Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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liefone
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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''Alright, to the woods we go! So what do we expect to find their, apart from other pirates?'' Leana asks.
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Well, we were expecting to find archaeologists, but after that bone, I'm not so sure," Rip said. He checked around on the ground, couldn't find any other bones that might match this one. How did it get here, separated from the body that had supplied the flesh? Hard to tell, but ...

"Let me try a little magic here," he said, hoping he could remember the spell. A long time ago, he'd audited a class on "Fundamentals of Thaumato-Forensics," largely because he'd had the hots for the very comely instructor. (He tried not to remember what had happened on the infamous third date. Suffice it to say there wasn't a fourth one.) One of the basic tools of that trade was a simple "Affinity" spell that was used for reconstructing a crime scene. It ought to be useful here.

"When I give you the signal, toss that bone vertically into the air," he told Shorty, handing him the body part. "Then watch where it lands. The spell will deflect it in the direction of the nearest bone it was hooked up to, or tendon or ligament or whatever. Ready? One ... two ... THREE!"

It occurred to Rip as he cast that he should probably have been a bit more careful with his instructions. He'd wanted Shorty to just toss the bone ten feet or so into the air, and the spell would deflect it maybe five feet in the direction they needed to go. They'd then repeat the process until the bone homed them in on its nearest articulating mate, Rip ran out of energy to cast the spell, or the group lost interest.

What he forgot was that the enormous airman had been a world-class javelin thrower in his youth.

On Rip's signal, Shorty reared back, let out a thunderous "UNNNNGGGGHHH!", and propelled the misguided missile a good three hundred feet straight up. The spell worked, anyway; an unseen force gripped the bone, carrying it far away, far away, from the group and into the forest. Rip watched in awe as it hurtled to earth somewhere far enough into the trees that he couldn't see the landing site. Shortly there was a thwok as it re-entered, followed by a high-pitched, bestial snarl from the re-entry zone.

"Well, thanks a lot ... I guess," Rip said through clenched teeth, as he tried to remember his defensive magic.
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liefone
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" Leana exclaims quite giddily, "Is it a... Ummmm, dammit what do you call those..." She says irritated, and snapping her fingers.

"... Oh ya kitty! If it is, can I keep it!" She asks with her hands behind her back looking up with attempting to look cute, but with a rather creepy smile.
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Cave lion, from the sound of it," Rip said. "We can take it easily enough. Thing is, though, that can't be the only badass thing in there. It wouldn't have been enough to waste the whole crew of the Queen A, let alone Nikolaitis' whole party too. There's something worse around, and we don't know what it is yet. First things first, though."

He was interrupted by another snarl, which developed into a very definitely lionish roar. Yep, that was a cave lion, all right, and it was heading their way. "Hey, Tom, you got any good recipes for fried lion?" Rip asked dryly; there probably wouldn't be enough left of the thing after they got done with it to bother with, but waste not, want not.
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liefone
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Awwww, no pet kitty for me..." Leana says with a little pout.
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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Of the melee that ensued when the cave lion emerged from the forest, really, nothing more need be said. After all, it was facing a berserk girl mage (or whatever she was) with the ability to cast incinerating lightning, somehow; a Tsuirakuan with a pistol to go along with whatever offensive magic he'd learned ages ago; a Farrelite armed for bear (or lion) who was actually larger than the lion was; and above all, the force that struck the eventual killing blow: a 14-year-old cook armed with a frying pan. And a parrot. Seriously, the poor beast didn't stand a chance.

"Well, looks like I was half right," Rip said as he surveyed the carnage. "There's probably enough left of the thing to cook, but we'll have to gather up some pieces. I'm not sure it's worth our -- hey, what's that?"

About the largest intact piece of lion was its head, which Rip was giving serious consideration to stuffing into his Pocket Dimension and taking back to the ship as a trophy. However, his attention was diverted by something unexpected about its severed neck, the victim of a cooking knife brandished by Tom and turned into a lethal weapon by Shorty (who didn't just throw the knife at the lion, he also threw the knife wielder). Rip looked at it to make sure it was what it looked like. It was.

"So why would this critter be wearing a collar?" he asked no one in particular.
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Maybe the kitty belonged to some one."
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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Rip blinked, twice, then rolled his eyes. "No, I think that's a tumor," he deadpanned, not particularly worrying about whether Leana would take him seriously or not.

Shorty, of course, picked this moment to spoil the mood, as Rip bent toward the collar. "Uh, boss, I think that's a --"

"Stow it, Shorty."

"Yes, sir."

In fact, the big guy did stow the head, stuffing its 50-pound mass into his backpack as easily as if it had been a house cat's skull. However, the exchange had gained Rip enough time to examine a softly glowing tag adorning the collar. It had some characters inscribed on it in the Tsuirakuan language...

FLUFFY THE TERRIBLE
If found, return to
Prof. V. Nikolaitis
Department of Thaumato-Archaeology
Sashi Mu Academy of Thaumaturgy and Conjuration
Tsuirakushiti
RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED


That wasn't exactly what Rip was expecting; it looked like the deceased beast was there to defend that bastard, rather than to defend something from him, as Rip had thought it might be. Still, it was clear enough that they were on the right track.

"Forward, ho," he ordered, trying to strike a heroic pose, and failing utterly.

[OOC: Minor shoutout to someone as regards this critter. You know who you are...]
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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[OOC: Where did everybody go? To try to get things moving again:]

The deceased cave lion's tracks weren't hard to follow, and it wasn't long before Rip and crew were standing at the entrance to the lion's, well, cave. Scattered remains and bits of uniform suggested what might have happened to the boarding party from the Queen Alice's Revenge. Maybe that explained why Rip, Shorty, etc., had had so little trouble dispatching the beast: it looked like it had been eating pretty well, and they'd probably awakened it from a nice post-massacre nap. That was just fine with them, of course; no extra brownie points for killing a lion that was hungry rather than sated, and you stood a much greater chance of being the killee rather than the killer that way.

More interesting was the stone ruin that stood across a small clearing from the cave entrance. Actually, more interesting yet was the sign next to it, pointing into the ruin and saying
BURIED TREASURE THIS WAY

"A clue," Rip said; with this crew it probably wouldn't hurt to state the obvious.
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Re: Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

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"Hmmm, treasure, eh... Treasure is often heavy, good for throwing at people."
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