Olek, having vanished into a his quarters, leaves temporary command of the Red Spring in the hands of Lt. Commander Conrad son of Lief for a search of the ship and assessment of the loyalty of her crew.

Through the portholes, crushing darkness and silence surround the submarine.  The spotlight has gone dead.  One or two emergency running lights are visible below on the surface of the abandoned Dark Reach.

The local sealife are disrupted by a low rumbling followed by a bang.  A puff of bubbles and steam billow out of the core emergency vent system, followed by a trickle of bubbles as the entire sub is flooded with seawater.

Then all is silent once more.

In reply to GM (msg # 1):

I've got to use the head.  Francis please keep watch while I'm in there.

James says in direct counterpoint to the catastrophic event outside of the ship.

In reply to James (msg # 2):

Conrad waits, though not patiently, for James to finish, then proceeds to take his team to the port-side cargo areas.

[Notice: 4]

Modi, Francis, and James, ostensibly, do the same.

[Notice (Modi): 7]

"See anything out of place?" he asks, carefully searching the designated space.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 3):

Hmm.... Lets see.  I don't think I see anything that you don't... (notice 5)

Francis pulls out his glasses again (SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WITH HIS ROLLS!) and systematically sets up a grid system and thoroughly checks every room hes in (Notice 9).
This message was last edited by the player at 14:23, Wed 25 Sept 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 4):

Alveris takes this time to summarily don his plot protective armor and begin dying all his outfits, leathers, and tactilenecks a flattering shade of deep burgundy red to match his new helm.

He'll be available for whatever shennanigans you want him to get into at your request, but he's not inherently going to follow you around like a puppy; he's obviously got better stuff to do.

Uthor ignores Alveris' wankery and continues searching the ship, hoping Olek will take his advice and relieve the fey of the helmet that belongs to the Empire.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 6):

You begin your first sweep of the ship, but turn up largeley nothing.

Sure, there are infractions here or there... out-of-date uniforms, untidy mess kits, waste paper baskets too close to the door so as to cause a fire hazzard, but nothing unusual.

There is one exception.

Francis locates a pile of screws, small bolts and ball bearings.  From the variety in shape and size, they come from all over the ship, yet they've been piled neatly in one corner of the hold.

In reply to GM (msg # 7):

"This is... interesting," Conrad says, unsure of what to make of the pile.  "I probably should have brought an engineer with us.  Let's take a look, Modi."

[Repair (Identify Parts): 1 (Wounds apply, right?)]
[Same as above (Modi): 2]

They stare at the pile of metal and scratch their beards, stumped.

Annoyed, Conrad walks over to the intercom and activates it.

"Senior Engineer Sven, report to the Port Cargo Bay immediately."

He sighs, turning off the comlink.  Another problem I'm not smart enough to solve. he thinks to himself.

Aloud, all he says is "Let's hold up here until Sven arrives. On a sub, very few things are nonessential enough that you can remove them like this.  These are probably important."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 8):

Alveris enters wearing what you can only describe as a wine soaked black tactileneck and his Magneto Helm, armed with the girls and a disappointed expression:

It turns out that soaking wool in wine just makes it smell like wine and does not impart onto it the sultry burgundy tinge I had been hoping to accentuate my battle regalia with in light of the recent addition.

So, what mischeif have you all gotten into since you lost your chaperone?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 9):

James looks bored and points at the like of bolts I'm the corner

In reply to James (msg # 10):

Flatly continues

No bees no cargo full of yaks.  Hell there's not even a fucking duck... just a pile of mystery bolts. Oh and engineer sven who probably pour them there.

Upon hearing Conrad's announcement calling for Sven and turning up nothing of note in the Starboard hold, Uthor goes in to join his comrades.

Who would put a pile of perfectly good bolts and such in the corner?

[Knowledge (Engineering) 2]

Can't quite say what they go to, though.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 12):

With a clang, Engineer 2nd Class Sven appears from a maze of pipes at one end of the room.  His uniform and beard are covered in grease.  With heavy heat-resistant gloves he lifts his goggles and squints at the pile of parts.

He looks at each of you suspiciously (though he doesn't hold that expression long on Conrad).  He pokes at the pile carefully.

"Not sure what this is all about, Sirs," he snaps.  "Look like normal bits 'n bobs well enough to me.  Thiss'r here's a bleed valve poppet, these'r trim bolts, like from the seal of'n inner hatch, this's a peanut, this'one'll like come from the inside of a dial..."

He squints at you again.

"But what'r they do in here, Sir?  Why ain't they where they belong?"

In reply to GM (msg # 13):

"That's what we're trying to find out," Conrad replies, looking glumly at the pile.  "Think you and your team can put 'em back while we figure that out?"

He pauses, scratching his chin for a moment in thought.

"They say we've been having all kinds of strange glitches lately.  Do they involve the places these pieces are from?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 14):

"Some'd do, Sir.  Some'r places we haven't YET had no failures I should say..."

In reply to GM (msg # 15):

Conrad snaps his fingers and smiles.

"That's... actually useful.  Where are the areas where nothing bad's happened yet that are associated with these parts?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 16):

Sven frowns.

"Th' most concerning to me, Sir 'd be the trim bolts and valve poppets.  Th' bolts come from th' lining of an inner hatch.  Without 'm the hatches won't seal.  Can't tell which'r they're from just by lookin'.  The poppets, though, thes'r from the emergency reactor flood system."

In reply to GM (msg # 17):

"Probably merits a follow up"

We still don't know who... or what took them, though.  Magni, why don't you come with me as we search out this hatch, Uthor says, taking the corresponding parts, and patch it up if we find it?  Chief Sven, maybe you and Modi can go fix the reactor flood?  You know this ship better'n I do.

Assuming Sven is amenable to this arrangement, Uthor sets off with Magni on a sweep of the ship, checking each internal hatch.

[Notice 7, with Magni's assistance]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 19):

"You lads go search the hatches.  The rest of us should probably investigate the reactor.  That piece sounded particularly important to me."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 20):

Because the last time we had problems with a reactor on a gnomish submarine went exceedingly well for us.

Can we at least confirm that current reactor readouts are normal before we trudge into so much sterilant?

(Shrugging nonchalantly)

What? Alveris has the ladies of a 1000 kingdoms to think about!

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 21):

Sven and Conrad break off to check on the reactor while Uthor and Magni begin to check the hatches.

Unsurprisingly, it takes several hours to check every hatch in the ship.  More (or possibly less) surprisingly, each bolt appears to have been taken from a different hatch so that a full quarter of them need to be repaired.

Sven takes a look at the gauges and assures you that the reactor is not in imminent danger.  He then mumbles something to himself as he dons a HazMat suit and enters the reactor for repairs.

Shortly before Uthor and Magni finish their sweep, Sven emerges.

"Got that shored up, Sir.  Poppets'r back where they belong."

So then the question is, I s'pose, how did near every device on the ship go missing a poppet or a bolt?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 23):

OOOOOO We have an OCD traitor.  This could be fun.

In reply to James (msg # 24):

"Aside from Ultron and the rest of the fungineers, who or what has the technical knowledge to so situationally and arbitrarily disassemble such advanced machinery? Something tells me you (eyeing Ultron) already have an idea of what may be transpiring here, but your steadfast grip on reality and refusal to embrace the unlikely are leading to the binding of your tongue.

