[Nexus] Crimson Tempest - Sky Pirates!

[Chaotic Bob]

This is the thread devoted to the sky pirates flying under the ship the Crimson Tempest.

The ship:

Spoiler

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The ship was designed with the above image as a base.
The most prominent feature, the flame ring, has been pushed forward towards the front of the ship, while a secondary, lesser flame ring was inserted towards the back. Auxiliary and surplus power supply.
Barriers, that can be turned off as necessary, are constructed around the rings to protect them from light attack.
Primary Elemental Entrapment Ring - PEER
Secondary Elemental Entrapment Ring - SEER

Cannons are installed along the ship, each connected to small elemental rift-batteries to the plane of fire, that allow them to launch bursts of augmented flame in projectile form.

The various rooms within the ship have been magically altered to be Larger On The Inside.
This allows for more ships in a smaller space, keeping the ship's fairly lean.

The Pirates:
{TABLE=head]Character|Player|Position
Kirk | Gulaghar | Captain
Vritra | DeB | Magitechgineer
Ermine | VampireRot
Rachel | Haruki
Chumley | Moff Chumley |Engineer
Two Patches | Hyozo
[/table]


They have only recently been recruited and the ship created, so more information will be added as it comes.

[Gullara]

Spoiler

Show

[Docks]

Jimmy the dock guard makes his usual rounds. He stops outside an old, run down boat house. He looks down at his papers. Hm, it's under new residence. He's not really sure why someone would want to buy this dump. Not his place to question. He's just got to make sure they have the papers.

Speaking of which, he knocks on the door. He taps his foot impatiently and end up knocking a second time before the door is opened. When it is finally opened a sharply dressed drow sticks his head out. "Hey, what can I do for you?"

Jimmy's not quite sure what to think of this. Why would this guy be buying a dump like this? There's been enough drow around though. He's probably with them, and who knows how they think?

"Need to see some documentation for this place." The guard asks. The drow smiles and pulls the papers from his jacket and hands them over. Jimmy examines them a moment and hands them back. "Alright, everything checks out. Have a good night."

"Thank you very much. You have a good night too." The drow nods and closes the door and Jimmy heads off.

...

"Alright, he's gone and the papers are good." Kirk announces to any of his fellow pirates that might be present.

The boat house is about as run down as it looks on the outside, but that's not important. What is important is the grand ship floating in the middle of the place, taking up most on the building. Vritra and Chumley did a fine job of constructing the Crimson Tempest.

I'll be making the thread soon enough. So we'll put the preliminary RP here.

[Docks - Pirate Headquarters]

Ermine is present! The pirate whistles admiringly at the flying ship, finishing her long and careful inspection of the Crimson Tempest and pretty much falling in love with it her.

"Now dis is a real beauty, a fine job. What be 'er name?"

[Docks - Pirate Headquarters]

Vritra moves back towards the ground, returning from her levitation-aided inspection of the Primary Elemental Entrapment Ring, PEER, suitably satisfied.
The Secondary Elemental Entrapment Ring, SEER, had been inspected moments before, with some mild adjustments made to keep it at a stable output and interactive point with the primary feed.

"We'll want to give the internal engines a couple more tests, but beyond that, it looks like everything is set and ready, Captain."
The name was irrelevant to her. They can solve that themselves.

[Pirate HQ]

Chumley's got a little desk set up in the corner, littered with paper. Everything's filled with tiny, illegible calculus. A battered calculator and a couple of reference books on permanent loan from the Inside library battle for space with a large, cobbled-together computer that Chumley hasn't bothered to put a case on. "The math checks out fine. If there's anything wrong, it's Vritra's fault." It's very offhand: no doubt they've kept up the banter throughout the ship's construction.

[Pirate HQ]

Chumley's got a little desk set up in the corner, littered with paper. Everything's filled with tiny, illegible calculus. A battered calculator and a couple of reference books on permanent loan from the Inside library battle for space with a large, cobbled-together computer that Chumley hasn't bothered to put a case on. "The math checks out fine. If there's anything wrong, it's Vritra's fault." It's very offhand: no doubt they've kept up the banter throughout the ship's construction.

