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Post by Gravedust on Sept 30, 2010 10:22:43 GMT -8
Max turns and gives Tom a look, one that's not easily read in the flickering of the lamplight. "She is what ye make of 'er." (( Also: Lucifer's theme))
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Post by e on Sept 30, 2010 13:49:23 GMT -8
Claire stands, admiring the ship, hands on her hips, letting out a little whistle of appreciation. She walks slowly about, taking her in from various angles, her expressions flickering frequently between sheer excitement and serious contemplation.
At the brief exchange between Max and Tom, Claire walk over toward the two, declaring, "To us, she's life, and we'll make sure to keep usin' her thataway." She glances back at the Lucifer, taking another long look.
"Now, about that generator... I'll bet Dex and maybe Heloise could fix that up right nicely if they find a way down and have somethin' to see by. Elevator work with the generator out by rope or some'at or are there stairs for the occasion? Oh, and are there any other torches or what-have-you lyin' about? Let's figure out how to get our girl feelin' herself again."
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 30, 2010 14:39:44 GMT -8
Max shakes his head, the lamp wobbling as he does so.
"Nah, th' lift is hydraulic, it'll need th' generator working to go. Luckily th' Genny ain't complex, ye just throw th' switch 'n ye're in business after a minute'r so. We can just traipse on down there real quick'n get 'er goin'."
He leads the way with his lantern, bumping against Heloise as she gapes up at the silhouette of the Lucifer from middle of the stairs. Max walks a little more quickly, now the spell of seeing his ship for the first time in years having finally broken. He talks almost cheerfully as he leads them down another flight of stairs and into the darkened living areas. They certainly don't look like much; any creature comforts that used to reside here were evidently stripped out when the base was last closed. Dust covers the floor and a solitary spiderweb drifts in a corner, half spring free from the walls.
"As fer Luci, we left 'er socked up tight ta keep out th' wet, but she should still be ready fer th' sky. If ye put a fire in 'er, she oughta run. Once ye do something 'bout the doors over 'er head."
Another turn of stairs takes them to the cargo storage room, also largely cleaned out, except for a few forlorn and moldy boxes and crates. The walls are cold and wet to the touch. Midway across the large room is the promised freight elevator, a rest at the bottom of it's shaft. Max heads past it and through the door at the end of the chamber, to the generator. The weighty machine occupies most of the room, looking much like a airship boiler, though much larger and less refined. Max spends a moment checking it's fuel bins and finds them mercifully free of dampness. He clicks his tongue and stoops below the main furnace, turning a squeaking crank that primes the fuel with flammable liquid before hauling sharply back on a lever that ignites the fuel with a deluge of sparks. The furnace catches with a throaty Whummff and an immediate flare of heat. After a minute or the generator's steam has built and wheels around the room begin spinning. The overhead lights glimmer and flicker and then finally illuminate fully, shedding light throughout the base. Max blows out his lantern and lets it swing at his side.
"'An there ye go, sweet as ye like." He raises his voice over the rising noise from the generator. As the din increases he retreats out of the room back into cargo storage and shuts the heavy door behind him which helps to muffle the sound somewhat, still, the hum of the machine can be felt through the floor.
"Hey guys..." Heloise pipes up. "We left the door open up there.." She points through the rocks towards the main gate "I'm going to run back and close us in, if that's all right? I'd.. Really, REALLY prefer not to have Emi show up on us before we get a chance to get things straight down here. ..Or at all, actually."
((So.. There's a lot possibly that needs to be done, and that being as it is instead of taking it step by step, it might be best to indicate what you want your toon to be doing over the course of the next 2-3 hours. You can also give instructions to ye NPCs. Max will be on hand to explain anything anyone needs to know about the base, but the principal things that haven't been addressed yet that he would probably tell everyone are:
The hangar doors are controlled from 3 spots: the hangar control rooms which are reached by s series of ladders and stairs, and are actually underwater at the moment because the water level is higher than normal on account of not being drained in a while.. However they do offer a view of the lake through some thick windows are are -generally- the better way to get the doors open because you can visually check to see all the water has drained. The climb isn't dangerous but it's sort of a bitch. The third option is a station inside the hangar bay itself, which is a bit sketchy because you can't really check the status of the water level, and you tend to get pretty wet when operating it since there's always a little water left over. all 3 controls however have a failsafe that prevents the doors from opening if there's more than a certain amount of water up top. All 3 sets of controls can drain the water out of the crater through the 6 spillways, (the speed of the draining can be controlled, but there's no real reason not to go 100%, it works fine) and open and close the hangar doors. The doors won't close by themselves, so it takes someone to stay in the base to close them. Same thing with the front door, though it can be 'jimmied' open with the use of the key, as shown previously.
As far as Lucifer is concerned, if she is in as good condition as Max thinks she is, all you should really need to do is light the furnace and wait for her to build steam and you'll be good to go. ))
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Post by jazzs3quence on Sept 30, 2010 19:20:11 GMT -8
Dexter calls after Helouise. "Hey...um, Helouise? Um...why don't you check the engine on the Lucifer when you get back. Make sure this bird can fly, and then start warming her up. Um...please?" Then, mostly to himself, "I'm gonna try to drain this crater on top of us..."
Dexter takes off his shirt, tossing it on the ground without much thought -- shuddering for a second from the underground chill -- and starts heading up the series of stairs and ladders to the upper hangar door control room closest to the entrance.
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 30, 2010 21:13:41 GMT -8
"Sure thing!" Heloise calls back to Dexter, before turning and jogging up the tunnel. A minute or so later there comes a mechanical while follored shortly by a hollow mechanical booming as the heavy door grind into their closed position once again.
Dexter's path takes him up a long and winding spiral staircase, terminating in a large, echoing room filled with massive equipment, evidently part of the immense mechanism needed to move the huge hangar doors. Even though not active, the machinery humms omionously. In the midst of the complex mechanical works it takes him a moment to find the ladder that leads further up.
