Redemption IC

[Seribro]

"Not an idiot." Snow shakes his head. "As a way to get him out of sight for a while. I suspect it was his oppinnion of the current ruler that truly deserved him this spot. They just needed an excuse. I am beginning to wonder whether or not they actually expect us to return from this journey. In fact, I am beginning to wonder about it myself. We got lucky this time. If not for Grumpy, we would all be dead by now. You two just got lucky that freaking priest did not call his fellows to beat you down. We are not a strike force. Were a ragtag group of criminals. The cat is flexible, the gnome got some fine moves and mister Sniffer here has some nice illusions. But we are all vulnerable and none of us can really stand a chance in battle on his own. We wanna make it back alive? Then we will have to start working together. No more running off to do your own tricks or stuff like that. If they had swarmed the ship en mass, me and Grumpy would have been dead before the two of you even reached that priest. And without Grumpy, our kitten wouldn't be with us anymore either..."

The big guy doesn't yell, doesn't point, doesn't even look up. In fact, his voice sounds soft and actually sad rather then angry. It is as if he isn't judging or convicting, but simply summing up tha sad facts. Perhaps it is, in fact, the absence of anger that bares the most condemning words of all...

Then he finnaly lifts his head. A shadow lies over its eyes. And yet, the face smiles. Not wicked or malevolent or even with pleasure in it. No, just a serene, soft and almost pleasant smile.

"Lets make sure we make it through this. All of us, together as family. A twisted, malfunctioning and probably even psychotic family, but a family none the less. Do you agree?"

[Tacitus]

Thoven

Still swaying from side to side the gnome was indeed listening, and actually heard Snow in the exact moment he said what he was saying instead of somehow lagging behind. However, he couldn't help but laugh, "I don't know about getting through this as a family, but I'm willing to dodge death if one of ye will trip it for me." He chuckles and crosses his legs in his chair before leaning forward, "Just don't expect me to not fly away if something wants to eat me, for I am crunchy and taste good with ketchup." He pauses, "What the hell is ketchup?"

[Mavian]

Flipping through the papers on the table, Wilhelm pulls one out and flips it towards Mr. Snow

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He was in a small group, tracking a wagon or two full of looters, murderers, arsonists, and other foul things. They caught up to the caravan rather quickly, and when they engaged them, the paladins did when the fight, albeit it was a close one. The paladins all survived, but only Folip and a cleric who was tending their wounded were still up and about. Some murderers were still alive, but only two managed to escape on one horse. One of the murderers felt they were being slowed down, so he kicked the other one off as dead weight. Folip's superior officer ordered him to chase down the fleeing criminal. Instead, he tended to the other murderer's wounds, wounds that were fatal even before he was pushed off a horse. The other one got a way. Not that big of a deal, but his officer had a stick up his bum, made a big deal of his order being directly disobeyed, and got him this as punishment. The author of the letter comments on how he does find his compassion to even criminals great, he needs to learn proper respect for the voice of authority, and even hints that the health of criminal is never a concern.

"Here's his official reprimand." He digs in pile again for a moment, pulling out another sheaf of papers, "And here is his actual orders for the mission, if you guys want to know what we're getting into. I also got a nice little dossier on our 'family'"

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The Dwarf contact, a merchant and ambassador by the name of T'nacrim, is supposed to 'help' the negotiations. Force might be asked for, hence the criminals. If the artifact has anything to do with smashing gates or keys, the paladin is not required to return. If it's really important, he's not required to check in

[Seribro]

When mister Snow holds the first paper closer, since he hasn't got his reading glasses on him, he smiles and nods. Punishment for having a mind of his own. He is okay.
When he picks up the second parchment, the smile swiftly fades away and a dark and angry shadow takes its place.
I knew it. Those bloody bastards deserve to be severed from the gods! Well, what ever this artifact is, we will obtain it and deliver it just as we promised. And if they don't want the dwarf to return to them, all the better. In fact I think it would be best if NONE of us would make the journey home to deliver the "package" in person. Wilhelm, can you put the papers back where you found them whitout the dwarf knowing about it? And I suggest we let the pain ball issue rest for now. We will go allong with the mission as we signed for. I will try to talk some sense in the dwarf in a civilized way. I believe we might be able to convince him to see things our way. By the end of this mission, I promise you all, we will not only regain our freedom, but also claim some wealth and revenge on the authorities who put us into this mess. But first, we need to do something about that hole. You guys do what your good at, I'm going to check the damage.

The Owl stands up and walks of to check on the damage in the hull of the ship.

[Nowhere Girl]

Seraphina, who was in the process of returning to humanoid form, pokes her head in abruptly to pick up and read the papers herself. Her expression darkens, too, as she reads.