[Pirate HQ]

"Excellent, excellent." Kirk grins as he surveys the ship. "Looks perfect. Let's hope it flies perfect as well." He glances at Chumley and Vritra. Those are two women he does not want to mess with. "As I'm sure it will."

He looks over at Ermine. "I was thinking the Crimson Tempest. How's that sound to you all?"

[Pirate HQ]

"The Adjective Noun. I'll give it a seven for tradition and a three for originality. Maybe a six for class, perhaps? Thoughts from the peanut gallery?"

[Pirate HQ]

Vritra glances over at Kirk and grins a little as he catches himself from a potentially dangerous verbal blunder.
A clever moment for the fellow, as a captain must have.
"As long as Chumley didn't miss a wiring connection, we'll be stable and off the moment you say 'Go'."

As for the name...
Mreh, doesn't really matter. A name's a name.
"It seems sufficient. Cliche or no."

[Pirate HQ]

"Sounds neat."

Ermine approves of the name! Though I don't know if she even knows what either word actually means.

[Pirate HQ]

Chumley and Vritra get a look. "The Crimson Tempest it is."

Kirk walks along its length, stopping at whatever means they have for getting up on the deck. Once he gets up there he surveys the deck and proceeds to enter his room on the ship.

[Pirate HQ]

"Right," says Rachel, arriving at the scene. "I'm here now. What next?"

[Pirate HQ]

Chumley'll give her cobbled-together computer a critical look, but settles on leaving it. Scooping up some of the presumably more important bits of paper from her desk, she follows Kirk onto the ship.

((What do their rooms look like? Did we implement my "bigger on the inside than the outside" idea?))

((I believe we would have went with whatever ideas that were suggested and agreed on, as well as other things that can be fleshed out later.))

Kirk comes out of his room just as Chumley gets on the ship. Somehow he's changed in the short period of time. He's wearing something and outfit somewhat Jack Sparrow-esque. His tricorn hat holds the same feather as his usual hat. It all looks worn and tattered. Kind of like something a ghost pirate would be found wearing.

"Excellent. Still fits perfectly." In addition to the outfit, a cutlass adorns his waist. No doubt his various knives still reside hidden in his clothing.

He calls over the side to Rachel. "Why don't you come aboard and get acquainted with the ship?"

[Pirate HQ]

"Hmph." Rachel says, eyeing Kirk's clothes. "Okay. Which room's mine?"

[Docked]

"Whichever one you want." Kirk answers Rachel most certainly not after an extensive delay. It's been like three seconds tops.

"Alright. So how about we take her out for a test flight?" The drow galances around. "Don't we have one more person." He calls down to Ermine. "Have you seen our last man? Two Patches, right?"

If he's a no show... Well, Kirk'd be the only guy on the ship. And this collection of women could make short work of him.

[Moff Chumley]

[The Ship]

Over the course of a couple of days, Chumley begins moving things into her berth aboard the Tempest. The ship's more arcane modifications allow for rather extravagant digs; Chumley opts for a more spartan look. On a large desk is a very obviously homemade, rackmounted computer, its electronics open to the elements. There's quite a bit of rackmounted gear; some of it handmade and some factory-built. A record player, a trio of large monitors, and a pair of speakers are connected to the rat's nest of cables behind the racks. Where the sound system ends and the computer begins is anyone's guess; what all that gear is for, and where Chumley got it, is worth a ponder.

[The Warehouse]

Chumley enters with an armful of esoteric-looking cables. "Think this is it. Hey, Kirk, how long are we gonna be stuck here?"

[Haruki-kun]

Rachel examines every corner of the ship. There just happens to be a pretty bigroom in one of the lower decks, which she immediately designates to become a shooting range, if she could only get a few dummies to shoot at. In any sense of the word.

After designating this room and picking her quarters, right at the bow of the ship below the main deck, she walks out onto the deck and looks down.

"Well, are we going or what?" she asks. She's acting cool, but it's hard to masquerade her excitement as patience.

[VampireRot]

[The Warehouse]

"Don't know where he be, cap'n."

Ermine looks up at Kirk and crosses her arms across her chest just in case the drow tries to peek or something. Her tail twitches in thought.

"Mebe he's lost. 'e was blind, after all."