Once on it though he follows it quickly up into a quieter section of vertical tunnel, which empties out into a small concrete room. A heavy slab of glass is smbedded at a diagonal across one wall and the ceiling, and on the other side is tons and tons and tond of water. The barest glimmer of sunlight filters down in rays from the surface through the gray-green murk. This small room is fitted with controls which are helpfully labelled. There are six levers which apparently control each of the spillways individually. Up appears to be the closed position. On the opposite end of the room is a larger lever that is marked Main Hatch Control. A red light next to it is illuminated.
=========UPKEEP=========
Tom: +2 CP
Claire: +2 CP
Dexter: +2 CP
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 1, 2010 5:40:12 GMT -8
Dexter surprises himself by the amount of energy he has leftover once he gets to the control room. Apparently all of the hiking and climbing of the last week has increased his stamina quite a bit. He flexes his bare arms experimentally and notices slight bulges of muscles that weren't there last time he checked. Well...good. If he was going to be a pirate, the least he could do is the bare minimum required to look somewhat the part.
He looks at the controls in front of him. "Here goes nothing..." he mumbles as he flips the levers one-by-one, watching the water level in between each one as he does.
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Post by brendur on Oct 1, 2010 8:51:04 GMT -8
Tom returns Max's statement with silence. It worked the other way to, they were what the ship made them out to be. As his old pater used to tell him "You don't really know a man until he's got a gun to your head.". Much as he hated to admit his dad being right, that was one of the rare occasions where it turned out to be true. People simply weren't themselves until they had the upper hand on you, then they had nothing to worry about dropping the masks they wore in public.
He's sussing up a reply, but then the captain intercedes and he doesn't have to say anything. He simply nods continuing his walk around the ship, wincing as the lights overhead finally came on. When he completes his circuit, he stops before Max and Claire, scratching his head and speaking his mind.
"Iffin she hasn't been flown as long as Max says she'll need proper restocking. Gun powder gets funny with age, so we need to be careful about usin any ammunition on her right now, and if any rats can get in this place we'll need to replace any rations, blankets, and anything else chewable in there. "
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Post by e on Oct 1, 2010 13:09:40 GMT -8
"Iffin she hasn't been flown as long as Max says she'll need proper restocking. Gun powder gets funny with age, so we need to be careful about usin any ammunition on her right now, and if any rats can get in this place we'll need to replace any rations, blankets, and anything else chewable in there. "
"Right. I'll just go have a look around then an' see if there's anythin' else we oughta know about."
She heads into the vast meanderings of hallways and doors, in search of anything interesting, out of place or needin' attention.
((I assumed that Claire pocketed the key again after opening the door, though I didn't say as much. If the key is still up in the slot, she will go up and retrieve it before doing anything else.))
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 1, 2010 13:17:46 GMT -8
((Hehe.. No worries, I assumed that too. I'm not evil that way, usually. ))
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 1, 2010 15:39:45 GMT -8
Claire's thorough assay of the base reveals it to have been cleaned and cleared out pretty extensively, though almost everything is covered in a thin film of concrete dust and most of the floor and walls are damp to some extent or another. Several lights have burned out here and there, but otherwise everything seems to be in more or less shipshape condition.
The water flowing everywhere is obviously a concern, and if this place had fabric of foodstuffs for mold to consume it would probably do so readily and fearsomely. The cold is pervasive as well, but considering their location it seems likely that this is better than the alternative.
The only other thing of note she finds are the many heavily grated drains that are sunk into nearly every room in the place, to provide a place for the water to escape to. Peering through the grates reveal narrow, slick edged tunnels through the black rock of the mountain. Some seem wide enough for a person to fit through, though they would have to be small of stature and carrying very little in the way of equipment. And even then they'd be in for a very long, wet, cold and miserable journey. The grates all seem to be strongly welded to the drain ends, and so anyone trying to gain access (or leave) through one would need significant cutting equipment and probably make a lot of noise getting through. It seems that the builders anticipated people trying to take the low road into the complex.
Of similar concern security-wise is the generator flue. While the base itself seems to have very little ventilation, the exhaust from the generator's fire must come out somewhere... Though she has no real idea where this may be, or whether it compromises the security of the base. Judging from the way the drains were handled though, it stands to reason this was considered by the builders as well.
--
Far overhead of the main complex, A low rumble begins as Dexter pulls the first level back, accompanied by a very slight tremble in the solid rock floor.. Both the noise and the vibration increase with every lever pulled, until all Dexter can hear is the deep roaring of rushing water, and what feels like a thousand hummingbirds shaking the very air and rock around him. Had there been anyone else in the small control room with him, he would have had to shout to make himself heard, and even then he'd have to be standing close.
At first the water above shows no sign of change at all, but gradually the surface begins making it's way down towards him, the light from above brightening as the water drains away. Small, panicked fish dart past the window, visible now in the brightening light. Whirlpools begin to form in the draining lake, looking for all the world like silver-green tornadoes, each one reaching towards one of the spillway entrances as it twirls and dances. After two long minutes the water level slides down past the window, and suddenly Dexter must look down to see the surface of the lake, the waters churned and choppy like a stormy sea. The circular shape of the closed hangar doors is revealed, shockingly wide and painted black to blend in with the surrounding rock. They are slightly conical to help the water drain away to the sides.
A minute later and the water in the crater has drained away to less than a foot, leaving school of thrashing fish and one extremely perturbed crocodile (of sub-Gustav size) trying to climb up the side of it's suddenly waterless demense and having very little luck.
With the roar of moving water now diminished to a trickle and all but the bottoms of the spillway pipes exposed, the red light of the gate control failsafe switches to a brightly glowing green. Looking out across the exposed bottom of the crater, Dexter can see the simple mechanisms that govern the failsafe, a system of short floats on poles. When the water level lowers the floats go down, and the failsafe is released.
- Outside the crater, six new rivers are suddenly born, exploding outward from grated concrete outlets long covered-over by leaves, soil and jungle debris. The carve frenzied paths through the troughs they'd created from their long ago previous runnings, flowing out across the island before plunging into the sea. -
In the hangar bay the sound of rushing water is nearly as strong as it is in Dexter's perch and magnified by the drum-like acoustics of the hangar, and so it' s a minute or two before those in the hangar can speak to one another. As the noise subsides however, a dozen red lights that encircle the ceiling suddenly switch from red to green, accompanied by the brief blare of a compressed-air horn.