"But that's stupid! So what's the big deal that he stopped to help?" Mockingly, hands at her cheeks and eyes wide with "horror," she adds, "Oh no, he didn't follow an order! Oh, the world is going to end! Oh, alas!"

She rolls her eyes and throws the paper aside in disgust. "Stupid!"

Darkly, and sounding as though she's really only half-kidding, she adds after a moment, "Hunh, we oughta get the artifact an' then make sure they can't have it."

[Siric]

Mr. Snow

You eventually make you're way down to the source of the explosion. It's quite a sight, as a plethora of burn marks and bits of metal is sprawled out across the room. Near the wall, or rather, where the wall should be, is a large mechanical device, obviously the source of the explosion. Largely complicated, and unsure what it's purpose is, it's definitely technology from Yolinchet. This is confirmed when you see a small halfling woman crawl out from underneath it.

"Infernal Engine! Why do they always blow up!" She looks around for something, until she looks under the engine, at which point she pulls out a board, parchment, and a pen. Continuing her inspection, she wrights furiously on the parchment, apparently not even noticing your presence as you stand in the archway.

[Seribro]

Mr. Snow lets out a small cough to make his presence noted in order not to startle the woman.
"Pardon me for asking, but explosives have always interested me. Could you spare a moment to enlighten me about what this machine does and how he does it?"
The Owl looks at the contraption with fascination and rubs his chin as in thinking. He never had much knowledge about mechanics, but if it is capable of blowing such impressive holes... That is always an interesting subject!

[Siric]

Mr. Snow

The small halfling jumped slightly at his voice. But once she heard the request, a big smile came over her face. Halflings always like talking.

"I don't know how much you'll be understand, so, I'm just going to jump into this. In Laymen's Terms, we use coal to heat the boiler, boiler and steam to turn the wheel, the wheel to turn the gears, the gears to turn the paddlewheel, which then pushes the boat forward." Frustration begins to fill her face. "We don't know why it explodes. It does nice and fine until it hits a nice speed, at which it explodes. I have a theory, involving..." at this point, she forgets you're there, and begins uses words, phrases, equations that, at this point, makes since to no one but her.

Mavian
Out of the corner of your eye, you see the Paladin, making his way back to the table...

[Mavian]

Nodding to himself, Wilhelm quickly sweeps all the papers into a pile and stashes them in his pockets.

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Sleight of Hand: (1d20+9)[12]

"Well hello again, what brings you up on deck again? I was just heading down to look at this hole we've developed."

[Seribro]

Mr. Snow mumbles to himself as he lets the theory of the machine sink in.
A contraption that paddles on its own, driven by heated water. Ingenious! A row boat can make good speed, but it is slowed down by the fact that the move is not continuous and that the rowers go tired. But why does it blow up when it is making up speed? Steam on itself is not explosive, nor are coals. It should not blow up. But then again, an explosion is a rapid expansion of air. You can blow up a container from the inside out simply by cousing a strong enough shock wave. A pressure wave... PRESURE! The very fact of causing strain! A rower training its muscles and perfecting its technique can go faster then an averag rower. But he can push himself only so far before the water he needs to move to make himself get up to speed becomes to much to push himself further. No matter how strong he trains his muscles and how long he trains on his technique, there comes a point where the water becomes just to much of an uphill pressure to gain any more speed. If he forces himself to go beyond that point, he will break down his arms because his body can not handle the stress. THAT is what is causing the machine to explode! The water he moves when he reaches up to speed becomes so much of a pressure that it presses the gears and wheels propelling the paddle wheel out of their line up. The machine locks up and the steam pressure builds up so high that the container can no longer hold it!
If you want to push the machine further, you will have to reinforce the container so it can stand higher pressures and you must redesign the hull of the ship so that it can cleave the water like a knife, or even better, have it lift itself over the water to lessen the drag the water is causing. Yes find a way to make the ship move through the water more fluidly and strengthen the container that builds up the pressure and the machine will be able to opperate at much higher speeds!
Then he suddenly seems to remember something and offers out his hand
Forgive my bad manners. They call me Mr. Snow.

[Nowhere Girl]

"My rescuer!" Seraphina squeals, immediately glomping onto the paladin's arm, "coincidentally" making an enormous distraction of herself. "I never got to thank you for saving my life," she purrs, planting a big kiss on his cheek, on the side nearest Wilhelm, so that the gnome won't be able to look directly at the trickster human for at least a few moments unless he actually shoves her off of him.

[Mavian]

Wilhelm

Standing up Wilhem exaggerates a yawn and rubs at his eyes.

"I do believe the battle with the pirates has strained my magical abilites to the utmost. I'm going to go see if we can do anything about this hole so I can can get some sleep tonight to replace them."

