Seven(?) against the Convergence

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
Locked
User avatar
Drusia
Veteran of the Errant War
Posts: 1293
Joined: September 7th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Drusia »

"Now as for you saying 'I hate feeling like a burden to everyone' --" her pat on Desiree's hand intensified slightly to a mild squeeze -- "rest assured, you don't feel like a burden to me. Far from it." The squeeze intensified further.

My wan smile returns. I like the way she holds my hand.

"Really?" I ask her. Then I pause, wrinkling my nose. "I don't mean to sound like I'm fishing for compliments or anything, but I honestly can't imagine what I've done to seem like a worthwhile member of this group. The only thing I've done that felt particularly useful was when I was pretending to be a Getera, and I didn't even succeed at learning anything useful - I might as well not have bothered." And, if I hadn't, Anfisa would still be a getera herself - still happy with her lot, her life uninterupted by my influence. The one 'important' thing I did since leaving Snamish, and people would probably have been better off if I'd never left home. Particularly Anfisa.

I feel tears in my eyes. Gods, I must look pathetic. I wipe at them, feeling foolsh. And useless.

"Sorry," I apologize, "I didn't mean to..." I gesture vaguely at my face with the hand I just wiped my tears with.

-- Desiree
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Alberich »

The accessible parts of this ship were so small, and the furnishings so spartan, that it didn't take Tim very long to get the last of them tied down. The problem was, the idle thought of tying Desiree down (to secure her of course and to keep her out of trouble during "battle stations" and for the rest of the adventure) kept returning to his mind as he worked, and the effect on his body was such that he feared he'd be committing a very minor sin before much longer. He wasn't eager to try such a thing in these cramped quarters...his robe would hide the effects anyway...the room he shared with Amalric was out of the question for obvious reasons...but these impure thoughts just wouldn't leave him alone. Okay he said to himself, so get your work done, hold out as long as you can, find a hidden corner, and get it over with.
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Graybeard »

Therese squeezed Desiree's hand again. "Ah, but you did help," she smiled. "You made us strong."

-------------

Sister Rose couldn't understand what Father Amalric was up to. There wasn't much need to move things to the stern for weights and balances; this airship seemed to have plenty of lifting power for the limited load it was carrying. For that matter, why was it carrying excess provisions at all? The galley was well equipped, and the group would only be staying at their enigmatic objective for long enough to rescue Brother Dalton, wouldn't they? Drusia had made it clear that the elves would take exception to any longer human presence than that, if their general belief that this "Convergence" had something to do with the elven death god was well founded.

Whatever; she busied herself with securing the cargo (again), and then returned to the bridge. The view forward made it clear that the ship had indeed gained altitude, and accelerated in the process. The mountains below (and surrounding) them seemed at least as high, and as forbidding, as the ones north of Goriel. She was about to ask Amalric for more information on their location and course, but the old man would have none of it. "Now familiarize yourself with your battle stations," he directed Rose and Tim, now back from "dealing" with Desiree (Rose was pretty sure she knew what was behind that look on his face). "There is a duplicate set of airship controls amidships. You will be there if -- when -- there is combat. Go." He turned way.

Her puzzlement deepening by the moment, Rose complied, and scooped up Argus along the way; the ex-general hadn't forbidden Argus from this part of preparations, at least. They entered the small cabin amidships where the duplicate controls were, a magical field allowing them to be seen but not touched. It all seemed straightforward, and it certainly shouldn't take three people to run the ship. So...

"Do either of you have any idea what the hell is going on here?" she asked Argus and Tim once they were in the cabin ... and once a Damping spell was up.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Alberich »

Tim spread his hands. "You know everything I do," he said. And probably a lot of things you haven't told me, he added mentally. "Apparently he's anticipating a fight, and doesn't want us on the bridge for this leg of the journey. Maybe there are airship pirates in these skies? Maybe there are more weapons we can bring to bear from the midship controls.

"By the way, will we hear the alarm through this spell if there is a fight? Or could we at least have Harker listen for it and signal us? If we're going to be manning those controls in a fight I think we should check them out soon anyway."
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Graybeard »

"I'll bring the Damping spell down once we've talked," Sister Rose replied. "I just wish I knew what's going on here. This just isn't making sense to me."

In the event, the spell was keeping conversations within the cabin from getting out, but it didn't stop external sounds from getting in. At least it didn't completely muffle Father Amalric's amplified voice, which now boomed out. "Stand by. We will be entering the combat zone in ten minutes."

Combat zone? "Well, we'll be finding out soon enough..."

[OOC: The excrement is about to hit the rotary oscillator. Anybody want to get a word in edgewise before the fun starts? My next post is going to be rather long...]
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
User avatar
Jack Rothwell
Teller of Tales
Posts: 2405
Joined: June 17th, 2010, 7:35 am
Location: Liverpool, England

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Stand by. We will be entering the combat zone in ten minutes."

