The Airship: Arrival at Asturia.

[skydragonknight]

The Night's Tempest was an large airship roughly the size of a Galleon. The ship is surprisingly well maintained, since it's captain is an engineer of sorts. Though the term engineer may be misleading; Captain Data is as much an engineer of magic as he is of mechanical devices. This perhaps, is not surprising, seeing as he himself is a mechanical being whose existence is a composite of metal and magic. But the Captain is only the first character in this story.

You see, this sky-sailing vessel, which was originally designed for strictly mercantile purposes has been steadily adapted over the years into a full-fledged mercenary ship, with fierce armaments and a strong crew of talented individuals. The Captain gets many requests from the world of Phantuun below the clouds as an official mercenary guild called Starlit Night and posts the jobs in the tavern, letting his subordinates select their tasks and form teams to take on missions.

It was a sunny day over the Northern Peninsula country of Asturia. Though still a mercenary headquarters, Night's Tempest still did a lot of trading to make up the rest of the balance: maintaining an airship as a base was no small expense. As it happened, at this very moment the ship was anchored roughly five meters above the ground near the capital of Asturia: a castle city of the same name. The cargo lift had just been lowered two meters from bottom of the ship and through a clever mechanism a narrow but strong sheet of metal extended itself from the lift and lowered itself to the ground, forming a ramp at a 30 degree angle.

Even from outside the city, the noises could still be heard from outside the ship. It was the first day of Spring Festival in Asturia, and the city was awash with excitement.

[Bozwevial]

The young man squatting near the ramp frowned and squinted at the mechanism, prodding it in several spots with a thin metal rod. "Captain, I'm still convinced that a shallower angle and a longer ramp would be less strain on the clockwork." He rose from his crouched position to his full height, emphasizing how odd his large brown coat looked on his thin frame, and pushed his goggles up to his forehead. "Besides, we wouldn't want to tire out all the wonderful merchants who're going to be crawling all over the ship in less than an hour. After all, we want them to be nice and rested when they poke around the engine room and set my work back a week."

[spoiler]Consider this my way of saying, "Present but on an odd posting schedule." My long, introductory post will be after the Captain responds (and when I'm not late for class). [/spoiler]

[Generic_PC]

A somewhat short, fat goblin with arms that almost touched the ground stared over the railing at the ground. Time to go? He turned, watching his gizmos cleaning the deck. "Come on, back to the pile." He ushered them back to his room, which was full of crazy knick-knacks, probably hundreds of them. He motioned to his Pseudodragon, who lazily waved a paw before ambling off the cabinet and into the air, alighting on his shoulder. <<Where are we going?>> The dragon telepathically put the words into Brilei's head, in Ignan. "Oh, nowhere fast. We'll check out the mercantile district, see how much we steal, maybe get some information for the captain. You in?" <<What'd I do without you? You are always the interesting one. I picked up from a passing local, it's the spring festival.>> "Oh, that's great. Maybe i'll get some good food, rather than these rations." He sticks his tongue out, then returns to his smile, teeth looking almost exactly opposite of any other goblins, clean and white. He picks up a belt, covered in pockets, and slides it on. "Ok, what else? Should I just jump off the ship, or try out those wings that I found from the last adventure we had?" <<Try the wings. I wanna see if they work.>> "You got it" He quickly grabs a pair of grey, tattered looking wings. "And if they don't work like you said?" <<Then... you plummet.>> "Oh, reassuring."


A different, taller, almost starving goblin, with large pointed teeth that poked past his top lip, lazily swung at the Pseudodragon. "Wow, great. Thanks for your advice. They weren't magical, were they?" <<Oh no, they are magical. I just don't know what kind anymore. They obviously aren't what they should be.>> "You know what, I don't even care. Let's just enjoy the festival." The wings disappeared into a pocket, and he wandered towards the slums of Asturia.

