Freelance Treasure Hunting, Monday, Period 5, Class #2

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"Good afternoon," Vala greeted the students cheerfully as they entered, still wearing her customary clothing, "and I hope you all had a profitable weekend. As you know, last week we discussed what treasures are valuable to each culture. This week, we'll begin to learn how to find them."

"The first thing you have to figure out is whether your information is reliable. You can determine this easily if you know your source, but if you don't, you'll have to do a little research. This generally involves the library and looking up information yourself, talking to a village elder about the local legends for the area, or finding a scholar who knows about the myth behind the treasure you're looking for."

"Once you have your reliable information, or information you are willing to believe is reliable--not nearly the same thing, in case you were wondering--if you're lucky, you will have a map that tells you where the treasure is. If you don't, you'll have to come up with a map of your own, based on the information you've gathered from other sources. This map can either be of the terrain, generally including landmarks such as temples, statues, or landing fields, or physical features such as rocks, streams, and mountains. You want a map that uses items that won't erode or move over the course of time, because it makes it easier not to get lost. These, of course, are more expensive than the regular maps and you should take that into account when you are budgeting for your expedition."

"As a last resort when it comes to figuring out where you are, there is also the option of celestial navigation--using the stars to pinpoint your location. That's all well and good on this planet, but on other planets, the stars won't be familiar and the constellations will be missing. Don't forget that, or you could end up lost in a desert when you're meant to be in the woods, having lunch with a charming man and his mother. Er, not that that ever happened, of course," she added quickly.

"For this class, I'll ask you to explain your favorite way of verifying information, and then I'm going to let you loose with the maps--you have one of Fandom, and one of the night sky in the northern hemisphere of this planet. If you have a town map, I would like you to explore with it--mark what is at each location, or pick one location, and write down something valuable that you find there, so you can find it again. If you're using the star maps, I would like you to go out at night and attempt to find as many constellations as you can. As a tip for those of you who are interested in dating, this is an excellent activity for that sort of thing. Please mark them off as you find them."

[ooc: OCD is up! in a second. Handwaving is, as always, possible, if not as much fun.]

Comments

Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

What method would you use and why?

Re: Verifying your Information

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Grinning with a bounce as she went to answer the question, Turtle pulled out today's copy of the Wall Street Journal (which she conveniently had in her bag) and smacked it down. She gave a significant nod towards it. "There we go. Gotta do some searching, but you'll find the best leads in here, guaranteed."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

Vala eyed the newspaper with interest. "And how do you know the people who write those articles are trustworthy?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Because they have journalistic integrity and you can totally tell when companies have been bribing them to put in a good review," Turtle said, babbling slightly and rolling her eyes a bit. "It so shows. Besides, there's always the numbers to back it up, and the numbers don't lie, ma'am."

Re: Verifying your Information

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal stood, smoothing his robes, and smiled at Vala before speaking. "The method I prefer to use is verification by research. Often there can be hints of knowledge and fact in old scrolls, maps, agricultural records, even old tales, which can lend credence to information recently acquired. Archives and libraries are of course the best place to seek it." He paused, considering, then added. "Servants can also be very helpful, as they often see and hear much that is overlooked by others, or is thought to be secret."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"Very good," Vala was surprised by the depth and reasoning behind Karal's answer, "And where would you consider seeking out new information and legends?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

That was a more difficult question, as his whole experience was in seeking out information which had been lost. "Students?" he suggested. "Or, perhaps builders? Or those who travel between countries, such as coach drivers or merchants. People who would be most likely to encounter new information."

Re: Verifying your Information

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

Gavin frowned, thinking, before answering. "We mostly use intelligence officers where I'm from. They gather intel and relay it back. That data gets passed down to us before we go on a mission."

He wasn't sure if that's what she meant but it was all he could think of.

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"And how do you know that those officers are reliable, or don't have their own goals in mind in relaying the information? Is there another way to check?" She asked, sitting on top of the picnic table.

Re: Verifying your Information

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I would find someone smarter than me to verify information. Then, I'd make them come along on the treasure hunt," he thought it sounded like a great plan.

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"And if they don't want to go?" Vala asked, amused because this tended to be the method she used, more often than not.

Re: Verifying your Information

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Well, I can be very persuasive," John replied. He paused and added with a smile, "And I'm taking a firearms workshop."

Re: Verifying your Information

[cantjossme.livejournal.com]

"Best thing you can do is to do a little recon outside of your typical information source," Mel replied. "Especially if your source has his or her own agenda when it comes to finding a particular item."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"Well said," Vala nodded, "and what kind of recon would you consider appropriate? How much is enough?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"I prefer chatting up the locals," Dean said with an ingratiating smile. "Or the locals' daughters. Barring that there's always googling somehting or looking it up at the local library, but that's something I try and leave to my brother while I'm talking to those locals' daughters."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

Vala winked back at her TA. "And you know that your brother is going to be amenable to this arrangement how?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Well... truth spells are a must for if you're talking to people," Eve said thoughtfully. "Especially one of the higher level truth spells. Sorcerer truth spell works best, I've found. Witch truth spells are unreliable the higher you go and the harder you press someone." She made a face; it was pretty obvious what she thought of some of the witch spells.

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

"Do you have methods that don't involve magic?" Vala asked, "because you never want to get too reliant on one way of doing things. That leads to complacency and long stays in jail cells on planets you've never wanted to be on in the first place. Er, hypothetically speaking."

Re: Verifying your Information

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

"Well, written records are lovely, of course. But sometimes the people who kept them didn't use the same system of meaurement, or the same method of telling time. So it's often very useful to talk to the locals personally," Evie said, thinking of a few Tuareg her father had employed as guides. "Assuming that you know the language. If you don't, it's an invitation to being robbed blind."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

Not that Vala knew anything about that. "What do you do if the locals refuse to talk to you, or to tell you anything of interest?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[grenfelzer.livejournal.com]

Carmela thinks about this. "I'd ask someone that usually nobody *thinks* to ask- though maybe that's just because they don't speak the language. Like a cat. Cats see, like, *everything*."

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

Inara nodded, "And cats always tell the truth?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[the_merriest]

Rikku considered. "I guess it depends on the situation. I mean, if you wanna verify, it's probably good to ask a lot of different people and kinda compare what they say. And sometimes people will give you extra information if you go on a stupid sidequest do a favor for them, usually one that's not too rough, even. And bribing works, or just, hey, you got any monsters you need me to kill? And for other people, uh. If they're evil anyway? You can just hit 'em a few times and they'll spill everything." She scratched her head. "Uh, is that what you mean?"

Re: Verifying your Information

[spacepiratevala.livejournal.com]

Vala smiled, "That's exactly what I mean, thank you. You seem to have a very strong understanding of the material, Rikku."

Re: Verifying your Information

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

"One of the best ways, I ahve found, anyway, is by talking to the locals or checking up to see if there are any local legends of things. Comparing people's words to legends sometimes reveals a great deal of information."