Nodding slightly to Serphina, Wilhelm bows to the Paladin before disappearing down the stairs towards the hole in the bottom of the boat.

[Tacitus]

Thoven

The gnome seemed to have fallen asleep in his chair.

((I'm a bit busy. Work hit me like a ton of bricks and my back still hurts two days later. >.< ))

[Siric]

Mr. Snow
The little one rejects the hand at first. "Aye, but the more you reinforce it, the heavier it gets! We designed on for a warship, now that, that's a beut. And it doesn't blow up! Expensive as hell though. Not quite ready for the market. This, this was supposed to be a smaller, cheaper version of the previous one, but as you can see, it's.. explode-ish." She looks down at the clipboard, "Mr. Snow, eh? Ah, you're supposed to be a dangerous one... and I'm supposed to formally offer you a job. Someone of you're... creativity and recklessness is of high interest to my superiors. You just need to get done with this... business first."

Everyone else
Wilhelm swiped his hand across the table, grabbing all but one sheet. Luckily, through the combined efforts of Seraphina's dramatic action, and Thoven's snoring, the paladin didn't seem to notice Wilhelm go for that last sheet.

As Wilhelm began to leave, Folip began muttering a few words, causing his Monstrous Spider to appear. The spider begins to carry Thoven down below deck.

Quickly after, the Paladin runs up to Wilhelm. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about! Look, once we couldn't summon our mounts, do to the planes closing off, some of our Archmages made a demiplane that acts as a... stable. It's rather complicated process on how we acquire our new mounts... That's not the point. Could you think of something like this happening? Could the Orc have found (or created, but I doubt that), a demiplane that allowed him to summon... or something? It still doesn't make since why they wouldn't return..."

As the paladin rambles on, Wilhelm sighs subtly. He'll have to distract the paladin somehow, or return the papers before everyone's quite awake.

[Mavian]

"Well, I'm not as knowledgeable on the field of the planes as some scholars, but if your asking my opinion on the matter, I'll answer you to the best of my abilities. As we all know, Orcs are stupid, vile, and completely lacking in the mental faculties that would allow them to even conceive of such a demi-plane, let alone construct one out of their own meager-spellcasting abilities. I'd have to say, and you must take this with a grain of salt, as I've been out of the field for quite awhile, that is my learned opinion that the orc's summons were most likely the by-product of some pact made with another group of people to establish an alliance with the demons who dwell in the abyss.

As for why the creatures did not return to their own fell plane upon their demise I can offer nothing, unless the orc did not summon them with one of the more commonly used spells of the summoning variety. I have heard, but not seen you understand, of some archmages making deals with either celestial or abyssal powers to achieve some end, but normally these casting require an amount of intelligence and will far beyond what your common variety orc can achieve."

He stops for a moment, and feigns having a spontanous flash of brilliance.

"Of course... it all make sense now.... that orc we faced was no orc, but instead the servant of some dark power that had been banished from his plane for some reason, merely taking the form of an orc to persuade us that it was more harmful then it really appeared." He turns to Seraphina and gasps, "My word, you have just tangled with a fiend of hell and come away alive, not many people have the ability to say such a thing"

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Bluff Check (1d20+11)[13]
Watch it be a one,
Or a two, that was the other option *mutters*

[Nowhere Girl]

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Sense Motive: (1d20+11)[18] (or, God forbid, Sera might believe it herself ...)

Seraphina, completely losing herself for a moment in Wilhelm's lengthy explanation, goes wide-eyed for just a moment when he offers up his "revelation" to her, then catches a subtle eye movement that tells her he's being somewhat less than honest.

"Wait, but I ... I mean, come to think of it, I guess it did smell a little like brimstone ..."

[Nowhere Girl]

And since that was a lie ...

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Bluff: (1d20+2)[17]

[Seribro]

Mr. Snow shrugs. Its always good to know people have interest for your skills. But that does mean they had to survive this trip first and one of the reasons why it was them here instead of a battalion was because their employers did not expect them to survive the trip. Or at least that several soldiers had allredy died for this or similar missions. To cut things short, "getting done with this business" was a pretty high requirement.

"So, we have any spare wood to seal this hole with?"

[Siric]

Engine Room

"....seal the whole?! If you do that, do that without messing anything up. This room technically belongs to Yolinchet, and some guys get really... scary about details." With that, she finally shakes Mr. Snow's hand, palming a small, blank, rectangular card, whispering "The information appears at will... it's quite a lot..."

As she walked off, the Paladin, Seraphina, and Wilhelm walk in, mount and gnome not to far behind. He constantly looks at the two of them, believing one but not the other. "Bah. Demon lord... Hmph." Not really saying is opinion on the matter. "So, we covering this hole or what? I really don't think there's any spare wood besides furniture!"

