[Nexus] NO XIII: Do Clockwork Penguins Dream of Mechanical Fish?

[Morty]

[Main Room]

"Nope, I don't have any hats," Dipsnig says.

[Lex-Kat]

{Main Room}

Damn. And Bianca steps into a shadow and disappears.

[Hattish Thing]

[Main Room]

The door opens and Dipsnig is waiting there for Clegg.
"About time... we're ready to go here. The other memeber should be here shortly."

Clegg stands and nods at Dipsnig. Aye. I brought me own members along a' wel', don' worry, ye'll still b' getting yer payment, along with th' other member. He smiles again, his nasty little sea creatures moving about in his mouth, and down his throat.

[Main Room]

A tall, wizardly gentleman follows behind Clegg, and gives Dipsnig a bow of greeting. The tall man isn't really a man at all - he's a grey elf, and part machine at that. His limbs appear to consist mostly of pig iron and copper wire, with ball-based joints to ensure a full range of motion. A patchwork cloak hides an array of spell components and his modest tunic.

The harbinger of magitech smiles at their host, wrapping the cloak tighter about his thin shape. "I've been hired as the house wizard for this expedition. You are Dipsnig Razortooth, I presume?"

[Main Room]

"The one and only," Dipsnig says. "Our employer didn't mention that he'd be taking anyone else along. But so long as our payment stays the same, it makes no difference."

Clegg nods again, before crunching on a crab he just grabbed from his pocket, the goo dripping off his chin.
Clegg really has no manners.
Thi' be our wizerd, as 'e's sai'.
I 'ave i' on good authority he'll be very useful. Espescially if we encounter anythin' too powerful fer weapons t' 'it...

Main Room

Zane should be an assassin, his ability to find shadows and corners is almost eery.
After observing the entrance of his fellow party members, he'll step out of his hiding place and approach Clegg. Thenardier, care to introduce me to the rest of the party?

Clegg seems to jump about three feet when Zane speaks his old name. 'Ow dare ye?! He aims a pistol, fury in his barnacled face. 'Ow dare ye call me by tha' name! Never.....eve'....ever call me tha' again. Undastand, boy? He snarls before placing his pistol back in his coat and turning away. Grr....Zane, meet Sticks, Sticks meet Zane, Zane mee' Forgan, Forgan mee' Zane. Dipsnig mee' me, Me mee' Dipsnig. Me mmet....me meet....um...me....Bah!

He promptly shuts his mouth.

[Main Room]

Forgan Shieldbreaker closely follows Captain Clegg and the wizard inside.
From he can see, he was working with an unusual group. He was a bit surprised to see a drow, but then again who wouldn't be surprised to see a half-giant in the group.
"I'm Forgan Shieldbreaker by the way, for those who haven't met me." Forgan announced before taking a deep breath.

Clegg just nods after his outburst. 'Ello Forgan....so, Dipsnig. Where's thi' member?

[Murkus]

[Main Room - Clegg's Job]

"Unless you and your friends can breath water, Mister Razortooth, I think I'll prove very useful," Sticks says with a vaguely Latin accent, a bit smug. He smiles around at the assembled company. "Well, lady and gentlemen? Shall we get moving?"

[Morty]

[Main Room]

"As a point of fact, we can," Dipsnig says as he reaches into his pockets. He retrieves three differently-sized breathing apparatuses. "I had our engineer make them."

[Lab]

At another time, a plotclone of Dipsnig once more directs his steps there to see what Rilla did with his weapons.

[Aric Kale]

My apologies Captain. I did not realize it would cause offence. Zane then gives a short bow to everyone else. Pleasure to work with all of you, I'm sure.

[Halae]

[Lab]

When the goblin knocks, he'll hear, "Dipsnig? Come in, come in! I'm just testing a few of the ehnchantments. You'll get to see them in action."

Assuming Dipsnig enters, strewn about on the table are a series of bolts carved with various runes, and Rilla is struggling with the pull of his crossbow. Her arms are kind of noodly, and crossbows tend to be difficult to pull back, even with a crank.

she's currently left her (now surprisingly singed) labcoat on a chair off to the side, and at the moment she's wearing a long sleeve shirt of some undefinable black material and what appear to be cargo pants with tools and odd bobs and bits sticking out of the pockets.

If he so chooses, Dipsnig will be able to help her with the crossbow. She's having that much trouble.

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Let me help you with that," Dipsnig says as he walks up to her. If she allows, he'll pull the crossbow's lever with a well-practiced move.

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla frowns at her inability to get it by herself, but won't object to Dipsnig taking over. The crossbow is successfully loaded. Huzzah!

"Borr, take position," she says, and her golem moves to bring a heavy wooden archery target over. Rilla waves her hand in the air for a moment, and a blue shield will surround the target like a bubble. "Go ahead and fire the bolt that's already loaded at the target. I doubt I'd be able to hit it properly, myself."

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Alright."
Dipsnig raises the crossbow, aims and pulls the trigger. The bolt is launched in the target's direction.

[Halae]

[Lab]

When the bolt hits the blue bubbles around the target, something interesting will happen. The blue forcefield will shatter as the bolt passes through it, with wisps of energy passing into the bolt's head when it enters the target.

And then the bolt will explode

Rilla will take a step back in surprise. That wasn't supposed to happen! It was just supposed to absorb the magic. But it overloaded? Wait, brilliant!

"It's meant as a mage killer. Eats their defenses and when it explodes, it'll be just them without their protections and a whole lot of shrapnel."