(Alveris taps his helm)

Think outside the box Ultron- it's yet to lead me astray.

Well except for that one time..

Uthor looks surprised at the insinuation that he knows more than he lets on.  It's usually quite the opposite.

I... I'm not quite sure what you mean.  Even if somebody were a traitor on here, it would've taken them forever to go through and take all them bits out, much less do it without being seen.

Unless it's somethin' else... that goblin snuck on here.  Think he tracked anything in with him?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 26):

"I've been telling you people from the moment we picked up that map scribbled in Low Fey that we should be on the lookout from Gremlins and the like.  The Captain has, too.  Now, I don't know too much about them aside from stories, but those same tales make 'em seem really nasty."

Conrad turns earnestly toward his feyic companions, for perhaps the first time.

"Could this be the work of a creature like that?  And, if it is, how do we stop it?"

Forgive me C'mmander, but, I didn't think there was such thing as gremilns?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Sun 29 Sept 2013.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 28):

"I don't know what to think after seeing that jar of healing spit.  And it IS a lot of hatches for someone to have snuck into undetected."

Conrad looks a bit uncomfortable.

"I don't know what it could be, but until we're sure about what it's not, I don't want to rule anything out."

Well, if it could be ... gremlins, what do our fey crewmen know about them?

They are tiny, they are miserable, and we tolerate them only as a function of our whimsy, in that they piss you and the humans off, and we find that hilarious.

If we are dealing with a gremlin, and let's hope it's only one, things are about to get much worse before they get better. I can't believe I'm once again preaching the practicality of the chain of command, but this would seem the sort of information pertinent to the Captain, no?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 31):

Conrad shakes his head slightly.

"The Captain likes to be informed on matters that require his immediate action, and this does not.  We've mentioned it as a possibility back when we found the map, anyway.  Standing orders are to take care of the ship and root out the trouble - seems like we're close to doing just that."

He looks at those gathered around him.

"While he remains indisposed, this vessel is mine to command, and I will not see it ripped apart while we go running for additional help.  I -" he stops himself. "We can do this.  The next report I want to be giving Captain Olek is one detailing the success of this operation."

"So.  Those familiar with the situation.  Does one draw out a gremlin as they would any other fey?  Should we set out some wine?"

In much the same way a find ice wine is the ultimate in seduction for Alveris Alderis, technology, in all it's breakable and tinkerable glory, is the seduction of the gremlin.

Put the shiniest toy, in the shiniest box, in the shiniest area, and you'll find your menace.

Uthor pulls the cartridge marked "Frivolity" from his pouch, with all its layers of clockwork and tiny gears.

Something like this?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 34):

Conrad shrugs.

"If we don't need it and it looks irresistible to a gremlin... let's set it out somewhere and lay in wait."

He looks a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"Despite the armor we liberated from the Reach, covert operations has never been my strong suit.  Once the creature reveals itself, we can harm it in the usual manner, right?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 35):

Gremlins must be opposed by the forces of the mundane. While somewhat heathen to you, a simple box trap with a weight above it may be all that's required to capture the Gremlin.

Of course, that's assuming we're dealing with Gremlins, and that this one (or ones) is high as a kite. While they tend to not have complex schemes, make no mistake- these are creatures capable of forethought, reaction, and adaptation; they just have a proclivity for the destruction of the technological which tends to undermine their machinations.

Just like catching dire rats back home.  Let's rig up a trap then.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 37):

The normal hum of submarine machinery lowers by an octave.  Anyone who has been onboard for a while would recognize a problem immediately.

Just then the intercom crackles to life.

"Sir, Lt. Commander Conrad, this is the helm.  It looks as if our air regulators are having some issues, we may need to evacuate Engineering temporarily."

There is a brief pause.  The voice continues but with less confidence.  "I tried raising the Captain, but he said to talk to you, sir.  There's an awful lot of radiation coming off the Dark Reach.  Should we continue to hold position or do we have a heading?"

The intercom stays on but for a moment nobody speaks.

"Also, sir... I thought you should know that the Mirror is ringing again..."

The intercom finally clicks off.

With a heretofore unknown severity of tone:

FUCKING PUCK!!!

Alveris bounds off toward the mirror

C'mmander, I'm no navigator, but we probably ought to get going while we deal with this gremlin thing, if that's what it is.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 39):

"You aren't alloed to wander the ship without-" Conrad begins, but Alveris has already torn off toward the mirror.  "Magni, Modi?  Go with him. Keep an eye on both fey,  and report back everything that happens. Do not leave his side for any reason. No matter what he says. That's an order."

He activates the intercom.

"Acknowledged, helm. Heading to the bridge."

Conrad rubs his temples for a moment, overwhelmed.

"Sven, make sure the reactor stays stable until we return. Uthor? Walk with me, and explain to me why we'd need to evacuate engineering and whether that should worry me."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:04, Mon 30 Sept 2013.

Somethin' to do with the airflow regulators, C'mmander.  Imagine the air supply could be short if we stay in.  If the fey are to be believed, it's probably that gremlin, but I can't rightly say.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 2]

All I know is three things gotta happen.  The ship needs to move, we need to catch that critter, and Alveris needs to take off that damn helmet!

He looks a bit embarassed.

If you'll pardon my High Fey, Sir.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 42):

Conrad nods in agreement as the pair walks swiftly toward the bridge.

"As you say.  We'll take stock of the situation and plot a new course once we reach the helm.  I want to see what's happening to the Reach myself.  Next, we'll set up the PAG cannon and your bronze golem in a room and place it under observation.  Hopefully, combined, these things will be interesting enough to draw this gremlin from our ship."

He wipes his brow absently.

"Does it seem odd to you that the Captain has returned to his quarters during this hectic period?  I don't mind retaining command for as long as is needed for him to come to terms with the death of his friend, but..."

Conrad frowns.

"I don't think you wanted to surrender that object to him.  You hesitated, you forgot.  If there's something I should know about it, I would appreciate being let in on its secret before we reach the bridge."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:00, Mon 30 Sept 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 43):

James tears off after Alveris...

In Fey:

Why do the two people we hate have to be the ones in charge of the other end of that accursed mirror.  This is not going to be fun.
In Goblin:

Francis stay out of sight or Cash Cow will rip out your eyes and shove them down Fey Fucks (pointing at Alveris) pants.  I want you to hide and peek in to see if you can recognize anyone in that mirror.

Francis pants his acquiesence in trying to keep up with the two long legged fey and suddenly merges like predator into the background (Stealth 20)

Nice trick. James says genuinely impressed.

In Fey:

Alvie how do we play this.  What if this conspiracy goes all the way to father/Puck or even Titania and Oberron?  Do we let them know there are traitors and potentially gremlins on the ship?

In reply to James (msg # 44):

Bridge

The bridge is largely empty save for the acting helmsman and the navigator.  Both stand and salute Conrad and Uthor when they enter.

"Sir," the helmsman starts, "Chief Engineer Sven reports that Engineering has been evacuated.  He further reports that airflow to that cabin should be re-established shortly.  It looks as if someone removed all the bevels from the vents."