[Seribro]

Mr. Snow frowns at the statement. Actually, he frowns at all the statements! First of, if they are so sensitive about this room, why the hell build an unstable machine in it that can blow holes through thick hull planks. What the hell was supposed to be "appearing at will" on this card? Although he does believe it best to subtle slide it into his pocket when he hears the others approach... And now this!
"What kind of captain doesn't think of bringing some spare material for emergency fixing? Hell I rarely even set foot on a ship before and even I know that there are allways some mishaps aboard these floating coffins! Any ways, I wasn't planning on sitting 'hole-duty' for the rest of the trip. Lets see what we can spare... I suggest we use one of the **** "



****= if the wall the hole is blown into is pretty much flat, he suggests using one of the doors for spare wood. If the hole is in a more curved part of the ship, he suggests dismantling one of the live boats.

[Siric]

((I just thought I'd explain one thing. They want the room untouched, because as scientists (Ish), they want to analyze every part of the room, and study every little bit. They can compare it to other explosions, and measure its severity, to see if they are closer or further from there goal. *shrug*))

"Wood on a boat? Honestly? That's ridiculous. One doesn't have time to make repairs on a boat! You either Fight or sail! That's the way of the sea! But, Aye, doors should work just fine lad. Here, I'll give ya a hand."

((There's no need to progress this further, if we want to jump to the doors being sealed, and turning in for the night *shrug*))

[Tacitus]

Thoven

The gnome, he sleeps.

[/imherepost]

[Seribro]

((Hey, if doing some emergency repairs enables us to go to bed at the end of the day, then screw the scientists! Taking a 16 hour shift is already bad enough, they are most certainly not going to add hole-guard duty to the list of jobs to be done on the ship. Besides, in bad weather it could actually cause the ship to make so much water it would actually tip over... Seal it and go to sleep is what I would do.))

[Nowhere Girl]

Seraphina cheerfully goes along with the plan -- doing her level best to make the guys do all of the actual work, though.

Then ... sleep!

[Mavian]

Using Unseen Servants to do his part of the job, Wilhelm leans against the side of the deck and yawns, before heading off to sleep.

[Siric]

((Check out the OOC.))

[Siric]

((I guess this constitutes as the second session))

The night went by rather slowly and uneventfully. As the morning rolled by, the ship began to roll into port. The port, for the most part, is just a dock with a road that leads to a tunnel. As soon as all of you are ready to depart, the paladin leads you down into the tunnel, which branches off into more tunnels, each with a dwarven designation. As the Paladin navigates his way (he's obviously been here before), you see a map of the tunnels. The map's large enough to view the entire system, but as you take a glance at the scale, you noticed that it's an insanely detailed map of just one 'sector.'

It wasn't too long until Folip brought you to a closed ticket booth guarding the entryway to a transit. "Humpf. Looks look like we missed our ride. Onwards! to the local inn!"

[Tacitus]

Thoven

The less well collected of the two gnomes waddles along in the back of the group with his eyes much too wide. He's not terribly interested or shocked by anything he sees but seems to simply have his eyes open much too wide for his own good. Were one to look they might find dilated pupils and bulging veins across his sclera as he examined the walls. As he walks he reads each and every sign that he passes by out loud in giant simply because its a much better way to pass the time than one would otherwise. Within his rambling he mixes in a single sentence in dwarven, "These dwarves would have a much higher revenue if they exported mushrooms to other people. I think a great many people would enjoy mushrooms that could be built in some of these tunnels. What? Stop looking at me like that. Corridor 12b-west Smitherson."

He continues until they arrive at one might suspect to be their intended destination, speaking in Sylvan, "Can't we just wander past the crazy booth? I don't like booths. They aren't natural. If I were a crazy man I'd burn the booth. How the hell am I supposed to find good things to brew with in a damn booth?" He then shifts to Gnomish, "Inns too. Nearly as bad as booths. Where the hell are we..."

[Seribro]

"Figures... I thought you dwarves were renown for your patience and all... Must have been mistaken with elves then. Lets grab a bear then. You know how to contact your man?"
Owlbear shifts the load on his back a bit and his face shows a tormented glance.
The old man may be strong and heavy build, but he is still an old man. His back had begun to feel sore as it has been a long time since he last had made such a journey, let alone with full package.
"I hate sea-faring, tunnel-walking and bad coordination."
"Yeah well, atleast its something different. If I remember correctly, you also hated being in prison, eating old bread and the stench of your room-mate."
The black bird replied.
"Maybe, but atleast the bread and scruff-face were easily dealt with, with a few coins in the right pockets."