"Whoo." Max exhales, chuckling, his face shedding a mildly concerned expression. "That was a big one. Guess she was overdue fer a flush."
Hearing Tom's point he nods. "Yeh.. Never had much trouble with rodents 'n here, but I'd be a mite careful with t' shells 'till they can be replaced. There's no food left aboard leastways, but the fuel bunker should be full up."
Heloise appears from the main stairwell, eyes wide. "God aloft! What the hell was all that? Did we just drain the lake?" Elle and Anastasia appear a few moments later, looking similarly semi-panicked.
Max nods, chuckling. Aye.. 's nothin' ta worry about. All's fine."
"Okay.." Heloise walks over, clearly not yet entirely convinced of Max's assessment as she casts a worried glance at the ceiling every steps. "Anyway we're now officially shut-ins. Door's sealed up tight. Dex was saying I ought to start warming up the bird."
She looks Lucifer over, now more easily visible under the gray hangar light, with an expression reminiscent of a child outside a cake shop.
"So... I'm going to do that." She looks to Max, not quite asking for permission. He smiles indulgently and presents her the ship with a wave of his arm. "By all means, lass."
She lets out a tiny squeal, (then looks around to see if anyone noticed) then approaches the Lucifer's cargo bay. She runs her hand along the cold black steel for a moment before tugging on the cargo door release. There is a clunk and a soft -pop- and hiss of air as the pressure equalizes, blowing Helo's hair back away from her face. And then the door lowers, humming smoothly on it's hydraulic motors.
The smell of grease and paint and still air comes flowing out and Heloise is aboard before the cargo ramp even touches fully down. Lucifer is coupled with the base's power and so her lights are already on. The cargo hold is immaculate, cleaned and swept, and empty of cargo though the worn decking and multitude of chips and scratches in the paint speak of hard and frequent use.
Max boards next, rubbing the metal doorframe with his thumb lovingly as he steps inside.
"Have ye been aboard a Mephisto-Class before?" he asks, and Helo shakes her head, too dumbstruck by what she is seeing to remark on what a silly question that is.
"They named 'em all after th' first one they shot down, so that's what they're called." Max walks to the center of the compartment and turns a circle, for a moment looking very much like a captain again, his eyes alert for anything out of place.
"Ye'll find th' engines in th' first 'n last compartments on this deck. Beasts they are, but they do sing sweet. Pressure tank'll be one compartment aft, an' above that's the boiler."
Heloise nods and heads aft, undogging the hatch and stepping through. Inside she finds the pressure tank, as advertised, it's dials all reading zero as it'd been depressurized for long storage. She stops to lay a hand on the laminated steel before setting it's valves into the correct positions for pressurization. Max looks on from a few feet away, arms crossed and nodding from time to time as she completes a sequence correctly, or figures out the little puzzles posed by it's unique configuration.
With her work done she flashes him a questioning glance and he nods. "Perfectly done." Heloise grins and can't help but pull a wrench from her pack and tap once on the tank, the metal ringing like a gong. Max smirks and chuckles. "Get ye upstairs."
A short trip up the stairwell reveals the boiler room, the heavy equipment cold and silent, but only for the time being. It takes Heloise a little longer (and some grumbling) before she figures out the starting sequence. "She's an antique," she mutters as she squirms underneath a pressure manifold to check on something. "But they built the hell out of her, didn't they? Some of this stuff is like the systems they use now, just done a little differently." She grunts as she uses her wrench to adjust a valve. "And some of it is just... Wierd."
Max nods. "Ye're looking at the grandmother of a lot of the ships aloft today. When they scrapped Mephisto they earned a lot.. 'an a lot of that know-how's been passed around since. Funny thing bein' they couldn't get a lot of it ta work as well as it does here." He chuckles.
Heloise shimmies out from under the boiler and dusts herself off, rubbing a spot of newly-aquired grease between thumb and forefinger. "All right..." She looks around. "Uh..." She spends another moment panning the room with her eyes. "...Where's the hell's the starter?"
Max grins and points to a large red button on a nearby control panel. Helo blinks at it. "You're kidding."
Max shakes his head. "Never'n life. Give 'er a push."
Heloise stalks over and mashes the button soundly with her fist. A low whine begins, rising rapidly through and then out of the audible frequencies, and then suddenly the furnace lights, flame rolling through the open flue before Heloise has a chance to slam it closed with her boot. She blinks.
"I have to know how that works."
Max laughs again. "Yer not the only one. Never could puzzle it out.. Never could even figure out where the damn sound comes from."
The sibilant hiss of the pressure tank beginning to fill calls both their attentions downwards. "Engine pre-start!" Heloise chants with a smile and drops bodily down the stairwell, bouncing at the bottom and heading aft to the engine housed there... It is a beast as advertised, and so alien in it's construction she does a double-take. It's a fan-jet of some kind but they just aren't -built- they way this one is. She follows the maze of pipes and ducting and gaskets and hydraulics and pneumatics until she's dizzy and finally gives up. Beginning to understanding this machine will clearly require a few hours, maybe even days of exploration and probably also a lot of paper. In the end she settles for the control panel, which is a comforting island of uniformity amidst the jungle of strange machinery. It looks almost exactly like every other engine board she's ever seen, though it's built like it's makers intended for it to be punted off a cliff at regular intervals. Flipping the the dials and switches to the correct configuration for the engine to start taking steam takes almost no time at all.
"Elle! Elle Elle Elle!" She calls and waves until the pilot appears. "Get to the bridge! I want to run her up a little..." She barely waits for an acknowledgement before dashing forward to the ether engine.
Elle blinks and scoots out of the way for Heloise to get by, backing into Max as she does so. "Oh! Excuse me.."
Max chuckles and sets her back onto her feet. "Not a problem. Headed fer th' bridge are ye?"
Elle nods. "Apparently!"