Two eye patches makes you very pirate-y, but they aren't very practical. Ermine grabs onto a mooring rope (of course there are mooring ropes, don't be silly) and skillfully climbs up it onto the deck of the ship.

"Lets see what she can do, den."

The pirate will try to find the steering wheel, obviously being the most experienced with piloting ships. Even though a sky ship has no need of a tiller or a rudder, since it flies. <.<

[Gullara]

[The Warehouse]

"Alright then. We can't wait forever. Let's get her off the ground and see what she can do." Kirk goes to the bow of the ship. "Chumley, Vritra, start her up. Ermine, you know what to do."

The drow goes to the bow and takes a remote out of his pocket. He hits a button and the roof of the warehouse splits in the middle and begins to slide open. He turns around dramatically. A wicked grin spreads over his face. "Let's teach the Nexus that the skies aren't safe."

[VampireRot]

[The Crimson Tempest]

Ermine takes the wheel in hand and looks at the sky determinedly. Assuming Chumley starts the engines and stuff, she'll steer the ship so it leaves the warehouse smoothly.

"Let's get rich!"

[Moff Chumley]

[The Tempest]

Let's assume Chumley has some kind of cool control console to remotely run the engines and magitech functions, in a little enclosed space near the wheel. Let's call it the control room or something like that. Chumley leans over the panel, flicks a couple of switches and eyes the displays, and ship hums to life. Extremely self-satisfied smirk! "Awright, we're ready to go. Take 'er up, Ermine."

[Gullara]

[The Tempest]

The wind whips Kirk's ridiculous(-ly awesome) pirate outfit as they pull out of the warehouse. He takes a deep breath of the fresh air. Time to give them hell.

"Take her for a spin, Ermine! Let's see what there's to be seen!"

[VampireRot]

[The Tempest]

Ermine does indeed "take her for a spin". The pirate steers the ship around and parades her across Inside. She lets out a whoop of joy to finally have the wind whipping through her hair again, like it did on the sea ships she used to pirate on. The deck could use a bit more swaying, though.

"Where be our first target, cap'n?"

Ermine will point the ship in whatever direction Kirk tells her to point it.

[Moff Chumley]

Chumley'll keep up with whatever knob-twiddling is necessary at her end; she seems to have a paperback in hand. Is that... is that a paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged? Do they even make those? Oh wait, I get it. Adorable, Chumley.

[Gullara]

[I'm not sure location tags are necessary!]

Kirk points (dramatically) toward the edge of the city. "Let's get outside the city. Find ourselves a good target."

I imagine the next post can be made in Outside.

[Chaotic Bob]

Chumley handles remote functions, while it appears Vritra is moving about the ship and manually inspecting various parts as the ship moves along.
Making sure nothing is grinding or moving in ways that they shouldn't. And that they're moving in the first place. And not exploding.
And...this list is kind of long.

She's performing active inspections of equipment. Let's go with that.

[Gullara]

And after they are ready to go... they do. To Outside!

[Moff Chumley]

[Several Days Ago!]

Let's assume, hypothetically, Vritra's hard at work somewhere doing magic-y things around the ship. M'kay? I mean, it's sorta inevitable, isn't it? Is that fair? Cewl cewl. Anyhow, Chumley's been missing for about an hour or so, which is slightly out of character for her. Just when it probably occurs to people to go look for her, she reappears, wherever Vritra's working, in a puff of smoke! Or rather, a puff of smoke appears, probably caused by some cheap party store gag, and Chumley hops into the room after it. She's wearing a cape and a wizard hat, both blue and spangled. "Come one! Come all! Come and witness the AMAZING magic of the GRRRRREAT! AND POWERFUL! CHUMLEEEEEY!" =O

She seems to be attempting to avoid cracking up. Doesn't look like she'll be able to hold it in long.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Days Long Past]

Vritra pauses in place, left hand raises with a glowing little rod halfway to an intake valve of some sort.
She holds this position for a brief moment, then slowly looks towards Chumley with a very distinctly quirked eyebrow.

"Got a horn I can make fun of? Or are you a hack at pretending to be a bigger hack too?"