He points out into the dark ocean where the Red Spring's searchlight illuminates the aft end of the Dark Reach.

She's giving off some good radiation now, looks as if her reactor went a little while ago.  We're not in immediate danger, but if we stay for much longer, it's unlikely any of us will be leaving much of a genetic legacy, if you know what I mean, sir."  The helmsman makes a rude gesture at his crotch.

Code Room

The Fey and Francis reach the heavy door to the code room before their escort, and the Gnome on guard there (now armed with a repeater and axe) makes them wait.

The feint ringing you heard through the bulkhead becomes louder when the hatch swings open.  You again see the swirling image with the small green circle.

Alveris rights the Red Mantle upon his head and slides the circle to the "answer" symbol.

The swirling steadies into an image of nondescript waiting room.  General Blackwood stands off to one side, with Puck taking front and center.  He holds in his hand a very tall, thin, twisty champagne flute.  At his elbow, a Changeling servitor stands by with a flagon.

Alveris! Puck exclaims joyfully.  You're alive!

In reply to GM (msg # 45):

"Understood," Conrad says, nodding at the helmsman and navigator in turn.  "Move us out of range of the radiation, and decrease our depth.  In the event we have to surface, I want it to take as little time as possible to do so."

He activates the PA system.

"Attention, all hands.  Check your immediate surroundings for missing nuts, bolts, and other assorted materials.  Check the bulkheads, check the seals -- anything that could be taken apart.  Make any needed repairs immediately.  This is not a drill.  Repeat this check every 15 minutes, even if none have been in the room but you since the last sweep.  I repeat, this is not a drill."

Conrad shuts off the PA and turns to Uthor.

"Let's see if we can set that trap before anything else happens."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 46):

Bridge

"Sir, I should add," the navigator says, "with all due respect, we're also losing ground on our quarry."

In reply to GM (msg # 47):

"We're in no shape to..." Conrad begins, then stops himself.

"We can do both, aye?  Get us moving toward it again, fast as we can go while moving to slightly shallower water."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 48):

The navigator spreads out a map on a small table, moving his mug of Grog to do so.

The helmsman looks over his shoulder and they begin muttering to one another and pointing.

(Navigation: 5)

"Aye, sir." They say in unison.

The navigator continues, "here, sir.  This path will get us back on track and we can go shallower.  We just cross this here trench and up this ridge."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:56, Mon 30 Sept 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 48):

In Fey:

Puck, it sounds like you know something of what we have gone through recently; or is it just general euphoria at seeing your dear friend alive and wearing a fetching new cape?

Father, I don't suppose you can tell me anything about snakes can you, and why they might be present on a submarine?

Nothing specific about it, C'mmander.  But I get a bad feeling, and you know how my bad feelings can be.  I wouldn't put Jeeves out for the gremlin.  Don't know what it might do inside him, could cause trouble...

Uthor trails off as he and Conrad enter the bridge.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 51):

Conrad glances at the charts, shrugging mentally at the information they show in deference to the knowledge of the navigator.

"That course works for me.  Full speed ahead, and let me know the moment anything else pops up.  See to it that our torpedo tubes are reloaded, by the by; we discharged our ordinance against the Reach, and I want it ready in case of further trouble."

He turns to Uthor.

"You want to save 'Jeeves', that's fine.  Go get him, and bring him up here.  You can keep an eye on him and on the bridge's instruments while the rest of the crew keeps an eye out.  Hopefully we'll get some notice on an area to check soon."

Conrad pauses, frowning once more.

"I'm staying here for the time being; the Captain would be here, and thus I should be here in his stead.  Before you go, tell me what you know about Sven.  He didn't seem concerned enough about what's going on to me."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:58, Mon 30 Sept 2013.

Far as I know, Officer Sven does good work.  Never known him to grumble too much.  A bit fussy, though.  I have a plan to catch this gremlin thing, too.  Gonna swing by Engineering real quick.

Uthor heads first to Engineering, where, if it's not evacuated, he grabs a bunch of gears, widgets, and any other supplies he can find.  Then, he goes back to his quarters to check Jeeves over.

[Notice 7]

Once that's done, he sits down at his desk and begins constructing an elaborate doodad of whirring gears and clicking spindles.  It serves no practical purpose but has lots of moving parts to keep a gremlin occupied for a long time.

[Repair 6]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 53):

(Smugly) It's going to take more than a submarine full of snakes and gnomish intrigue to get keep me down you bastard.


On the whole, the experience has been most pleasant. As you can see, I've enhanced my wardrobe significantly, and we've even kept Rhaveen alive, despite what I am sure are your best efforts to the contrary.

Enough with the pretense of happenstance. To what do we owe the displeasure of your call?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 54):

Displeasure? Puck cocks his head to one side and clutches his heart.  Alveris you wound me!  I call out of duty to the Court and loyalty to you.  I merely seek to check in on the status of your mission and pass on what little information I have that may be of service to you.

Puck looks at General Blackwood over his shoulder and raises his glass.  The General does not return the gesture.

Please tell me, so that I may lay Lord Oberon's fears to rest, how goes your travels beneath the cold sea?  Have you found those pesky humans yet?

Puck takes a long sip of his drink, draining the glass.  He motions for the Changeling to refill it.

Snakes you say?  Are you being metaphorical or literal?  I only just learned of 'snakes' on the Red Spring myself.

If Uthor's machinations are successful, he will return to rendezvous with Conrad.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 56):

The navigator nods and hops to, issuing rapid commands top the helmsman and rest of the crew via intercom.

In reply to GM (msg # 55):

The gnomes have become distracted by their own bullshit and intrigue. We located a missing sub of theirs, which was apparently dispatched first for this mission. Which, as a fucking sidebar, doesn't leave me brimming with confidence. Alveris Alderis is fuck NO ONE's B Team, and the fact that someone saw fit to sabotage an entire sub of gnomish military units, including a technologically advanced special ops team (Alveris points to Magneto helm) suggests some foul fucking play that reaks of the bullshit I so rapidly associate with you. And yes, the snakes were real. Very, very real.

Right now, someone is systematically disassembling portions of the sub, and I'm loathe to say, it's potentially gremlin based in origin.

So to answer your question? It's going really fucking poorly, but hey, and I mean this seriously, I kept Rhaveen alive, and he's actually begun proving himself to be both an adept healer and tactical negotatitor. He may not be the General's son you anticipated, but he's somewhat more useful than I originally believed. That's not to say I wouldn't sacrifice him at a moment's notice to save my own skin, but let's be honest, there's NO ONE I wouldn't sacrifice at a moment's notice to save my own skin. I'm a compassionate guy.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 58):

Wiping a fake tear from his eye

Oh Alveris, stop it your making me blush. (factually true as if you look closely enough he legitimately blushing slightly)

I will wait until the next person is almost done talking and cut them off with the non-sequiter question

What is the alabaster sea?

In reply to James (msg # 59):

Conrad stands on the bridge, emulating what he believes the Captain's role to be as best he can and watching the ocean spread out before him.

After a few minutes of this, he activates the intercom and sets it to broadcast to the Reactor Room only.

"This is the helm.  What's the status of things down there?"

Uthor returns to the bridge with Jeeves in tow, arms outstretched in the "Porter" stance.