"Well follow me if ye like.. 's two decks up." Max heads up the stairwell with Elle in tow, the two arriving a scant few moments later on the top deck of the ship, emerging through the deckplates into what appears to be a long saloon. A heavy looking oval table stands in the center of the double-compartment, surrounded by a dozen chairs which are bolted and mounted to slide in and out from the table on small tracks. Some ornate wooden lockers, closets and bins line the walls, as well as a number of unmade thick-matressed bunks, each given an uncommon amount of room and wooden dividers between. In all the scene looks more like a fancy hotel parlor than an airship. Only the bunks spoil the illusion, along with the small but tidy galley that's tucked into one corner.
"Oh. My." Elle drifts into the compartment once she's free of the stairwell, her previous task forgotten. She lays hands on the cool surface of the mahogany table and finds it as smooth as good paper. Tiny etchings under the laquer form intricate patterns.
"Yeh..." Max follows Elle into the bunkrooms. "Always a bit nicer'n I thought I was comfortable with." He chuckles under his breath and rolls one of the ornate chairs on it's tracks. Elle moves and presses down experimentally on one of the bare mattresses. "Oh that's soft..." She wanders further aft, opening drawers and peeking in lockers, her previous task now entirely out of mind.
"I'll leave ye to it." Max smiles and moves towards the bow, pausing a moment at the bulkhead before undogging the hatch and stepping through. A peculiar twitch works its was across his face as he looks out across the bridge. His bridge, though he finds with a sliver of relief that it's no longer impossible to not think of it that way. It was his no longer. He sets his hand on one of the safety rails, rubbing his thumb against the cold metal and looking to see the worn-away mark where he'd done the same thing fifty thousand times in the past. He smiles. Though this was a place and a moment he'd been dreading for nearly twenty years, it was good to be back. He stepped forward, feeling the subliminal thrumm of the two running engines in the decks below, the deeper vibration of the boiler and the hiss of the filling tank. As he walked from the hatch to his Captain's chair, his footsteps became part of that. He sits in his chair and it feels just as he knew it would, just as it should. He takes a moment to breathe the air, to take in the smell of the ship that would in a few minutes no longer be his. He can see the lights on the pilot's panel from here, almost read the dials. For a second he sees the back of Jahn Heinkel, his old pilot. The engines spool beneath him, bunching like the muscles of a jaguar ready to leap and propel his beauty heavenward. Black and gold and as fast and free as a bird.
The feeling lasts only a moment, but it is enough. He smiles. Those were the good times. There were just as many bad. He hears Heloise voice over the speaking tube and sits up.
"Elle? You there? Let's run 'em up! Give me just around ten percent or so for starts."
Max hops lightly down off his chair and walks to the pilot's station. He leans over the tube to answer. "Max here." He says, according to protocol. "Givin' yeh ten percent. Enjoy."
He unlocks the throttles, holding both the levers in his wide palm. He checks briefly to make sure the vent apertures are fully open, in a 'sound and fury' configuration that allowed the engines to run hard without actually producing much lift. That done he gently presses the throttles to their first detent, and listened for the sound.
Heloise already knew something was very different about her new ship's engines just by looking at them. But the sound they made as the spun up in her hearing for the first time made it plain that they were far, far more different than she'd imagined. Lucifer's engines didn't sound like other engines. They didn't roar, or howl, or shriek, or screech or thunder or even hum. They ... Tuned. There was no real word for it. Singing came close, but what it sounded like, really, was like a thousand violins played at once. A long, sweet, high tone. Somehow it reminded her of red wine, from the few times she'd tried it.
The engines reached ten percent within moments, held there for a few seconds and then rose, the sound itself not growing much higher, but rather louder and with more reverberation. Once over her brief shock she grins jubilantly from ear to ear. "Amazing!" she calls through the voice tube. "This is amazing!"
"Thirty two hundred horses!" She hears back in reply, Max's voice made tinny by the tube. "It's at forty percent now. Ye want higher?"
"Yes!"
The engines strobed more intensely, setting a harmonic vibration through the ship that rattles the deckplates. The air of the hangar bay becomes a swirl of air and water, and a windy mist gushes through the open cargo hatch. The pulse of the engines rises further still and there is a groan and a lurch as the ship shifts slightly on it's landing struts, almost pulling into a hover.
Max's voice comes over the tube again and Heloise has to lean close to the speaking tube to hear him over the rush of wind. "Sixty percent! Forty eight hundred horses! Any mor'n we'll be flyin!"
She shouts back at him. "You have the vents full open?"
"Yeh!"
She cackles. "Oh my god! All right, run her down, that's enough... I could do that all day though."
"Ye will!"
The song of the engines lowers into a murmur that hovers on the edge of audibility, though the deck where she stands still shivers with vibration as they idle.
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 1, 2010 18:00:10 GMT -8
Dex stares at the crocodile, and at the big green button, and back at the green crocodile. He sighs, shrugs, and starts climbing down the stairs -- the last thing he wants to do is drop a several hundred pound amphibian on the heads of his crewmates without at least warning them first. When he gets down low enough that he thinks he can see the heads of his crewmates, he does an uncharacteristic thing: he yells.
"Um...GUYS! THERE'S SORT OF A CROCODILE UP HERE! Um...SHOULD I OPEN THE HANGAR DOORS OR DO YOU WANT TO GET GUNS OUT FIRST? Or something...?"
His voice rises and falls in volume as he's unused to raising it much above a whisper, but the general gist of "crocodile" and "doors" should make it down to the level of the ship.
