Saturday, June 21, 2008

Sim Ho! – An Atia Adventure

As Bard once mentioned we’ve been looking for a tall-mast ship, something along the lines of a pirate vessel. The harbor at Merrywood is very small, however, so given that we were reduced to buying a fishing boat.


(Note from Bard: That is not a “fishing boat”. It is a Blackspot Spray sailboat by Lia Woodget, a sleek and seaworthy craft that carries five people and has five different mast colors. You can find this and full-sized tall mast ships by Woodget at the Blackspot Shipyard. “Fishing boat”...indeed!)


Darcy Steward, a junior member of Merrywood (Knighthood notwithstanding), found a small ship in his many travels that he thought might fit the bill both in size and style. Bard and I rushed to the sim he traveled earlier that day and saw what Darcy had found. Sure enough it was exactly what we had been looking for. We searched on the creator’s name (Felixx Shepherd) and TP’d to his store, Garden of Da Vinci.

What a fun sim. We didn’t have time to tour all the offerings but we did have a chance to check out the huge telescope, take a ride on a feather and a gondola (dunked a time or two) before we bought “The Little Pirate Ship”. There were many other sights to see including a volcano exhibit so we’ll return one day soon.

But I digress. “The Little Pirate Ship” is the perfect combination of tall-mast ship and say, oh a canoe. And it’s also a perfect match for the harbor at Merrywood and our adventurous spirits.

So rez her we did, (arrrrr), and a-sailing we did go, (arrrrr), just around the sim, (arrrr). Right off the bat we discovered that although there are pose balls for sitting and lounging on the main deck, they would not allow me to do so. Bard was able to sit and steer as the ship’s owner but I kept getting ejected each time I tried to sit down (we will take this up with the creator at a later date). It was quite embarrassing, to say the least, to keep getting tossed overboard in front of the neighbors.


(Note from Bard: We contacted Felixx Shepherd, and he graciously sent us a new copy with working pose balls. He also sent us a static copy with many more goodies, pictured above. He’s one of the good ones)


Now I pride myself on being very adept in all situations and graceful beyond words (teh Bard, for some reason, has a different take on me in this regard). (Note from Bard: No comment) So after being tossed overboard a half a dozen times I finally resigned myself to standing beside Bard, balancing myself against the heavy tossing of the ship on glass-smooth waters.


(Note from Bard: And she looks good doing it!)


Oh, and I also changed into a bathing suit and flip flops just in case…



As tradition dictates, no respectable ship captain and his first mate would ever set sail without ample grog aboard. Well one thing led to another on this long, endless journey around our little sim, and the next thing I knew I was, wait for it… three sheets to the wind (arrrr!!!!!!). Bard remained stone cold sober in order to navigate the heavy seas with a clear head. And good thing too. We found ourselves in deep trouble trying to negotiate the neighbor’s dock.


For some reason my recall at this point is a little fuzzy but I believe my balance improved significantly after swilling a fifth of JD. Bard says I was swearing like a drunken sailor and staggering to and fro. Methinks he exaggerates although I do have a couple of new bruises I can’t explain. (Note from Bard: I respectfully decline to answer any inquiries).


I don’t remember how I got back to the castle and upstairs to bed. Bard said he had to carry me. Pffft! However, I do remember our first pirate adventure as being the most fun I’ve had dripping wet and drunk on a little ship, hugging the shore of our sim, in a long, long time.

(Note from Bard: Since it was our first such Atia Adventure, it won’t be long before we are cruising the waters of Caledonia or some such, flying our pirate colors among the blue blood vessels, staggering around the deck swearing loudly, with Atia chumming over the side).

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