C'mmander, he says as he removes and stows the cartridge from Jeeves' back, rummaging around in his pack for something else, I may have something to solve our gremlin problem.  Do we have a big glass jar or something like that?

He holds up the widget.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 61):

"I'm sure we can find one for you."

A few orders and a little scurrying later, a large glass decanter is placed in Uthor's hands.

"What do you have in mind?"

This, waving the widget, goes in there, pointing to the bottle.  When we see the gremlin jump into it, shut the bottle up tighter than a... well that sayin' wouldn't be appropriate to say to the Acting Cap'n.  Then we get rid of it.  Shoot it out the torpedo tube or somethin'.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 63):

Conrad looks at the gizmo whirring away in the bottle, then at Uthor, then shrugs.

"Blasted gremlins, always overcomplicating everything.  Interesting thought; worth a shot."

A tight stopper is fetched and placed near the bottle, and Conrad nods.

"Well, let's set the bait."

I'll take this to Engineering, unless you've heard of trouble anywhere else.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 65):

Conrad shakes his head.

"Nothing so far.  Make sure the crew continue to make the periodic checks I ordered a few minutes ago, though.  We don't want this thing to fall apart on us."

Uthor calls up another engineer to help him watch and sets up the jar in engineering, stopper at the ready.  He drops the widget inside, gears whirring, sprockets clicking, doodads flibbering.

Now, we wait.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 67):

Uthor nearly runs into Sven on his way into engineering.

"All'r done in there, sir.  Air's back on n'all."

Thanks, Sven.  Can you help me out here for a moment?

Uthor explains the situation with the trap.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 69):

Engineering

Sven assists Uthor in setting up their little trap.  They then retreat to watch from cover.

[OOC: did you want to have the G-PAG set up as Conrad suggested?]

Helm

The spotlight winks out, returning the view to total darkness.  The ship lurches and starts moving, the motor whine overtaking the baseline hum of the ship.  Underway, there is little but the blinking displays and ping of sonar for company.


Code Room

Real snakes?  As in legless reptiles?  Long fangs?  Fascinating!

The Changeling servitor refills Puck's glass and eyes you all thoroughly through the mirror before stepping back into shadow.

"It would seem," The General picks up while Puck is disposed with his beverage, "That my son has... failed to embarrass himself once again."  He gives the slightest of nods, but does not smile and his face is no less icy.  "Perhaps we shall soon have enough data for a trend to form."

Puck waves his hand.

Family drama, BO-RING!  Anyhow, back to these snakes... It seems every time we talk Alveris, I'm forced to admit (quite against my will) that once again I missed a chance to assist in the danger you've been put in.  We'll need to discuss this more fully in the future, I'm keen to hear what you did with something longer and thicker than you are...

No, what I was referring to was some information I... acquired recently.  I'm afraid that I must inform you that you have some uninvited guests on your little Gnomish tugboat.

Puck adopts a comically stern look.

In reply to GM (msg # 70):

We already found one dangling around my neck thank you very much for stating the obvious.  We also know about the gremlins... are there more that you know about?  Also what is the alabaster sea and why did we find a map of it in the goblin's barrel?

While trying not to respond to his father's backhanded compliment he can't help but smirk slightly.

Uthor and Sven wait patiently for the gremlin to take the bait, ready at any moment to snap down the cork.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 72):

"And it's probably safe to assume they AREN'T the previously promised buxom and amoral mermaids?"

"Yes, you have once again missed an opportunity to contribute to my demise, but I am loath to inform you, I am of full faith you will find another opportunity to make me wish for the ending of your existence. Dick.

"So, would you care to provide more information as to what the next incapacitating and completely absurd obstacle in our path is, or are we just going to piss in the wind, which I am pleased to admit, I am fully adept at performing?"

Alveris motions toward his trousers, pantomining unzipping.

"Sorry, all this talk about my thickness has my mind running on its favored track"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 73):

Comm Room

If you'll recall, Alvie, the last time I sent a bevy of immoral and buxom creatures your way, you bit off more than you could chew... Puck cocks his head No wait... I think it was that THEY tried to bite off some of you and chew it... my mistake.

Despite your lack of trust, I AM here to help... the mission, so I'll give you two pieces of free advice:

One, if you indeed do have a Gremlin aboard, you had better hope it's merely mischievous.  If it's angry, you're in FAR more trouble... also on that note, while trying to catch said Gremlin, DO NOT piss it off!

Puck pauses to take a long drink.  He holds up one perfectly manicured finger to signal that everyone should wait while he drains his glass.  He finally finishes and licks his lips.

The Changeling servitor steps forward with the decanter, mumbling something (rather loudly) in Changetongue.

What are you saying?  Nobody understands that monkey-speak!  Just fill my glass and get out of here!  Puck waits while his glass is refilled and then shoos the creature out of the room with great ceremony.  He then returns to view and drinks a full half of his next glass before continuing.

So sorry, I was TERRIBLY thirsty, and you just can't get good EvenMoon Wine anywhere else but here... where was I?  Ah yes, my second piece of advice:

Gremlins, Goblins, Snakes?  What fun Alvie, but not at all the miscreants I was referring to.

With that, Puck ducks out of view and is gone.

The General takes a half-step closer to the mirror and peers through it, directly into James' soul it seems.

"Gremlin eh?  Shouldn't be too much of a problem, should it?"

With that, the image winks out.

Engineering

Uthor and Sven wait patiently in hiding, the jar containing the widget just in view.  Several moments pass and nothing.  Without warning, the lights blink out and there is a loud banging sound from the direction of the air compressor.

"Shit'na'brick!" Sven exclaims, "That'll be a compressor miss-fire!"

The two Gnomes scramble to get up in the dark and find their way around without the assistance of the emergency lights which, for some reason, failed to activate.  It's only a few seconds later that the lights flick back on.  Sven dashes to the compressor and begins to inspect it.

"Ah!" he breathes in relief, "just the coil come'd loose, shouldn' take butta minute!"  He goes to work fixing the compressor.

While this is going on, Uthor has time to check on their trap.  The bottle is empty, and scrawled in engineering chalk on the deck beside it is a note (Low Fey):

"How stupid do you think I am?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:52, Thu 03 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 74):

James screams in frustration and kicks the wall under the mirror.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Thu 03 Oct 2013.

Well that doesn't sound good.

Uthor mumbles, picking up the scrap of paper and staring at it for a moment.

Not sure what this says, but it can't be good.  Time for Plan B.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 76):

James storms out of the communications booth and towards the bridge.

Of all the unhelpful....

He entirely forgets Francis hiding in the hall behind him and with a wet squelching sound he literally drags Francis a good 10 feet before he pauses.  Francis dusts himself off and is about to say something until he looks at the fey's face...

James lapses into cursing in staccato goblin so fiercely that Francis pales (intimidation 5).

He asks in goblin:

Did you get a look into the room, did you recognize any of the fey fuck or the slimey changeling?

He continues to the bridge, bursts through the door and says

We have problems.

We sure do.  I think we insulted the gremlin.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 78):

Conrad raises an eyebrow.

"You mean, in addition to the collection of problems we're already dealing with?  Might as well fill me in.  If we're lucky, someday we'll actually solve one instead of blowing it up with a torpedo."