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 3, 2010 23:30:28 GMT -8
(( So here, have a Lucifer: www.gravedust.com/sp/ilp/Lucifer.pdfPre-Owned, but in very good condition. Since I don't expect you to really want to spend a lot of time staring at all the stat boxes, to get the nitty-gritty, I'll point out the highlights. First of all, though. When ships are deisgned in this game they use a rating system. The rating is essentially a multiplier that is used to determine stats. The Averaged rating [total compartment rating / # of compartments] for 'current' ships in the game is around 2000-2250. Lucifer's averaged rating is 3307. So she gets to be proportionally much nastier without being much bigger. Anyway onto the highlight reel. She has 3 guns, 1 forward-mounted and 2 to the side, each dealing 24 damage. They are NOT turreted, which means she has a blind spot to her rear. The guns each grant a bonus of +10 to Cannoneering and +8 Mechanical (to help w/ overcharging) They have a low ammo capacity (7 shots and they're dry) which I countered by installing an ammo compartment that carries 38 more shots. You just have to get someone to cart it out to the guns. The engines are unremarkable, generally, except they turn out a generally ridiculous 8k horsepower altogether. They also grant a +8 to Mechanical skill, again to help with overcharging. It should be noted that each one costs almost as much as Bethesda. Please try hard not to break them, they'd be difficult to replace. The Boiler room grants a +8 bonus to Firefighting. Please move along. The Bridge is build like a brick shithouse, Condition 60/60 ...(though probably nobody would survive that much damage if they were sitting up there...) and grants +10 to Air Tac and +10 to piloting. On the subject of piloting, under the newly-revised (as of friday) piloting rules, Luci is a pretty cooperative ride, comparatively. Luci has a grappling hook! ..Actually it's not that much better than the stock grapples out there, but I wanted to save on weight and I sort of had the thought that if you really needed 300 grapple power to hold something, you probabaly don't really want to be grappled to it with a ship Luci's size because it's most likely got way more crew than you. Speaking of which, Luci has berthing for 12, in two pretty egregiously nice bunk rooms. Similarly she's got a pretty large cargo bay, with 12 slots available. And now a word or two about armor: Luci's got a lot of if, comparatively, but I've min/maxed it a bit to better protect the more important areas. She's pretty thick around the front and should be good for a few hits, as well as her sides, provided she doesn't take too much fire. You should note that the cannons aren't that well protected, but I had to use the armor for ship-critical systems. Likewise her back is relatively unprotected, as well as not covered by a cannon, so this is a major liability that should be considered. In short, watch your ass and make sure nothing gets back there. Luci's strength is in her broadside, though, and her big, accurate guns mean she can hurt more from further than most other ships. I'd advise trying to keep your distance with her. Luckily she can outrun most ships large enough to carry enough armament to be threatening. A light, fast ship with a big gun and the sense to position itself for some tail shots could be trouble, however. Anyway.. that's that. Enjoy your new ride. ======== UPKEEP======== Dexter:+2 CP Tom:+2 CP Claire:+2 CP
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Post by brendur on Oct 4, 2010 11:16:52 GMT -8
As Tom steps on board he takes in the familiar smell of grease and gunpowder, beginning the obscure ritual of introducing himself to the ship. One he'd only done it once before, but he felt safer for it, walking down the grated hallways, running his hands along pipes and murmuring to the halls.
"Hello there ole gel, ye haven't heard oh us, but we've sure as hells have heard oh ye. Ole Lucifer, one oh the Hell Begat Six, daughter oh Satan himself, twice as temptin and half as gentle. Well we ain't yer old crew, but we'll step into their boots iffin ye let us. Ye give us a smooth ride, and we'll look after ye proper. Together we'll all get where we're goin."
Xen cleared her throat making Tom jump, she had been watching him the entire time as he'd spoken to the Morrigan. She gave the crooked smile of someone who'd caught a child with his hand in the cookie jar and sidled up next to him on the railing. Tom liked how smiling made her face crinkle, like a cat yawning and stretching, it showed something that normally wasn't there.
"You talk.. to ships?" she asked in her broken English. It'd been a year since Gammel had pulled her out of the water, wailing while she clung to the floating airbag canvas of a sinking old junker. She was still learning the language, but making progress with the entire crew yammering at her.
"Well...aye." He nodded and rapped a knuckle on the railing, making the metal give a satisfying ring. "Jest to the Morrigan really, since she's home and all."
"Home." Xen echoed the word with far more weight than Tom had put behind it. She repeated his actions, rapping a knuckle on the railing. She looked to Tom uncertain of what to do next. "What ..say?"
"I dunno...thank ye most oh the time..."
She knelt down next to the railing, resting her forehead against it. "Thank you...for being..home."
Home all right, home for the rest of your days, thought Tom with a shiver as he settled himself into the aft cannon seat. He tried to push the memory of Xen from his mind, adjusting the sights slightly to account for his height. It didn't work though, she would have loved this ship. As if to affirm this, the Lucifer began to sing.
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Post by e on Oct 4, 2010 19:06:54 GMT -8
Claire's quite pleased with the lack of any terribly huge problems cropping up. She notes that the place will need a thorough cleaning and such and head back toward the bird, hearing noises from that direction.
She arrives to the Lucifer clearing her throat after a good long sleep. Claire grins and doffs her hat in Luci's direction. She's about to step closer and have a nice look at her insides when she hears yammering... something about whores and crocodiles, no must be doors. Yeah, doors and crocodiles. Sounds like Dex's voice. Didn't sound like he was being eaten... yet anyhow. Still, she'd best get on up there.
She taps Tom on the back, tossing her head in the direction of the yelling to indicate they should see about the noise and starts off in search of Dex in a hurry. She thought she was done with the crooked toothy beasts already, but it seems that's not so.
Maybe just what this crew needs is a good pet crocodile. In a cage, naturally. Surely Dex could whip up a reptile pen and they could terrorize civilized folk with, what could they call it... what would go well with Lucifer? Huh, well, they'd have to figure out if it's a boy or girl and she's got no manner of idea on how to figure that particular quandary.
"Hey, if there really is a crocodile this time, and we can manage to keep this one from gnawin' us to bits, how'd you take to the notion of keepin' it? I mean, not runnin' free, course, but contained. As a sort of mascot, y'know? Dunno, seems kind of fittin' somehow, the idea of a crocodile for Luci."
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 4, 2010 19:31:05 GMT -8
Dex shrugs when no one answers immediately, and starts heading down. If he needs to climb back up the stairs, well, so be it...he figures his academic physique could probably use a bit of muscle. He's winding down the spiral stairs when he hear's Claire's voice.