Finally moving past the slums, he entered the grand central plaza which was the border between the merchants quarter, the small god's quarter and the garden quarter. A bazaar, of huge scale, filled his navel height eyes. His acute nose smelt burning fish, rotten meat, and all matter of spices, which he immeadiately went to following.

[AfterCrescent]

Feeling Night's Tempest descend to almost ground level, Krylvliktl stood up from the chair at her desk and carefully began to roll up the scroll she had been pouring over for half the night.  As she stored the scroll in the rack Data had installed for her, she felt the slight vibration indicating the plank had connected with the earth. So we're landing. She thought to herself, as she began to dress for the spring weather.

Moments later, a tall, dark skinned elf stepped onto the deck, just in time to see a small goblin ushering clockworks down below deck.  She half glided to the banister around the deck, her white hair blowing lazily in the wind.  She reached up, adjusting the priestly headdress and leaned slightly over the edge to see who would be first off the ship. And to catch a glimpse of the city before her, of course.  A smile crept onto her beautiful face as the sounds of the festival began to reach her ears.

After a few moments, she stood back up, and slowly smoothed the few wrinkles that had begun to form in her robes.  She straightened the Spider adornment on her waist and gave a slight nod, satisfied that the symbol would stay put even with the silken robes rustling through the breeze of the day.  Lifting her left hand to her lips, she lightly grazed a ring with her teeth and heard a soft click.

Data, are you heading into the city today?  I think I might see if they have any interesting tomes for sale. She whispers into the ring, knowing that its magic would transfer her message directly to the captain's ears.

[dither]

Arc awoke to the sounds of the festival and the city, half-naked and covered in grease. She yawned, stretched, groaned, and rolled over. She sat up with a yelp when something jabbed her in the back. She grabbed the offending item, which turned out to be a diabolical-looking pocket watch. Pressing the tiny button on the top, the spikes protruding from the watch retracted. Pressing it again caused them to extend again. Arc smirked and swung the thing around by its chain, which to her surprise, lengthened with a thought.

ARC, aloud, to herself
Well, that's clever. I don't remember designing this, I wonder where I... (She caught a glance of the near-empty bottle of gin on the workbench.) ...oh. Tinkering while under the influence again, was I? (She cast a cautious glance around the workshop. To her relief, she sees no one.) No blood ... no humours ... no viscera ... no disembodied limbs strewn about ... just me half-naked and covered in... (She sniffs the grease experimentally.) ...mechanical lubricant. Nobody got hurt then! All's well that ends well! (She grins triumphantly.)

Arc set the strange watch-flail down on the workbench and stretched again, yawning simultaneously. She bent down and touched her toes, and felt a twinge in her lower back. "Argh. Need to stop falling asleep in the workshop," she thought. She searched for a few moments to find her blouse, a midriff-baring thing of a stretchy, see-through, beige fabric, slipped her arms through and wrapped it around her shoulders, and buttoned it up haphazardly.

Peering cautiously out of the workshop, she tip-toed to the galley, snagged half a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a couple apples, wrapped them in her sari, and tip-toed back to her quarters. Outside, she could hear the sounds of the festival outside drifting on the wind, and she smiled as she sponged off the last remnants of the grease and brushed her hair. She fixed her hair in a bun so that it splayed out behind her and embellished it with a fancy clip she picked up in the last port. She admired herself in the mirror. "Too much?" she thought, "Or not enough?" Clearly settling on 'not enough,' she searched the cabinets for some rouge or powder, only to give up moments later in frustration.

ARC, cont'd
Well, I suppose I have something to fetch while we're in port.

Arc took another few minutes to choose a skirt to match her blouse, then transferred the food to a woven, net-like satchel, re-buttoned her blouse, and wrapped the sari around her waist, draping the end over her shoulder. Facing herself in the mirror once more, she sighed, then inhaled a breath of fresh confidence. She emerged from her room, drifted towards the gangway, and disembarked.