[Moff Chumley]

Chumley tosses the hat away and squirms outta the cape. "Eh, I only have so much energy for this joke. Look on your face was totally worth it, though." With an absolutely disgusting self-satisfied chuckle, Chumley begins to saunter from the room, residue from her smoke thingy probably not smelling great.

[Chaotic Bob]

Vritra's eyebrow remains quirked even as she pets the little fire-mouse hiding in her scarf.
And near-silently mutters a few choice words.

Just beyond the bend in the hall beyond, everything gets a teensy bit brighter.

Great and Powerful Chumley, meet Big and Flaming Hall Bear.

[Moff Chumley]

"Oh, you're mature." Chumley frowns at the bear and grabs her ever-present crowbar. Seriously, she carries it everywhere, it's a little weird. She takes a couple of steps back and comes to the conclusion that a crowbar probably won't be particularly effective against a fire-bear. However...

Fires are obviously a threat aboard the Tempest, especially during the construction phase. Therefore, Chumley made a point of carrying some form of deterrent whenever working, and never got out of the habit. She pulls an object from her jacket with her off-hand; it looks like a cross between a fire-extinguisher and a handgun. Squeezing the trigger, the bear should be doused with an improbable amount of compressed water, shot at quite large and most probably damaging velocities...

[Chaotic Bob]

The bear itself appears to have been a rather low grade flame elemental, made neither to be particularly threatening (have to be careful with the ship) nor particularly lasting.
The blast of water tears it apart quite nicely, little wisps of fire flaring out around the water, before fading away.

Back in the room, Vritra leans against the valve she was working on, while appearing to feed a little wood-chip to her pet.
"Look at that, the great and powerful Chumley can't handle a little Ursa Ignis without cheating."

[Moff Chumley]

"Feh. Magic itself is cheating. Can't solve your problems within the laws of physics, so you get rid of 'em? Lazy and irresponsible, y'ask me." Chumley stows her mini fire-extinguisher in her jacket. When she withdraws her hand, she's holding a lighter; it looks rather beefier than the conventional model, but it's still quite small. "Y'want fire, this is how you make fire." A complicated flick of the thumb, and the lighter emits a large burst of flame, unnaturally controlled and tight. It looks almost like a sword, for a moment, before it's dialed back down to a more conventional size. With her other hand, Chumley fishes out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a drag. "No laws of physics were broken in the ignition of this fine smokeable."

[Chaotic Bob]

"Why remove what can be altered? Magic is not so different from your engineering. You abuse and exploit conventions for your own ends, while we simply re-purpose them.
Everyone gets what they want."
Vritra smiles and eyes the cigarette.
"Although ours looks far more interesting."

It's possible that the cigarette will acquire an actual fire, once again, at the end of it.
Chumley obviously hasn't learned her lesson about smoking near her coworker yet.

[Moff Chumley]

Or perhaps she has! The cigarette flairs for a moment, but burning portion falls off anticlimactically, leaving the cigarette slightly smaller but still intact, and Chumley smiles blandly and takes another drag. "I will admit, I thought developing fireproof cigarettes would be a total waste of time, but I'm not regretting it at all."

[Chaotic Bob]

Vritra continues to smile and holds another little wood-chip up to her pet.
"I imagine I can keep burning off pieces longer than your cigarette can keep dropping them, however."

[Moff Chumley]

Chumley spreads a pocket open, and smirks at whatever's in there. "Betcha you'll get bored before I run out of cigarettes."

[Chaotic Bob]

Vritra's lips part into a more full-tooth grin, one of rather utter confidence.
"Is that a challenge?"

[Moff Chumley]

Chumley blows a smoke ring at Vritra and smirks. "Actually, I'm probably giving you too much credit. You are easily amused aren'tcha?"

[Chaotic Bob]

A finger is raised, to lightly carve the smoke ring into pieces and disperse them around Vritra's head.
"I can't help it when such laughable people insist on entertaining me."

[Moff Chumley]

Smirky smirk smirk. "Who's insisting? " Puffy puff puff. "Whatever happened to tolerance? Live and let live? Give peace a chance?"

[Chaotic Bob]

In any other situation this would probably be a very dire threat.
But it's Vritra.
They're frieeeeeends.
"You're not burning alive yet, are you?"