"Hey, if there really is a crocodile this time, and we can manage to keep this one from gnawin' us to bits, how'd you take to the notion of keepin' it? I mean, not runnin' free, course, but contained. As a sort of mascot, y'know? Dunno, seems kind of fittin' somehow, the idea of a crocodile for Luci."
Dexter stops and stares blankly in the air for several moments. Surely this was a joke. Wasn't it? A tingling sensation begins to build in his stomach. This is Claire...suddenly drunk with having her own ship...no, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that she was actually considering a giant, flesh-eating lizard could make a fun and charming pet. Not out of the question at all.
To be honest, Dexter enjoys puzzling over the complexities of the project. But he's left with several lingering problems: 1) They have no means of lowering the beast to the hangar floor without seriously injuring it, which was sort of his point in the first place -- he didn't want to drop an angry croc on the crew's heads without them being at least somewhat prepared first. 2) Assuming he could safely device some method of lowering the beast to the ground, the issue of containment was no small matter. All the native materials of the island would not hold an animal as strong as that, and anything else would require welding materials that he didn't think he had access to (although he seemed to remember talk of a workshop and hadn't visited that part of the base yet, unfortunately). And that's not even touching the issue of the size of a cage to be even somewhat humane. The truth is, the beast wants to be in the swamp, or at least in the water, keeping it as a pet would be almost as cruel as dropping it from several hundred feet from a set of vertical hangar doors. 3) He was not nor was he ever, nor did he think anyone else inside the mountain was an animal tamer. Seriously, did that look like a complex math problem? No, it really didn't. Last time he checked, complex math problems didn't have a huge beartrap of a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth!
When he hears his voice echoing off the walls, he realizes he just said all of that out loud. Well...good. Sort of. He tries to catch Claire's eyes so he can make eye contact, and says "Don't be obtuse."
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 4, 2010 21:44:49 GMT -8
Max steps out of Lucifer's cargo hold, chuckling at the exchange between brother and sister. He spares a look at the high hangar ceiling, then taps Claire on the shoulder. "Need a moment of yer time, if ye don't mind; I'll try ta be quick." He licks his lower lip, collecting himself. "So th' base's yers, if'n ye want it.. Dunno if that was ever a question." he laughs again, softly. "But the thing that itches me at th' moment is Emillianna. She'll make her way back here once she's on 'er feet again, and ta be honest it'd be best if ye'n Lucifer'r now here when that happens. I don't know if that was yer plan, or whether ye planned ta wait fer 'er an take Luci up against 'er. But if she gets here'n the prize's gone, they she won't have a reason ta stick about. She might try 'n crack open th' base, but.." He makes a face. "Too much work 'n no reward. I don't think she'd bother." "Now if ye came at 'er with Luci she'd sure as hell fight ye. An' I'll be straight with ye, I don't want that. Fer one thing..." He looks around. " 'An I mean ye no offense by this, but this crew ye got, though it's a fine thing... It prolly ain't up ta what Emi'll be bringin.' Ye got a pilot, two engineers, one cannoneer, a medic with no real stomach fer a fight 'an a cook who no doubt has been wishin' he was anywhere but where he's been fer a while now." He holds out his hands in an honest gesture. "Even then, ye might be able ta pull it out of th' fire. But if that's the case, then..." He exhales and looks to the side in an uncharacteric moment of hesistation. "I don't want ye ta hurt me girl. I know ye maybe got reason ta, and I ain't tryin ta talk ye outta that, she digs 'er own hole 'n has ta find 'er way outta it... But all th' same. I'm asking ye not ta harm 'er, if there's a way around it." He spreads his hands in a helpless gesture. "It ain't a fair thing ta ask, but I have ta ask anyway, ye ken? Don't make me watch me old ship take me girl outta th' sky." ======================================================================== ((Whew! Just wanted to take a second to say that we've pretty much got through all the material I had for this module, so if things lose a little impetus after this point, it's because I don't have any more plot to direct your way. I think I'll give everyone till the end of the week to hash out their plans for the future and call the game to a close on friday, barring any serious shake-ups. After that point things will take a bit of a hiatus, as the core rules are in need of some updates, which involves a retooling of all the in-game items. (Still taking submissions of new items, BTW. ) Additionally, the time has come for large-scale airship combat testing, which will consume the majority of my time for some time, I'm thinking. To this end I've been working on a side-project since the middle of last week. Using a simplified version of SP!'s rules as a base, I've made a side-fame that plays like an SRPG. (Strategy RPG, think Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea, just with airships.) It's tentatively called Steam Armada, just so it has a name. Players command a small fleet of ships and participate in cooperative missions to advance story and win fabulous prizes. The setting will be different from SP!, but the ships will be exactly the same, as will the rules that govern them. The biggest changes have been the simplification/abstraction of the Character rules to allow handling a lot of crewmembers quickly and easily. Anyway, I think the end result will be entertaining, and I hope you won't mind changing gears a little and helping me kill two birds with one stone by testing the airship system. If anything it'll be good practice for when you take Luci into battle for the first time. I think 4-6 players would be ideal, and I plan on updating once every 2 days (M, W, F) for a more relaxed schedule. After Steam Armada comes to a close, the SP! game will be resuming from where if left off, more or less. I have a few ideas for the new campaign. I think it'll be a bit less linear and more sandboxey, overall. More information as things are finalized. ==================== UPKEEP==================== Tom:+2 CP Dexter:+2 CP Claire:+2 CP
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 5, 2010 21:57:10 GMT -8
((Hmm, looks like we have a skip day. I'll chalk it up to business, I didn't see many people log in today. But if anyone's unsure where to go or what to do next, do let me know. I hope my post yesterday didn't dissuade anyone from posting today.. We're real close to the end but there's still one or two things left to do and I'd like to see things wrapped up properly to help us get from one module to the next.))
