscles and gripped the yard with his knees and thighs. Looking upward at the groove he'd carved around it, Karyk smoothed at the cuts he couldn't reach from above. He then set the chisel inside the groove perpendicular to it, and slowly tap-tapped the chisel into the wood, biting about half a thumb length deep. He pulled the chisel free and did it again, widening the notch more and more. Once it was big enough to his liking, Karyk swung an arm up over the yard, hooking at the elbow. He grunted, and pulled himself back, once more sitting astride the yard.

Karyk grabbed a block and a short length of rope. Karyk fed the rope through the block's eye bolt. He dangled the block beneath the yard, and pulled it up, so the eye bolt rested into the notch, holding both ends of the rope, one in each hand. He did a bend in the right hand side, and with the left, wrapped it around the back of the bend, over the front, and underneath itself. He then fed the left hand length up through the right hand bend, and tightened it. This bowline knot would not shrink or expand with tension, and the notch would allow the eye bolt to move as needed when the lines moved with the rigs. Karyk fed a long length of rope through the block, letting it dangle down so it could be used as needed for the accessories and smaller sails and rigs.

Karyk continued to carve these grooves and notches and affix the blocks. The only change he made was one he fastened to the top of the yard. Feeding a rope through this top mounted block, Karyk scooted his way to the most, rope in hand. Standing on the yard, Karyk looked up at the trestle trees and cross trees, and tied the rope to his belt. Karyk reached up and gripped his fingers into a sheave carved into the mast, and using it as leverage, jumped up, and grabbed the bottom of a cross tree.

Karyk hung there, swinging back and forth a bit before heaving himself up and grabbing another cross tree. Karyk set his feet against the mast and push outward, bending his body at the waist and slowly walking up the mast, bending more and more as he went. When he couldn't go anymore, he held himself with one hand, and used the other to reach up and grab onto a trestle tree. Once he had a firm grip, he brought his other hand up and grabbed the trestle tree next to the first.

Karyk flexed his arms, and tightened his back, and pulled himself up. Slower and slower he climbed until he got an arm hooked over a trestle tree, and continued to pull himself up and over. He kicked his leg up and onto the platform there, and pulled himself the rest of the way up. Karyk undid the rope from his belt, and fed it up through the center hole of the platform, and temporarily tied it off to a peg with a figure eight knot.

Sweaty and huffing lightly, Karyk looked down at his work. The entire yard was fitted and accessorized and ready for the next phase. It was starting to get late, so Karyk decided to clean up. Karyk climbed back down off the platform, and gathered up his tools. He closed up his toolkit, and tied it up with a modified barrel hitch, and lowered it down to the deck, dropping the rope behind it. Karyk lowered himself down to the yard, and reached beneath it to grab the stay line. He hooked the rope with his feet and squeezed them together and slowly lowered himself down so that he hung free of the yard.

Slowly he lowered himself, using his feet to control his descent, while his arms kept him on the rope. Hand over hand, he lowered himself until he dropped down to the deck. He gathered up his tools, and carried them over to the locker areas, and found an empty one. He carefully put his tools inside, and stopped. He grabbed a chisel and carefully carved his name into the face of the wooden footlocker.

Making his way back up the gangplank, Karyk gathered up the extra ropes, coiling them up around his shoulder and tying them up, then carried them and the leftover blocks back into the warehouse, putting them back exactly where he'd gotten them. He searched all over and found a straw broom. Returning to the deck, Karyk swept off all the shavings he'd made, and knocked them into the lake.

And with that, Karyk was done for the day, and began to make his way home, forgetting all about the spoon he'd stuck in his pack.
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Karyk
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The Jib is Up!

Postby Karyk on July 16th, 2017, 1:44 am

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Karyk
Skills
Observation: 2
Planning: 1
Nodeology: 2
Shipbuilding: 2
Bodybuilding: 2
Climbing: 2
Endurance: 1
Carving: 1
Cleaning: 1
Lores
Location: Ravok's Shipyard
Ravok Shipyard: Warehousing and supplies locations
Ravok: A city of controlled perfection
Saique: Class of coastal ship for maximizing cargo space
Shipbuilding: Groove and notch method for securing blocks
Shipbuilding: Rigging a top yard
Miscellaneous
Magic Spoon


 
Notes and Comments
CS Checkmarked: ✓
CS Reviewed by Me: ✓
Season Request was Submitted for Grade: Summer 517
Season Thread was Started (IC & OOC): Summer 517 & Summer 517
Is that Season's expenses paid?: ✓
Eligible for grade? Yes



Needs improvement on sentence variety and typos. More editing please.
Follow your heart, and the plot will follow.
User avatar
Karyk
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Posts: 326
Words: 273057
Joined roleplay: April 4th, 2017, 4:34 pm
Location: Zeltiva
Race: Human
Character sheet
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