He grins slightly.

"Though I suppose that did resolve the issue..."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 79):

James takes a look at the proffered note from Uthor and sighs as he translates it aloud....

Yes, yes you did.  Lets hope he's not too angry, a mischevious gremlin is annoying an angry one is lethal.  Though we do get one useful peice of information from this note... he says "I" not "we" that may be encouraging.

As far as anything of worth from the meeting, it basically boils down to the gremlin and Francis may be the least of our problems.  There is at least one more unpleasant surprise on this ship.  I had no opportunity to get further information as I was lucky to get that much.  Have we checekd all of Alveris' barrels as well as the ones in the hold yet?

*James pauses a second and muses thoughtfully*

I wonder if goblins can be reasoned with?  If we die and this ship fails he dies as well...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:34, Thu 03 Oct 2013.

Glad someone can read that thing.  What did it say?

[OOC]I assume James just tells us what it says, so you don't have to do a whole post to do so.[/OOC]

That's true, though.  It probably doesn't want to die with us.

In reply to James (msg # 80):

Alveris casually saunters in as James breathlessly finishes his account of the mirror conversation.

It's Puck. It's just safer to assume whatever is going to happen, will happen, that it will assuredly suck, and it will likely put me in mortal peril. But bear in mind, we have an agenda here all our own, which does dovetail with Puck and the general's. They're eager to screw with us, but our survival is somewhat required for the mission's success.

Unless the mission is all a ruse, at which point..well, let's just hope it's not a ruse.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 82):

" We are once more underway toward our primary objective.  We also checked the cargo bays, finding only the gremln's mischief in the process.  What other surprises could await us, and where would they lurk?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 83):

The laws of dramatic irony converge at Conrad's last sentence.

The whole ship lurches and shudders.  The normal sounds of ship operation, whirring and groaning and churning and rumbling, shift and get much quieter...

The lights flicker.

You are all able to keep your footing well enough when the ship lurches, leaving you all clinging to various pipes and railings as you wait for the next shake.

However... it does not come.

Instead, the intercom clicks on.

"Helm to Lt. Commander Conrad... we have a problem."  The intercom clicks off but just as quickly clicks back on.

"And I think, sir, that it just got worse..."

In reply to GM (msg # 84):

KHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

(Arrogantly) What? Have you none of you spent any time among humans? God, try to immerse yourselves in some other cultures once in a while.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 85):

Conrad, who had been standing on the bridge, approaches the helm itself.

"What happened!? Were we hit?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 86):

Shaggo son of Hurf looks grim.

"Well sir, we lost propulsion.  At first we thought it was a power issue, but the reactor's fine, the engine is fine and the screws seem to be engaged... we've just got no movement on the propeller... on top of that, we've got some sort of massive failure in the ballast system, could be leaky tanks, could be the exchange system..."

Shaggo was apparently expecting some more specific reaction from Conrad so he pushes on.

"What that means, sir, is that we have no ballast control and no propulsion.  The Red Spring is sinking, sir."

"And the worse part," the Navigator adds.  "We've just crossed over that subterranean trench I was telling you about."

He points to a feature on the map.

"It's more'n two miles deep Lt. Commander, we don't actually know how deep.  Needless to say, if we keep sinking it's likely we'll reach crush depth before we hit bottom."

Uthor runs around the bridge frantically, checking dials and gauges to determine the status of the ship and find out any malfunctions.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 6]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 88):

"Let's get an engineering team down to ballast, then.  Easier than sending a squad of divers out to check the props."

He turns to James and beckons him over.

"You speak whatever gibberish that thing does? I have an idea."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 89):

I'm also somewhat familiar in the bastardizations of the Feyic Languages Connie, and frankly, I'm hurt you didn't think of me first.

Come, let's see if we can't convince this Gremlin that perhaps there's more interesting things to do than kill all of us, himself included.

Boy, do you guys make it challenging to maintain a positive outlook.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 90):

Conrad blinks at Alveris for a moment.

"Had I asked, would you have offered to help? Nonetheless, it's welcome.  I was thinking we'd simply have one of you hail him using the ship's PA system, and perhaps we could figure out what exactly it is that he wants."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 91):

We're creatues of whimsy Connie, and you're looking for absolutes.

Alveris saunters over to the PA, speaking into it in low fey


"Well, we'll see what happens. I introduced myself, I let him know he was probably going to kill all of us, I asked how we could appease him, and then I inquired as to his adaptive state and whether he had gills. I proposed a meeting in my quarters"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 92):

James Shrugs

About what I would have done.  Maybe we can give him a dedicated engineer to make things to break...  I think it would be hard with the rest of this neato machinery around, it would have to be a hell of a device to distract him.  I'm still worried about that map written in low fey... its not a gremlin's style.

He claps alveris on the shoulder as he goes to his room


Good luck my friend I think its best if you go one on one, both of us there would frighten him. 

In reply to James (msg # 93):

As Alveris turns to confront the gremlin, Conrad snaps the PA system back online.

"This is Lt. Commander Conrad: Sven, send a team to check on the ballast tanks.  See if you can get them working again. All hands on deck.  Grab your tools and get to work.  We're earning our pay today, lads; the Empire thanks you."

Conrad switches to the Captain's private frequency.

"Captain, this is Conrad.  We're having quite a few problems, sir, and the crew's being run ragged trying to deal with them.  The Red Spring passed inspection at port with flying colors, right?  We're missing nuts and bolts, the reactor and energy grid are both fluctuating, and now we've lost propulsion and ballast control. I fear we may lose our quarry at this rate."

He pauses, as if debating his next words carefully.

"And, sir?  What's so important about that figure we returned from the Reach?  While I appreciate your confidence in my abilities, the crew's morale might benefit from having their beloved Captain on the deck.  When you're ready, of course, sir."

Switching off the PA, he turns to Modi and Magni, who had accompanied the fey to the bridge.

"I need people I can trust to do a very difficult job.  Head to the diving room, grab harpoon guns, and suit up in Aqualungs.  I hope it doesn't come to this, but stand by in case need to deploy a team to unjam the propeller or give it a manual start."

The twins glance at each other with a grim expression, but dutifully give him a grim salute before heading off.

"Aye, Commander."

Conrad returns the gesture, then turns his attention to Ragnar.

"Go to the code room and bring back the files on the Red Spring's last inspection. Be quick; our lives may depend on it."

He moves closer to the viewport, hands clasped behind his back.  Bedecked in Special Ops armor and bristling with clockwork weaponry, he looks every inch a military commander in charge of the situation.

"What kind of maneuverability do we have without the prop and the ballast?  Can we at least adjust the direction of our descent?"

With a start, he turns to James.

"Do gremlins and their ilk respect the chain of feyic command?  Would they listen to your father?  Would they care that his son is on board? Did they react at all to Alveris wearing that bloody helmet?"

Conrad seems to be getting more fidgety as time goes on, his eyes falling upon the big read button situated near the Captain's chair: Red Alert.  Next to it is a smaller button, painted yellow: S.O.S.  His fingers hover over the buttons, but press neither.

"Navigator, tell me how long it will take for us to sink so low that an Aqualung won't be able to carry a gnome to the surface before running out of air."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

C'mmander, I'll go check on the Captain in person.  Keep an eye on Jeeves?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 95):

Conrad nods.

