Safe at Home
General Summary
Emma has survived the battles of 1544, and winter coupled with damage to the Mary Rose meant that Emma was back on land for a time while the Mary Rose is repaired.
In most of her prior adventures the Goals were easy to spot, and hard to achieve. In this "downtime" Emma is constantly on-stage as Erik, and the goals are set purely by her own will. She set out to develop friends in Portsmouth, establish a routine or schedule, find a trustworthy Doctor and Priest that will keep her secret. Even though she knows it will take time to mature, she wants to invest some of her mass of treasure shares into something to earn her a steady income. Beyond that, she wants to spend the winter developing friends among the captains and merchants that pass through portsmouth.
On Making Friends in Portsmouth
Emma, as Erik, invited the town Blacksmith, John Sprottle, to dinner. At dinner the discussion revolves around John's daughter Joan and a possible marriage arrangement to "Erik's" older brother Jormunder and a possible trip to Iceland for Joan, "Julianne", and "Erik" after they get a dispensation from the Navy.
Emma, as Erik, invited the town Carpenter, John Barnes, to dinner the night after dinner with the Sprottles. The Barnes family prove to be nice, though not as motivated to be friendly as the Sprottles. Nevertheless, the three families, Lyonnes, Barnes and Sprottle find themselves becoming friendlier while going about daily life.
On Establishing a Routine
Emma, as Erik, has started going to the Public House on Fridays to meet with others on the crew to keep apprised of the Mary Rose and her condition. She has also begun to putter around the house, but consistently finds she needs more and better tools to repair what she owns.
Emma, as Erik, has developed a feel for the pulse of Portsmouth, and has learned its routine through observation. After only a month she has become a feature of the community, and most people mistake Erik as a merchant of some sort. Her shipmates have all slowly trickled away from Portsmouth, with the exception of a small few, and those mock Erik as wasting his money - no one knows if they'll die in the next battle, you might as well drink your silver not hoard it. "What are you? Marrano?" is a common enough joke among the few remaining bully boys of the Mary Rose.
On Investments
Emma has traveled to meet a Master Shipwright, James Baker, who has developed some interesting new ideas. She invested a solid portion of her money with the royal shipwright.
On Becoming Friends with Merchants
Emma is tied tightly to the traveling merchant William Swifte, a Goods Merchant that stops in Portsmouth every season on his route. After Master Swifte arrives in town, Emma invests a large sum of cash (10 dots) with him and secures an agreement as her buying in as his business partner, guaranteeing her an income every month by way of couriered writ of payment to the silversmith.
In addition, Masters Sprottle and Barnes see 'Erik' earning money every month by writ and make similar investment deals, procuring their contracts of work through their wise friend Erik, who charges less of a commission than lawyers.
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