[Agita]

In the airship's kitchen, a solitary figure sat leaned back on a chair, so still that one might mistake them for dead at first glance. In reality, however, the Tempest's resident cook is simply napping away as he often does, his stillness belying the turmoil in his head. Obviously, he spent the night brooding over his two new books, staring at whatever it is he sees in the night sky, or both. He seems oblivious to the fact the ship has landed in a bustling port town - for now.

[spoiler]Just putting him in the scene for now until I get around to finishing the write-up (likely tomorrow or the day after that). Feel free to wake him in a suitably rude manner. [/poiler]

[Generic_PC]

Brilei smiled at the lamb joint larger than his head. Well, fine. You aren't all bad. Lazily swatting at the tiny dragon, Brilei continued "And, this joint was free, I guess. Where next? The magic shop, or back to the ship?" After a pause, he stated "Back to the ship then." chatting animatedly as he at the meat, seasoned with various spices.

[woodenbandman]

Walking out of his room at the back of the airship, Carson stretches and yawns. Wearing an outfit that would normally be worn by an idiot savant who has to be dressed by his father, also and idiot savant, his garb consists of a long black monkey jacket trimmed in red, boots made of owlbear skin that extend higher than his knees, and bright blue leather pants. He takes a moment to stretch and look around at his surroundings. He runs a gloved hand through his waist length, dark hair. Taking a deep breath, he breathes a contended sigh, and saunters up to Krylvliktl, his eyes smiling as politely as he can muster.

"Fine day, isn't it? Planning on taking part in the festivities? I know I am."

[spoiler]

Jacket, for posterity.



Boots like that.[/spoiler]

[AfterCrescent]

Krylvliktl lowers her hand as Carson strides up, knowing full well that Data's response will reach her ears.  She smiles slightly as she examines the man's outlandish outfit, and nods an acknowledgment when his saunter stops.

A beautiful day, in fact.  She turns slightly into the wind, allowing the breeze to blow through her her waist-long hair.  I may yet venture into town.  What festivities do you have in mind?

[dither]

Arc wandered from stall to booth to stall, browsing and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. She didn't remember the last time she'd felt this liberated by leaving the ship to do some casual shopping in a port. She sighed dreamily. Every so often she liked to rid herself of the grease and filth and get out of doors, where she could be seen amongst people, by people. A devilish smile crossed her face for a moment. Maybe she'd snag some pretty, young thing and drag him or her back to her bunk. Or, maybe find a little flophouse tucked away somewhere and just indulge her sultry fantasies for their entire stay in port. She mentally shrugged, "Maybe."

She'd been browsing for almost an hour and she hadn't found much that interested her. She purchased a local sequined blouse that caught her eye, and then she remembered she'd come looking for rouge. So disarming was the thought, that she nearly didn't step out of the way of a pickpocket, whose hand groped the air where Arc had been only a moment before. Arc continued walking as though she hadn't noticed, and the thief tried to "act normal," though Arc obviously wasn't fooled. She took note of the thief's hair, face, and build, and continued in her search.

Arc eventually found a booth selling cosmetics, and she purchased a variety of powders, mascaras, and rouge. It occurred to her that she might also seek out a perfumer, when she dodged the same pickpocket again. She got a better look at the thief this time around, though, and she smiled at the youth's attempts. She marked the youth out in her mind, and decided to keep an eye out for him if she saw him again. "Talented, but with no discipline," she thought to herself. "Remarkable that he's gotten to be as old as he has without getting caught." A beat. "Or, maybe he has been caught, and is simply too slippery for the local law enforcement?" She smiled at the thought.

Arc visually appeared to relax, as she concocted a plan to catch the thief off-guard. She let her shoulders drop, and walked slightly precariously; enough that a determined mugger would knock her over if he were to try and steal from her. She stopped scanning the area visually and let her supernatural awareness flood her mind with information. A dark and menacing voice rose up from deep within her subconscious: "Playing games, are we?" Arc shushed the mental voice aloud; a feeble tactic, as the voice would hear none of it. "Surely we have better things to do than flagrantly display our powers?" "There's nothing flagrant about this display of power, because there's nothing displayed about this power. I know what I'm doing," she smiled. "I'm testing the boy."