"Be insistent, Uthor.  I will protect you from his ire, should it come to that."

Conrad hands Uthor his access codes to the room, which were required to properly guard it.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

Uthor nods and heads off.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 97):

James says stonily and very significantly

They have exactly as much respect for the feyic line of command... as the fey do for the gnomish line of command.  Besides when father heard of the gremlin and the boat falling apart he told me it should not be difficult to deal with... the great tactician Aurvon Blackwood at work ladies and gentlemen.

The only response a gremlin would have to that helmet is wanting to take it apart.  They are so single minded but they do have a self-preservation instinct.  I seem to remember a tale or two of deals with gremlins.

I hate to say it... Alveris is our best hope.  I can talk all four legs off of a canopy badger; I'm convinced Alveris can talk it into taking a walk afterwords.  More than half of the time I have no clue what hes talking about and I agree with him.

Switching to gnomish, stepping very close to Conrad and whispers in his ear
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 97):

The crew scatter and scramble to follow Conrad's orders.

When the Captain does not respond to the intercom, Uthor heads out to find out what happened to him.

"Magnis here," you hear over the intercom.  "Modi and I are in the Dive Room awaiting instructions, sir."

Ragnar returns double-quick with the Red Spring's maintenance logs.  At first glance you see no irregularities or bad reports.

Goath Goblinbane, the Weapons Officer and veteran of the last Goblin War, is very stern.  "Lt. Commander, we are tactically just as sound as before, our weapons and monitoring appear unimpeded.  With no ballast control and propeller control, we could pull out of this dive and at least set down on the shallower shelf.  Without propeller but with ballast control, we could at least balance out our descent.  With neither, we can do neither."

He licks his lips and continues, "While it is likely that anyone exiting the ship now via Aqualung will, at least, survive to the sea's surface, we do not have enough for the entire crew nor do we have long before we are too deep for that to be an option."  He looks at the displays.  "I estimate that in a quarter hour, escape by aqualung will result in death.  In three-quarters of an hour, the ship will be crushed."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:11, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 99):

Conrad frowns at James, shaking his head and speaking quietly.

"The ship will find itself flooded soon enough without us helping it along the way.  If the gremlin fears drowning, it is not doing a good job of showing it.  I appreciate the lateral thinking, however.  Let's hope Alveris meets with some success."

He raises his voice to respond to Goath.

"I see.  Who among the crew can we spare?  I will launch one crew member toward the surface just before we reach terminal depth for that tactic.  I am prepared to go down with this ship, but I'll be damned if we don't do something to ensure someone will live to tell what happened here today."

Conrad activates the PA again.

"Magni, Modi, I regret to give this order: You may dive when ready.  Find out what's jamming the propeller and try to get it moving again."

He switches off the PA and rubs his temples for a moment.

"In a quarter hour, we're launching someone toward the surface, provided we still don't have ballast or propellers moving.  Sounds like either one will solve the impending disaster.  At that point, unless we're in better shape, I'm also going to sound the S.O.S., which will reveal our position but can't possibly leave us worse off than the watery grave we're presently faced with.  If it comes to that, I'll also order all electronic and clockwork devices thrown into a single room.  Everything.  Perhaps that will entice our friend to come out from hiding."

Conrad glances at the bronze gnome Uthor left in his care for a moment and narrows his eyes.

"Everything."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:07, Sun 06 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 100):

A voice comes in over the intercom to the entire ship.

"Attention crew.  The Red Spring is experiencing an unintended catastrophic descent.  Crush depth in approximately 45 minutes.  Maximum abandonment depth in approximately 15 minutes."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 101):

Free Actions: I don't want to do any of these things if it will cost me a unit of time.  I don't think they will, however, since they are not substantial.

Conrad hits the Red Alert button, activating the emergency lights but muting the sound.  He paces back and forth for a moment, then glances down at the command cog in his hand while talking to himself.

"Come on, Modi.  Don't let me down."

To James, he says, "Look, back home, how do you deal with these things?  If you can't help me, I'm going to have to try something drastic, and it may not be healthy to not be a gnome when I do it."

He sets his jaw, unhappy with the situation but clear on what must be done.

"Understand, my duty must be to the Empire above even my very life."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 102):

"And do any of you remember at how you balked at the importance of the tactileneck?

(Alveris accentuates his current burgundy stained attire)

"This, this is what it is fucking for. Please, allow me to go save us, AGAIN!"

(Alveris storms off confidently toward his quarters, awaiting the fate and whimsy of the DM)

Uthor, now at the Captain's Quarters, tried the handle and realizes that the door is locked.  He knocks.

Cap'n!  Cap'n, are you all right?

No response.

Sorry Cap'n.  I'm coming in.

Using the key that Conrad gave him, he opens the door and cautiously steps inside.

The ship's PA system crackles to life again.

This is Uthor.  James to the Captain's Quarters.  Repeat: James to the Captain's Quarters.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 105):

Conrad blinks as the intercom buzzes to life, then turns to James.

"Grab your medkit, take Ragnar, and go. Quickly."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 106):

Rags!  Come on move it.

James takes the medkit and books it to the captains quarters.  Francis and Ragnar nervously following (each with their own reason).

The Cap'n is out.

Uthor gestures to Olek, lying on the floor in an unusual position.  He is totally rigid, posed awkwardly as though he simply froze in the middle of getting up from his chair and then fell over.  He is breathing very slowly and shallowly.

Uthor produces a half-full bottle of "Bushy Hills" whisky.

Looks like he was drinking this when it happened.

There is a broken shot glass on the table.

See what you can do for him.  My first instinct is poison.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 108):

James walks in and immediately begins cracking up.


 Are you sure that he didn't drink out of Alveris' 'special' wine cask?

Rags!  You ever seen anything like this before?

If you don't have any special ideas


We will have to try standard tactics


Ragnar drops to his knees next to the captain and shoots a venomous look at the fey laughing at the captain's predicament.

With all due respect 'sir' its Ragnar.  This is a situation not be laughed at.  You may have the steadiest hands on the ship and you need to take care of the captain damnit!  If you don't I'll take that goblin your so fond of and put its out of its misery as a final favor to the captain.

Francis stands on his head, his loincloth flipping over to expose his bare bottom to Ragnar.

Vile creature.  he says shuddering.

James busies himself trying to relax the captain from his uncomforatble still chortling to himself.  He is too amused to be as effective as normal but with Rag's assistance he pulls it together (Healing 4).

Thats all we can do at the moment.


/ooc if this doesn't work I have one other thing I'm going to do /ooc
This message was last edited by the player at 12:48, Mon 07 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 109):

As James walks in he tries to check the captain's person for anything relevent.  He is laughing so hard that he just pats down the captains pockets (notice 1,1).  Ragnar stoicly kneels down and checks the body thoroughly but quickly (notice 4) for anything of interest on the captains person.

In reply to James (msg # 110):

Conrad stomps around the bridge, stormclouds behind his eyes.

There has to be something I can do he muses to himself.

"Marshall Goath, I'm going to ask you what may be a stupid question, but I want your honest answer.  We have no power, and no buoyancy, and are sinking like the tub of steel we are, correct?"