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Post by brendur on Oct 6, 2010 7:14:53 GMT -8
(( Sorry I took your ooc to mean we were done with the thread for the moment.)) Tom pauses at Claire's suggestion of taking on a crocodile pet. Wow, the grenade and hat trick really DID weed out the crazy ones. Still the question makes him grin at the thought of having one as a pet, dangling a few Navy chumps over one just to make them sweat. He chuckles and shakes his head to rid himself of the image. " Be a pain in the arse to feed him iffin we did, hard enough to keep track oh food enough to keep people fed. A walkin mouth with scales? They don't take too kindly to bein rationed I ken." He turns the thought over for a second longer before blinking. " Mayhaps iffin we penned him here the villagers would feed him, regardless, can't let him jest wander the isle. Another couple oh years and they'll have themselves another dragon." As Max lays out his request Tom listens, scratching at the light coating of stubble that's formed on his face during the last few days. When the man finishes he speaks, looking around at the crew. " M'fine with jest runnin with the Lucifer afore she gets here. Course, I have a hard time envisionin her jest lettin this go Max. Taint jest a ship we're leavin with here, tis a legend...n'more importantly she talks like this ship tis her inheritance. On TOP oh that, she had her crew hackin at this mountain fer a while from the look oh that dig site, what's she goin to tell them when they come back to an empty hanger?" Tom frowns slightly as he looks for the words he needs, working his tongue over his teeth. " What I'm sayin tis this, runnin's allus been a temporary solution in my experience. What happens when yer little girl finds us out in the open sky? We can't stand here and promise ye we'll be able to turn tail and let her fire at us willy-nilly come that day."
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 6, 2010 9:00:00 GMT -8
"Oh, she'll come after ye, sure's hell. She likes th' chase better'n th' catch, anyway."
He sucks in a long breath.
"Anyway.. Ain't askin' ye ta promise not ta get inta it with 'er.. Just sayin' if ye don't have to, don't."
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Post by e on Oct 6, 2010 10:58:08 GMT -8
Claire tries not to look too put out when Dex shares his feelings regarding the pet crocodile idea. She knows he's right, but damnit, it'd be good for some fun. Guess it's time to take another of the islands seemingly healthy croc population, then. She thinks about the assorted things she came across in her tour of the place and wonder what they could use to keep it on the other side of the room from them while they kill it. She'd like to be in less mortal danger this time, if possible. Her thoughts are broken off when Max comes in.
Claire listens hard as Max asks them not to fight with Emi. She can certainly appreciate the tough spot he's in here. And to be perfectly honest, she'd just as soon not get into anything with Emillianna if she doesn't have to for her own reasons.
"I'd like to set up camp here. Maybe not today... I'm sure we all have things to tidy up elsewhere before settin' out on anything long term. Tis a nice base, discreet and halfway to anywhere, too. But yeah, I think we'll work at gettin' Luci up and out and be away when Emi comes knocking. Only problem I've got on that account is this."
She pauses for a second and looks intently at Max.
"What'll Emi do when she comes back and finds Luci gone? She likely to go after the villagers? I'd hate to see them all gunned down on our account and with us nowhere to help. You reckon she'll take it better'n that or just that she'll be after us and no one else?"
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 6, 2010 13:21:18 GMT -8
Not wanting to make the whole trek down to ground level only to hike back up the stairs again, Dex calls down when he sees Max appear.
"um...MAXIMILLION? THERE HANGAR DOOR CONTROLS ANYWHERE ELSE THAN UP HERE?"
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 6, 2010 19:46:10 GMT -8
"Ah.. Yeh.. There's a 'lil consile over by th' far wall." He turns and points, glad for the momentary distraction. "Over there.. should open 'er right up."
He turns back to Claire, rubbing at the back of his neck a moment before he continues.
"Well.. I expect when she comes back and finds Luci gone, the first thing she'll likely do is pay me a visit. I don't think she'll really go'n mess with the villagers none, unless they get up in 'er hair. ..They might at that, if she sticks around, they dont' like 'er much right now. But prolly what she'll do is just turn'n try ta ta follow ye."
He drums his hands on the leg of his pants, thinking.
"If she's still got that Vagabond 'a hers, she won't catch ye. And since there's a pidgeon's mess 'a ports up'n down the coast, she won't know where ye've gone to. Any case it could be on th' order a weeks or months 'fore she tracks ye down. 'an I'd give even odds she might get distractd by somethin' else before then." He shrugs.
"Leastways, when she comes ta ask me where Luci's gone, I can do ya a favor 'n point 'er in the wrong direction."
He grins.
"But if she decides ta take up against th' villagers, fer any reason, that'll be between her 'n me. But fer th' money, I think if ye run, she'll chase yeh 'n not stop fer any mischief 'round here. 'n if I'm wrong, that can be on my head. But I think I've got the right of it this time."
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 7, 2010 7:15:03 GMT -8
Dexter clambers down the rest of the stairs, relieved that he won't have to make a second trip -- his temporary quest at self-improvement through exercise completely forgotten. He walks over to where Max and Claire are talking.
"Well...if this ship can really run circles around the Stormchild, it might do us good to leave a false trail. Hit every port down the line that we can just so everyone can get a good look and then take off. By the time she follows us, it won't matter where we are because we'll have been everywhere. Should keep her confused for a little time and maybe buy enough time to double back here and prep the base to actually be used. Could load up on supplies while we're out, too, for that matter. Get a few things at each port and then take off. 'Course, I suppose we're short on cash for that...then again, there was that echolocation device we sold that diplomat...I could build it again if I had the parts..." he looks at Claire. "Think you could run that con again to get us some cash for supplies? Or were you thinking we'd actually go treasure hunting?"
(( e's out for the day, but should be back on later this evening. ))
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 8, 2010 8:17:51 GMT -8
((Durf.. Passed out last night before I got to do update. I'll roll it over with today's stuff. Obviously we're not gonna hit what I thought would be the end date, so don't worry about it, let's just let things take as long as they need to. ))
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Post by e on Oct 8, 2010 13:15:19 GMT -8
((sorry about holding things up yesterday.... nasty busy week))
Claire nods at Max. "Arrite then. You know Emi best and if you think the village is safe enough, that's good by me. We'll work on takin' her far away."
She grins at Dex. "Now that sounds like the beginnings of a good plan. We can go hit a few port towns, pick up some new faces maybe, and skim some money from some folk who beg us to take it off their hands. There's always a few, if you're lookin' close."