Tamina's ears pricked up sharply as the announcement shattered the peace and comfort of her cabin like a verbal bull in a chinashop. She'd spent the last few minutes there trying to figure out how to eat one of the iron rations that the commander of their super secret operation had insisted on bringing along. At the interruption, she put the bundle down with a regretful noise and poked her head out through the door to call to whoever was in earshot.

"Umm... peoples? Combat zone? We fighting now?"
User avatar
Drusia
Veteran of the Errant War
Posts: 1293
Joined: September 7th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Drusia »

Therese squeezed Desiree's hand again. "Ah, but you did help," she smiled. "You made us strong."

My smile goes from wan to wry. "Strong? I'm not sure that's the word that Tim would use to describe my affect on him." I consider saying more, but I don't. For several reasons, not the least of which is that I wouldn't want Tim to overhear me attempting to imitate his voice.

"It was nice of you to say it, though," I tell her instead. "Although, I think you might want to reconsider the use of the word 'us'. If I helped inspire something in you, then I'm happy, but I'm quite certain I don't inspire anything in Rose but worry, and likely not in Argus either." And, as my unfinished joke about Tim a moment ago would have attested, an erection is not any reasonable definition of inspring strength at arms.

I sigh, my smile fading. "I just don't fit," I tell her. "No one here needs a Priestess of Anilis. There's nothing for me to bless, no one who wants to commune with Anilis, and I'm not even the best healer anymore - Tamina proved that." Plus, Tamina can fight. And she's not terrified of combat. If she'd been stabbed instead of me... would I have been brave enough to run out there and save her? Or would I have frozen and let her bleed to death? I wish I could say the former, but....

I shake my head. "I'm sorry," I tell Therese. "You were trying to cheer me up, and I keep whining. I must sound ungrateful. I'm not - it really was nice of you to say that, even if..." I stop myself before I insult her. It's never polite to call someone a liar, even if they lied to be nice to you. The polite thing to do is pretend to accept the lie. Well, I've screwed that up pretty well, haven't I?

I swallow. It's that or break down crying about how I didn't mean to be ungrateful and what a nice person she's been to me. I don't think either of us needs that right now.

-- Desiree
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Alberich »

"Stand by. We will be entering the combat zone in ten minutes."

"Shouldn't we get to our stations, then?" asked Tim. "We have only ten minutes to figure them out."
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Graybeard »

"Umm... peoples? Combat zone? We fighting now?"

"I... I don't know, Tamina," Sister Rose managed. "Father Amalric is acting like we're about to. But I haven't seen anyone to fight yet, I don't know who we're fighting, I don't know how we're fighting, I don't know wherewe're fighting." And I'm not even sure why we're fighting, although I'm not going to tell her that.

There was another thing that was slowly dawning on Rose. At no time since we lifted off have I heard Amalric say a single word about rescuing Brother Dalton. And after the talk with Drusia, that's supposed to be the main, and maybe only, thing for us humans and half elves to be doing up here ... yet for Amalric, it's a side show if he even cares about it at all. She thought about something Argus had said. "As for Amalric... I've known men like him. Men who get consumed by their obsession, until it is all that they can think about." That seemed to fit, and the obsession definitely was not a matter of rescuing a young Veracian priest.

That realization caused her to say something to Tim, Argus and Tamina that she certainly hadn't been planning on.

"Should we try to stop him? I --"

----------

"But you make me strong," Therese nearly whispered. "Help me be strong some more." She leaned forward to make the held hand the start of an embrace...

----------

But both words and deeds came to a sudden, literally screeching interruption as a klaxon's strident tones blasted through the ship, followed by Father Amalric's amplified voice. "BATTLE STATIONS! BATTLE STATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

Before anyone could move, there was an equally sudden and loud metallic CLANG as a forward bulkhead slammed shut ...

And split seconds later, Rose, Argus, Tim, Tamina, Desiree, Therese, and even Harker felt the sickening sensation of being in free fall.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Alberich »

"Should we try to stop him? I --"

Tim was duly horrified. Father Amalric was senior priest and officer, the epitome of "duly constituted authority," and Rose had taken them to this "dampened" meeting instead of to their stations so she could propose -- what? Mutiny? Treason? To stop him because of...some secret information she hadn't shared? (In which case, why on earth was she asking him?) Or just women's intuition? How someone like Rose had risen to such rank and respect, when she consistently displayed such moral weakness and disloyalty, was a puzzle to Tim...

"BATTLE STATIONS! BATTLE STATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" *CLANG!*

...which he had no time to think about right now. He scrambled for his "battle station" in case he got orders to do anything about this dreadful sensation of falling. His newfound love of airships might soon be cured.
Locked