The Weapons Officer nods mutely, clearly wondering where this is headed.

"Now, I'm no engineer, but I do know a thing or two about kickback," he says, patting his repeater carbine gently.  "Lacking any mobility of our own means we also have no stabilizing ability.  If we were to fire our torpedos all at once, would that give us any significant reverse propulsion?  Could we reach that shelf you were talking about earlier?"

Marshall Goath's mouth hangs open for a moment, stifling his natural objection to such a ridiculous ploy by sheer force of will and respect for the command chain.  Then he scratches his beard, dutifully pondering the suggestion over before giving his response.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:40, Mon 07 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 110):

Captain's Quarters

You check the Captain, but find nothing odd on his person.

The small metal horse, if you were interested, is on his desk and his weapons are hanging on the back of his door.

Bridge

"Lt. Commander... I... hesitate to... not that I'm saying.... it's not a BAD idea..."  Goath's expression suddenly changes from one of perplexion to deep thought.  Slowly, as the wheels grind away in his head, the expression turns to surprise and terrified joy.

"Sir... to answer your question, 'No', the torpedoes themselves wouldn't have enough reverse kick to push us around..." he mutters under his breath "being torpedoes with propellers, they don't really have much kick at all"  He continues louder "BUT, Sir, your idea might still work.  If we UNLOAD the torpedo tubes, pressurize the torpedo and weapons rooms, then open them to the outside, we MAY get enough blowback from the air explosion to do some maneuvering"  Goath uses vigorous air quotes on the word 'maneuvering'.

Whole Ship

"Attention! The Red Spring will reach escape depth in approximately 10 minutes: crush depth in approximately 40 minutes!"

In reply to GM (msg # 112):

Conrad perks up at this, attempting to suppress his growing grin.

"Excellent.  We have a plan then.  Take the next five minutes to plot out a likely course and a target area for our maneuver that will keep us safe.  Er, safer, anyway.  One that will keep ud above escape depth, if possible."

He activates the PA system.

"Attention Weapons Bay: Unload all torpedo tubes and pressurize the torpedo and weapon rooms, then stand by to fire on my command."

He switches off the system, and his grin fades with another thought.

"What'll this maneuver do to Modi and Magni?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Mon 07 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 113):

The other crew on the Bridge spread their hands.

"It's hard to say... nothing quite like this has ever been done and we'll be guessing on how to 'maneuver' ourselves.  It's possible we can push ourselves out from over the trench to hit that shelf.  If we do that we'll likely be below escape death but well above crush depth.... however that DOES still mean we're going to crash into a rocky shelf."

In reply to GM (msg # 114):

Conrad nods, considering the information.

"She'll hold together. Plot it out as best you can.  We'll give Modi and Magni a little longer to work on the propeller, but at 1 minute 'til escape depth I'm launching a gnome to the surface and then blowing the torpedo bay."

Decisive confidence, he thinks to himself.  The crew needs to see that right now.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 115):

James straddles the chest of the captain grumbling.  I have no idea what the hell this poison is but its paining my ass!

He curses in goblin.


GRRRRRRR.... RAGS!  Go to the sick bay and get me 2 ampules of muscle relaxant.
He barks angrily.  Francis runs over to the table and grabs the clockwork pony off of the table and goes to Uthor.

Francis like!  Francis want to keep.  Fey captain dead (he pantomimes a dramatic death) this is now for Francis!

You WILL WAKE UP NOW!  James shrieks slapping the captain harder than medically necessary.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:21, Mon 07 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 115):

An exasperated Alveris Alderis casually juggles his knives as he thinks about the conversation with the gremlin.

Well this blows.

There is no way Alveris Alderis is dying on this fucking submarine where there isn't even a desperate woman throwing herself at him, rapt with that magical combination of mortal terror and Alderilust (TM) that I seem to make my living taking advantage of.

Think Alveris. How do we make everyone not die.

Fuck! Thinking sucks.

(More time than Alveris would like to admit passes before..)

Ok, there's two ways off the sub. The diving bell, which I have to assume Connie is using for some sort of heroic escape for some of the ship's crew, or the torpedo room. If you're a gremlin, and (the pace picks up in his head) you smuggled on board a super secret torpedo ship that, which is obviously real, and which you'll totally disassemble in orgasmic fury once you get to the surface but you could totally use to escape.

HOLY SHIT! I figured it out. He's in the torpedo room!

Alveris runs to the ship intercom in the officers quarters and radios for Connie.

"Connie. Alveris. I spoke with the gremlin, and let me assure you, it's a gremlin, and he's being a douche, but he wouldn't come out, and he wouldn't negotiate.

During our conversation, the gremlin indicated he had a plan to escape. There's only two ways off this sub where you don't die. The diving bell, which I'm going to assume you have control of as part of some totally noble escape plan, and

(Alveris pauses, and begins confidently)

[Persuasion 16]

The gremlin pretty strongly intimated to me that he's got a plan to escape, and I believe that plan involves an elaborate gremlin sized torpedo ship which was smuggled on board for the gremlin by the traitorous gnomes, which he's planning to shoot himself out of as part of whatever his grand escape is that kills us in the process.

I'm heading to the torpedo room now. Send a detatchment to meet me. And if you're men are already there.. Pray for them.

..Because I pretty strongly indicated to the gremlin that when I caught him, and I will catch him, that I was going to skin him and use his fur to line the inside of my Magneto helmet. So he's probably pretty pissed off.

..That's my bad guys.

Alveris holsters the girls, puts on his Burgundy Tactileneck (considered to be the in-game equivalent of leather armor- it's luxuriously made and tailored specifically for him, adding a 1 modifier to his toughness based on confidence. Mind is always greater than body), and heads for the door, but not without one last word for Lt. Conrad.

"Connie, for what it's worth, I want you to know I believe in you. You're a proud warrior, and you make your BEST decisions when you are in a fight. Maybe you don't always play by the rules. Sometimes you play it fast, play it loose. So you kill a few mimes along the way. But when push comes to shove, YOU get results.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We're fighthing a pissed off gremlin on a submarine. If I could sneak a half and half in with a natural redhead, this would be the most fun I've had since the Kirkpatrick Defenstration- And that involved throwing a fucking king out a window!

Now go kick some ass, and don't get thrown out a window!"

(Alveris hangs up)

Looks like the hunted, has become the hunter.

Alveris sprints off for the torpedo room.

Uthor perks up suddenly, as if someone pulled a chain attached to his back.

Keep working on the Cap'n.  I... have a bad feeling.

Drawing his handaxe, he makes for the Torpedo Room, Danger Senses pinging faster and faster like a metal detector.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 118):

Assuming Alveris's message occurred in the past, coinciding nicely with the evacuation orders he gave the torpedo room, Conrad amends his previous statement to also send all available combatants to the area to help secure it.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 119):

The Bridge

Navigator, Helmsman and Weapons Officer move knobs, levers, wheels and gizmos and run calculations.

Conrad sits on edge...

Torpedo Bays

Uthor and Ragnar sprint down the halls and shimmy down ladders as fast as they can.  They are met at the hatch to the Torpedo room by two sailors who are just about to close the hatch.

"We unloaded the torpedoes and we were told to seal off the bay," one explains.