She smiles and looks up, thinking.
"I've been dyin' to try the Red Canary job for years now. We'd need a coupla sets of foreign looking clothes, some historical lookin' geneologic charts, an oil canvas with somethin' pretty on it and acourse, one red canary."
Claire shakes her head, coming back to the present moment from a bit of excited reverie about some spectacular con.
"And anyone who wants to go on a separate path can get off at one of the ports. Long as they'll keep their traps shut 'bout the rest of us and the ship. I hope some of 'em will stay on though. I got plenty of ideas about what we can do with Luci. Treasure to be brought back into light of day, a few more diplomat's nephews to wrangle with..."
"But first, I'd like to use this base. And I really don't want to have to scrub critter guts off of the ship and the floor when we come back. Is there somethin' we can do about the crocodile up there that doesn't involve it splattering? I'm countin' on you here Dex. Last thing I want after Emi findin' us is to come back here and have to cover our noses with handkerchiefs on account of rottin' innards all over the place."
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 8, 2010 13:55:03 GMT -8
(( No worries. Man I didn't expect Gustav Jr. to become the secret final boss of this last segment here, I just threw him in a a fun detail. Though I guess I can see why the prospect of a freefalling reptile could have some people concerned. In any case, since I didn't make it clear, he's not on top of the doors themselves but rather stuck on the rocks about a dozen feet above them. So if the doors open now he won't go DFA on anyone, though if he slips or something it could end in a crunch... ))
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Post by jazzs3quence on Oct 8, 2010 14:12:10 GMT -8
(( not just freefalling reptile but a small school of fish guts all over our brand new ship and our brand new floor. O.O Freefalling reptile was just reason to be concerned to warn people to watch their head, but Erin helpfully reminded me of the cleanup duties that would follow many pounds of fish guts all over a damp, dark, concrete floor... )) Dexter gives Claire a why do I have to be on the several-hundred-pound-reptile duty look and turns to Max. "Okay, so, this base, they obviously were smart when they built it, right? So tell me there's some kind of button somewhere that extends a net across the underside of the hangar doors so that any leftover, I don't know, wildlife, or stray fish, or old spears, or dead bodies, or whatever doesn't just come crashing down on the residents' heads, right? Right? Alternately...um...so, your tribe -- our tribe, I guess...they're fishermen, so they might use, like, fishing nets right? You think we could borrow...um, a lot? I have an idea of how we could maybe string a net under the doors and then install a pulley system to yank it up from the corners with all the stuff inside..." Dexter gives Max an expectant look that says please just say yes.
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 8, 2010 15:45:39 GMT -8
"Eh, no..."
Max scratches at his nose, looking upwards.. "No nets'r anything like that.. We never really had crocodile problems b'fore. " He makes a face. "Still like to know how'n hell they got in there. Sure as hell wasn't my doin'. ..But anyway..sur'n ye could prolly borrow some nets from th' islanders 'n string a bunch together ta form one big 'nough to go 'cross th' hangar. But that'd be like ta take some time.. An they'd want ta trade ye somethin fer all their nets 'course."
"As fer th' fish," He shrugs. "We'd get 'em from time ta time, when we were out longer 'n usual..." He laughs. "Usually we'd just throw th bigger ones inta a bucket 'n get 'em cooked up. Th' smaller ones 'n the ones that burst got swept down down th' drains, and what was left got mulched and we'd use it out front.. Maie used ta have a garden, where th' clearin' is now..." He trails off.
"Anyway, ye could always take a page from my book 'n score yerself a free meal fer yer ride back ta 'th mainland. Or I can drop 'em off at the villagers' if ye like. They'd prolly 'ppreciate that."
"Ah.. th' other thing ta think 'bout is ye've got yer old bird leavin' rust patches on me beach... She's beat ta hell 'an I ain't sure if she's got 'nough fuel left ta get airborne again.." He looks inquisitively as Heloise, who shakes her head no. "Yeh.. so... Not sure what ye want ta do 'bout that. Ye can loan 'er some fuel from Luci 'n get 'er up'n around, I suppose... She's a hulk but she oughta be worth somethin' ta some scrapper somewhere.. Preferably one who won't look too close at th' hull or care 'bout 'er name. Or just take 'er out over th' water 'n sink 'er. Orrrr. If ye don't want ta bother with it a'tall, Just give 'er ta me and I'll see if I can't sell 'er ta my trader friend fer scrap when he comes around next.. I'll kick ye back some'a th' cash, but I don't stand ta make much." He shrugs. "Any two ways, up ta ye. Eh, but don't ferget that cat 'a yers." He chuckles.
Anastasia steps forward. "Miss Claire... On the subject of separate paths.. I think I'll remain here with Max and wait for the trader as well, to take me back to the mainland.. I hope you'll forgive me but I think I've had enough airborne adventure for a decade or two." She smiles gently. "Besides, the people here are fascinating, I'd like the chance to study them a while."
"I think I'll need to go my own way as well." Elle bows her head, then continues hurriedly. "Of course you'll need a pilot, so I'll stay with you 'till you find a replacement.. But... I do have my own matters to tend to. I do want a ship of my own one day, after all."
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Post by Gravedust on Oct 10, 2010 21:46:19 GMT -8
UPKEEEEEP
Tom: +2 CP
Dexter: +6 CP
Claire: +4 CP
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Post by brendur on Oct 11, 2010 6:26:08 GMT -8
Tom wrinkles his nose when talk of the Bethesda surfaces, still finding it hard to love a ship who's job had been to deliver him to the salt mines. They only had one pilot, and while he knew a few vulture nests around the popular ports, getting her there would be an expense in fuel and effort. Not to mention every day that bird was in the air was a beacon for the Navy to come investigate, never mind that they were already bound to be flying a high profile ship.
He nods as he sums this all up in his head then looks to the others.
"Might be best iffin we jest gut her fer any parts we can use on the Lucifer or can sell apart from her, store em here and let Max sell what's left oh her. I know a few fellows what would take her, but we'd burn what they'd offer us in fuel gettin her to em."
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