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig also steps back when the bolt explodes. He can tell from Rilla's reaction that it was not supposed to happen. She's pretty good at pretending it was, thogh. Either way, he's not going to press the issue. Engineers can be touchy about their inventions.
"That's pretty ingenuous. After all, a bolt can only contain so much magic. Might as well put it to use. Looks like it will be quite handy."

[Halae]

[Lab]

"After seeing it in action, I'm thinking I'm going to add a secondary rune to force all the splinters forwards. It may be a bit dangerous for the marksman otherwise. It'll be difficult, but I think I can manage the telemetry." She waves a hand towards the other types of bolts on the table, "each of these carries a different sort of enchantment. This one," she points to one with a blunt head, "Will produce ooze on a high impact, causing the entire area to be covered in sticky goo. I'm sure you can come up with a use for that." She points to another, "This type of bolt should immolate in the air, and become a small fire elemental by the time it reaches the target. I haven't figured out how to install a control mechanism yet, so be wary of that." she points to the next, and final, type of bolt, "finally, this one should create a field that disrupts psychic sources and mental connections between individuals. it's your do-all anti-psychic weapon, as long as they stay within the bolt's area of effect. I imagine if it's sticking out of their arm, though, they'll have a hard time getting away."

[Murkus]

[Main Room]

"As a point of fact, we can," Dipsnig says as he reaches into his pockets. He retrieves three differently-sized breathing apparatuses. "I had our engineer make them."

"Has your engineer accounted for the water pressure? Perhaps the temperatures?" Sticks says, raising his old brows pointedly. "I'm much cheaper than a submersible, Mr. Razortooth. And since money is all you sellswords care about, I think we'll be very useful to one another." Sticks raps his staff once and turns to the door. "Make haste, gentlemen. Our treasure rusts by the hour."

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Psychics? Good, very good. They can be aggravating." Dipsnig now imagines DC flailing helplessly while this bolt sticks out of his arm. "Is the fire elemental one safe for testing here?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Main Room]

Dena tries her best to not look impatient but this adventure were looking less and less appealing by the second. People only hired this many adventurers if they expect a difficult task which also meant a smaller share. Not to mention the wizards and the mechs usually got all the glory, all she could do was to sneak and fight, not solve every problem with a device or a spell.

She starts to lean against the wall, watching the other talk among themselves, for now she will wait until this trainwreck were going anywhere before she joined in. The more they talked, the less chance of them getting anywhere.

Hallways

"Well, that depends you know. The last two that visited my room were two furry lesbians that I had to fight off dressed only in a bath towel. That was quite an epic battle as you can imagine." Dena replies with a grin as she confidently strides through the hallway

[Morty]

[Main Room]

Dipsnig waves his hand.
"Yeah, let's go. We've spent enough time talking."

[McBish]

[Front Door]

A muscular looking man in a black suit steps out of a car with tinted windows and walks up to the front door and knocks. The car waits for him and he scans the area as he waits.

[Aric Kale]

[Main Room]

Dipsnig waves his hand.
"Yeah, let's go. We've spent enough time talking."

Zane nods. [COLOR="purple"]Aye, when are we setting off Cap'n?[/COLOR.]

[Halae]

[Lab]

"Psychics? Good, very good. They can be aggravating." Dipsnig now imagines DC flailing helplessly while this bolt sticks out of his arm. "Is the fire elemental one safe for testing here?"

[Lab]

"That was my first test," she says, pointing towards the singed labcoat, "Borr had to destroy the elemental before it caused more damage."

Well, at least she's progressing quickly.

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Then I'll make sure I'm careful using it. All in all, those bolts look very useful," Dipsnig says. "Good work. Have you done anything with my daggers?"

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla shakes her head, "Not yet. My time's been spent on the bolts thus far; I figure they're more important, so I'm trying to put more attention towards them."

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig nods.
"Makes sense. Those knives really are a last resort, since if an enemy is this close to me, something has gone wrong."

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla smiles and leans against the table, "So yeah, progress is moving. Anything else you wanted?"

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig shrugs.
"Nothing right now, I think. How are you liking it here, all in all?"

[Halae]

[Lab]

"I get the privacy I need to get my experiments done; CB is something of a gargoyle, scaring away the unwanted intruders. It's nice to be able to simply work as I will." Rilla says.

[Morty]

[Lab]

"That's good to hear. Some of the memebers here are pretty decent people, though, you might want to meet them. But it's up to you, of course. And I'm not sure if you've noticed the wolves wandering around the place, but either way they're perfectly tame." Dipsnig knows that most people are a little put off by big furry wolves indoors.

[UncleWolf]

Hallways

Bramwell staggers for a second, blinking and apparently dazed before smiling. "Sorry, I don't believe I heard anything after your story. Any chance of it being acted out again?" He jokes with a chuckle.

[Time for Never]

A Shadar Kai warrior will follow the suit of the muscular suited man at the front door and knock on it as well. After waiting for a few moments and not having anyone come to answer it, he will attempt to enter assuming no security attempts to halt him. If he is permitted entrance he will then take a look around the main room and observe it while he waits for somebody to come. That doesn't seem likely though, seeing as how the near entirety of NO just left on a pony-saving escapade.

[Gullara]

[Entrance]

The entirely of NO is not in fact gone. For example, this player in particular has two characters who are members of NO and not gone on a mission, and he knows others do as well. So the warrior will have to wait for the door to be answered, rather than godmodding his way into the base.

When it is answered, he'll find a sharply dressed drow there to greet him. "Can I help you?" He asks as he leans on the door frame.