[woodenbandman]

Carson chuckles. "Madam, you do me disservice. I plan to carouse the town and hopefully find an activity that captures my fancy for a while. Perhaps a card game, or a gentleman's duel..." at which he draws his rapier and flits it about like a child with a butterfly net.

[AfterCrescent]

A gentleman's duel? Now that would be a sight to see.  I haven't seen one of those in a while.  And to be fair, I tire of hearing about the cards played below deck at night. No one ever seems to be satisfied with stopping while they're ahead. She laughs a most effeminate laugh.  If you go to duel, I could be persuaded to join you. I may even place a wager on your victory, assuming it's all in good sport, of course. Her laughter fades, but the smile remains as she waits for Carson to show whether he is truly a gentleman or not. Her own suspicions lay hidden beneath her pleasant smile.

[woodenbandman]

[spoiler]Do our characters know each other prior to this? I'm going to go with no. [/spoiler]

Carson returns her smile. "With your calming presence encouraging me, how could I fail? Your company would be most certainly appreciated. My name is Carson. What may I call you, my lady?"

[AfterCrescent]

[spoiler]They don't now.   That actually makes it more fun, since Carson's just seeing a drow instead of know what she really is. [/spoiler]

A slight, girlish giggle escapes her lips at Carson's compliment.  Whether she's genuinely flattered or teasing Carson is truly hard to tell.  She curtsies ever so slightly as she introduces herself, You may call me Krylvliktl, Lord Carson. Shall we be on our way? She turns slight towards the doors, which puts her at an awkward angle in the breeze, and allows her hair to softly blow to one side, pleasantly framing her face.  She stands, waiting for Carson to make the gentleman's next move.

[skydragonknight]

"Twenty-two degrees then." Data said, making an adjustment and the ramp. "There are some heavy supplies being unloaded and I thought to reduce the index of friction...perhaps I overdid it again."

He looks at Torque and evaluates the black-haired man. "I know I say this regularly, but you always remind me of the one who helped me build this ship. He was quite a mechanic, and knew more about non-magical devices than I did and no matter how good my devices were he always found some way to further improve them...unfortunately his knowledge of magic was quite limited." He pauses. "Have you been eating sufficiently? I'm going to have to tell the cook to increase your portions by 25%."

"While there isn't too much in the city to interest an engineer such as yourself, you really should take a break every now and again. Asturia has very interesting architecture from what I remember. Excuse me for a moment, I have to take care of something."

He walked back into the cargo bay where a man was operating a forklift and another was directing him. He spoke quiely to no one in particular while pressing a small indentation on one of his rings. "I'll be on the ship for a while still until it has been unloaded: some of the material is too dangerous for my men to handle unsupervised. Would you please check the notice boards for me again?"

A cabingirl(because we're equal opportunity) rushed down from the deck. "Uh, sir, the goblin died again." she said.

Data put his palm on his face and shook his head. "He'll find his way back. He always does. He is, stealthy or not, the perfect scout."

--
Meanwhile...

As the boy pickpocket was following the seemingly oblivious girl, a strong hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. "Look! It's the little thief! And I caught him!" says a large muscular man. "I finally caught you, you little punk. Now I'm going to make you pay for what you did...you're coming with me!"

He drags the boy thief kicking and screaming towards an alley. The nearby people glance at the two of them briefly, but turn back. Either they had heard about the pickpocketing going around, were afraid of the man dragging the boy away, or were just indifferent to the situation, it was impossible to say.

[Generic_PC]

Half way through the ham, Brilei heard screaming. "I finally caught you, you little punk. Now I'm going to make you pay for what you did...you're coming with me!" He stands up, and watches a tall man drag a child towards an alley. Then he smiles, seeing the back of Amanda's head, he runs towards her. As he gets to her, he starts talking, and in one breath, says "Did'ja see that boy get dragged off? He's pretty small, Arc. What'ja buy so far? I haven't bought anything, but I..." He pauses slightly. "stooooo- acquired a ham. Having fun?"

