ONE:
Behind FARROW, reveal.

The SMOKE has lurched forward out of the darkness.

The SMOKE is a dragon. Very big. Very old. Very powerful.

Oozing malevolence. We’ll discuss this further on the phone, since I don’t want the script to give away too much to everyone reading (hi, everyone!), but there’s a lot to him, and it should very much inform his design.

Just THE SMOKE’S head alone should dwarf FARROW, there should be no doubt that he could eat him like an amuse bouche.

1. THE SMOKE/effect: Your manners.

FARROW doesn’t know which direction he should be facing to speak, so he’s trying to subtly speak to all directions at once.

1. FARROW: My apologies for keeping you waiting…

2. SFX/all around/faint: ssskkKHhhsssshhhhsss

TWO:
FARROW in the midst of the SMOKE, looking around. He can hear something skittering along the floor.

3. FARROW/above/small: …I came as…ah…

THREE:
FARROW’S pant-leg, the cuff. Something has just skittered over his shoe, and we can see its long, slender, scaled tail still trailing after as the creature disappears into the darkness and SMOKE.

4. FARROW/small: …ah…

FOUR:
On FARROW, looking up, reacting, he’s almost relieved. The voice is coming from the darkness before him; at least he’s got a direction to face, now.

5. FARROW/small: …a-as soon as I could, sire….

6. TAILLESS/effect: You know what I like about you, Farrow?

7. FARROW: No, sir.

These new Stretch Goals are pretty swank, in our opinion. Please take a look and spread the word about them if you can.

At 90K – A Better Book For All – This is an across-the-board alteration to the Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether Vol. I trade. If we make this goal, we will increase the thickness of the covers to make them more substantial; move to a higher paper weight on the endpapers, and also be printing these in color; and we’ll improve the interior paper weight to better hold art and reproduce said color.

At 100K – The Cartographer’s Craft

At 120K – Deckplans

We’ve also been trying to direct some support to other projects that we’re finding particularly interesting or invested in. I’ve talked about the AR-K Campaign a fair amount, the video game I’m writing with Gato Salvaje Studios in Spain. It’s an adventure-puzzle game with a – surprise! – female lead who, while not quite as fabulous as our own Lady S, can certainly hold her own.

Additionally, Rick’s doing the cover art for the new Dirigible Days project, which is now very close to funding. The Dirigible Days crew feel very much like brothers-in-arms to us, and not solely because we share a love of pirates, steampunk, and flying frigates. If you haven’t seen what they do, you by all means should, and consider giving them some Lady Sabre love.

You guys… you guys…

…you guys are amazing.

Hold fast!

Greg

Doesn’t mean it’s not working.

NO COPY.

TWO:
On FARROW, reacting – jumping slightly as he hears something move in the darkness.

1. SFX: sskKKCHhhhllmmp

THREE:
Almost stet. A GUST of SMOKE has been disturbed, rising around FARROW.

FARROW is tugging at his collar. He’s fighting the urge to run. It’s a primal, deep-seated urge. He’s mastering it.

For the moment.

2. SMOKE/off: Closer.
3. SMOKE/off: Come closer.

We find ourselves in this awkward place with the Lady Sabre Kickstarter, in that we’ve far surpassed our initial goal, and we’ve still got 26 days to go.

I’ve spent much of today wondering how much is too much. I’m self-conscious enough about what Eric, Rick, and I are doing here that I’m loathe to do anything that would be misinterpreted or feel like we’re abusing, or worse, that we’re ungrateful for, the support we’ve received.

Yet the campaign is ongoing. Do we continue to tweet and post and wave and shout about it (which I suspect is just what I’m doing now)? Do we cool our heels and deal with the paperwork and other things that have been suffering for lack of attention? Is it pushing things to post reminders, to say, yes, we know we’re over double our goal, but just in case you hadn’t heard, here we are again, and by the way, please tell your friends?

The ethics of a successful Kickstarter campaign. Everyone should have such problems. I think too much. Probably about the wrong things.

Here’s what we’re doing now:

I’ve talked to the printer, and we’re pricing expanded print runs, as it looks likely we’re going to blow through the 2,000 copies we’d planned on printing; we’re looking at finalizing our third stretch goal, which appears in sight, if not on target, the Process of Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, a book that will print the scripts of Chapters 1 through 5, with notes and annotations (not unlike this book here) as well as sketches and designs from Rick and Eric; and we’re talking about a fourth stretch goal, one that truly excites us, because rather than introducing something new, we’re going to go back and revisit those print options on the book that we felt were too expensive, but which we can now afford, and thus improve the quality on the trade (this will apply to the Cloth Covers and Rare & Royal editions).

And we’re almost through the week, so we’re all looking to catch our breath.

Have I said how amazing I think all of you are? Have I said thank you again? Have I said it enough?

You don’t know just how much your support means to the three of us, to me and Rick and Eric. You cannot know. It has been a long, hard voyage to get to this place. You don’t know how much this is a case of the right-thing at the right-time. We keep talking about community. That’s you. This is getting mushy. I’m going to push on through. I’m repeating what Eric has already said. This is your success, you did this. Gratitude is a weak word in the face of that, and it is humbling beyond measure to have your support.

Her Ladyship’s campaign continues. The word continues to spread. We continue to grow.

To all those old hands and new ones, as ever, welcome aboard, and,

Hold fast.

Greg