[Bozwevial]

Torque looked down at his frame as Data moved off. "The coat's not that big, is it?" He shrugged and made one final adjustment to the ramp, then sprinted down the stairs to the engine room. His quick steps abruptly stopped as he reached the door, and his last few steps towards it were slow, almost reverent. The crank wheel hissed, and the heavy door swung open to reveal the splendor of the exposed workings of the ship, marred in several places by stray cogs, wires, and the like. The tall engineer stood in the doorway for a few seconds, simply breathing in the smell of grease, friction, and metal, then vaulted over the walkway's railing, dropping down to the floor below and landing lightly amidst the flapping of his coat. Making a few adjustments of dials as he walked over, Torque reached the hammock slung between two coolant towers and began scooping up all manner of small devices scattered around the floor, stowing them in various places in his coat--inner pockets, up the sleeves, under the collar--then turned towards the walkway he'd vaulted from earlier. Bending his knees, he sprang upwards, shooting much farther into the air than logic or physics would dictate, and grabbed the railing, flipping over it to land squarely on the walkway.

"And the crowd goes wild!" he muttered, grinning sardonically as he walked back above deck, past Carson and Krylvliktl and down the newly adjusted ramp. Torque pulled his coat a little tighter around his rail-thin frame as he entered the bazaar. For all he knew, there might be a--

"--thief! And I caught him! I finally caught you, you little punk. Now I'm going to make you pay for what you did...you're coming with me!" The engineer stepped nimbly aside as a hulking man grabbed a nearby child and hauled him into an alleyway. A quick look around revealed no one paying too much attention to the pair, not even his shipmates standing not too far off. Damn, that brings back memories. Running with the Dangerfields, lifting my first purse, getting a beating so bad that I couldn't walk straight for...a week... Making an abrupt turn (and whipping around so dramatically that his flaring coattails nearly struck some of the nearby marketgoers), Torque strode into the alleyway after the pair and dropped his hand onto the man's shoulder. "You insolent wretch! Sir, I must apologize for my son's behavior--I've told him time and again that he's not to wander off without me. Can you believe the state of him? If he's stolen anything from you, I apologize and will gladly reimburse you."

[Agita]

Hadur awakened from his eerily still nap as the cargo ramp started seeing use and the Spring Festival grew louder around the ship. Shielding his eyes from the sun with his right hand, he peered out of the kitchen's window with a supressed yawn before remembering that they had been scheduled to arrive in Asturia today. Suddenly, a strong headache set in, but he hardly winced, merely placing his left hand on his temple. He was used to headaches, after all - he had been expecting one, even.
Knowing their captain would be in the cargo bay if they had landed, Hadur made his way further below deck to seek out his employer. "Good morning, Data. I see you're busy as always," He commented with his trademark polite smile, rubbing his head with his left hand. "Is there anything you would have me do, or should I go buy ingredients for today's lunch and dinner?"

[woodenbandman]

Carson snaps out of his daze. "Oh my. Excuse me, I was lost in thought just now." Carson extends his hand towards Krylvliktl and looks towards her to take his arm. "Shall we?

[AfterCrescent]

Krylvliktl smiles, almost shyly. But of course. She wraps her arm around his and places her other hand on his forearm.  Without a moment's thought, she quickly navigates her way through the ship and down the ramp, weaving around and in-between the merchants moving their goods on and off the ship, almost dragging Carson along.  When they reach the edge of Asturia's gates, she pauses, glances at Carson, half dragging behind her, and almost seems to blush, although it's hard to tell with her dark skin.

Oh, I'm so terribly sorry.  She removes her hand from his forearm and lightly brushes her robes, making sure she looks as clean as possible, and even attempts to straighten Carson's cloak for him.  Still keeping her arm wrapped in his she asks, Would you like to lead? I don't believe I would know where to find dueling grounds.