Alveris comes sprinting (splendidly) right behind them.

The Captain's Quarters

Uthor and the Medic rush toward the torpedo bays.

A few seconds later, Captain Olek suddenly gasps for air.

He chokes and spits but finally relaxes and then sits up.  He blinks several times, clearly dazed and confused.

In reply to GM (msg # 120):

Ultron! Finally. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's nice to see someone I recognize. I was starting to get a literal and metaphorical (Alveris twangs his tactileneck) red shirt vibe from this whole thing with all the faceless sailors I was seeing. With the ship heading toward drownsville and Connie seemingly in charge..

Wait. Why is Connie in charge? Where's the Captain? Where's James?

Oh, and guys..

I'm pretty sure we're going to have to fight a gremlin.

(Alveris pumps his fist with faux subtlety).

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 121):

James holds out a hand to the captain.

Welcome back.

We think you were poisoned.  How fast can you move?  We are about neck deep in shit and someone is standing over us weilding a bucket of snot.  The question is do we duck?

Connie's in charge on the bridge we believe the gremlin is trying to bail out on the torpedo room. All hands are heading to the torpedo room.  The prop doesn't work the ballasts are fucked and we are about 40 min away from getting crushed to death.

I'd say you are about as good as you are going to get for a while.  I don't think you'll hurt yourself any further by moving around.

The captain grouchily takes the fey's hand and lurches to his feet as James pulls him up.  The fey supports the captains body while he gets his bearings.

Where do you want to go.  I'll accompany you then would like to get to the torpedo room.  I have heard of gremlins and would like to see one in the flesh.

James leaps over to the intercom and says in a relieved voice

Captains up and we are heading to....

The captain snatches the intercom from James' hand and barks into the system.

James, for once, follows the orders without delay.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Mon 07 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 122):

Olek fights to steady himself.  His muscles are weak and wobbly, but he forces his hand to reach out and press the intercom.

Who... Conrad?  What's going on? is all he manages to get out.  He leans against the wall and sucks in deep laborious breaths of air.

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 123):

Conrad perks up as he hears the Captain's voice crackle over the intercom.  He slams the Captain's private frequency controls eagerly.

"Captain! It's good to hear your voice, sir.  We've lost power to the props and containment to the ballast tanks, and are sinking fast into a deep-sea trench.  Just a few minutes from escape depth, and maybe half an hour longer before crush depth."

His eyes dart up, watching the three gnomes with him on the bridge as they frantically run the calculations for his reckless plan.

"I've sent a team of divers to see if they can repair the propeller, and a team of engineers to work on the tanks.  I've also ordered the torpedo bays and weapon rooms depressurized for a last-ditch effort to kick us onto a nearby outcropping -- though at considerable risk to our hull."

Conrad swallows, glancing at the depth gauges.

"Before doing that, I was going to jettison a crewman in an aqualung along with the diving bell to ensure at least one survivor tells our tale and carries on the mission. Begging the Captain's pardon, but I also sent Uthor to ask your guidance.  I hope he did not interrupt your mourning period unduly, sir."

"Finally, we have confirmed the presence of a gremlin on board, and our allies believe that it's lurking in the torpedo bay.  I've sent all remaining assets not currently working on repairs, medical support, or evasive maneuvers there to deal with it in the event it can survive explosive decompression."

He takes a deep breath, scratching his beard to ensure nothing has been left out.

"Orders, sir?  And how are you feeling?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Tue 08 Oct 2013.

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 123):

Torpedo Bay

A sailor undoes the hatch and pulls it open.  "All in who are going in, orders are to keep it sealed."

Ragnar looks around and realizes he hasn't brought a weapon.

"Do you want me in there, sir?" he asks Uthor.  "I could go do some tests and see if I can't figure out what sort of poison got into the Captain."

Helm

The Captain's voice rings out from the loudspeaker "Not sure what happened... my head is foggy and full O... not sure..." the comm cuts off.  Another voice quickly replaces it.

"Lt. Commander, this is Magni.  Modi and I just returned from our walk, propeller looks fine enough.  If the reactor and engines are fine, then the little buggar must've done something to the screw or gearings.  I'll stay in my Aqualung, sir, ready to leave for the surface on your mark."  The Gnome's voice is very stern.

"Sir," the Weapons Officer turns to Conrad.  "If the Captain is back in the game, that's all well, but if we're going to blow the torpedo tubes, we'll need to do it soon."


Everywhere

The Red Spring is beginning to roll to one side, you can feel gravity's subtle shift beneath your feet.  From somewhere deep in the engines there is a loud low groan.  Here and there an empty mug falls off a table and shatters on the decks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:16, Tue 08 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 125):

Conrad looks at the weapons officer questioningly.

"How soon is soon?  Is it now or never?"

Assuming that the Marshall nods his assent, Conrad hovers his finger above the Red Alert button for a moment, then presses it.

Emergency lights flare to life throughout the sub, whirling beacons of red and white accompanied by a repetitive siren.

Conrad's fingers dance along the control panel governing the ship's broadcast frequencies, activating Modi and Magni and the Captain all at once.

"Aye, Magni.  Belay Modi's orders and take him with you.  Head to the surface immediately.  Surface, and survive.  It has... it has been an honor serving with you both."

He switches off Modi and Magni's communication bands, leaving the Captain's open.

"Captain, we're out of time.  Brace yourself; I'm blowing the torpedo bays in an effort to stop our descent.  For the Empire, sir!"

He activates the ship-wide alert system, voice booming extra loud over the clatter of alarms.

"Attention all crew, attention all crew.  This is Lt. Commander Conrad on the bridge.  We are about to take an extremely dangerous evasive maneuver in an attempt to salvage the mission, the ship, and our lives.  Brace yourselves for impact."

He pauses, licking his chapped lips and smiling weakly at the Marshall before finishing his transmission in the traditional form reserved for when the captain fears his crew may be lost.

"The Empire thanks you for your service."

Conrad switches off the comlink and straps himself to the captain's chair.

Always wanted to sit in one of these things, but I never dreamed it would be quite like this, he thinks grimly.

"Do it."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Wed 09 Oct 2013.

Upon hearing the announcement, Uthor swings himself down into the torpedo room.

Go. he says to Ragnar, then pulls the hatch shut, seals it, and grabs onto the door handle to stabilize himself as he feels his ears pop.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 127):

(Caruso Punk) "Looks like it's.. time to Get Lucky."

Alveris braces outside the torpedo room door, holsters one knife, and grabs hold of (something immediately near by and reasonable to have grabbed hold of).

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Edited once I realized being in the torpedo room gets me killed. Right. Alveris..
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Wed 09 Oct 2013.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 128):

James grabs the captains shoulders and forces him onto the ground underneath the nearest large table (I'm assuming he has a desk).

Being too large to fit under the desk James dives under the bed unceremoniously pushing anything stored out on the other side.  He grabs onto the legs of the bed and gets as much of his body under it as possible.

In reply to James (msg # 129):

Helm

"Aye, Sir.  It has been an honor serving under you as well."  Magnis clicks off and presumably exits the submarine with Modi.

The Helmsman and Navigator leap into their seats and grab onto the console while the Weapons Officer takes cover against the deck.

"Pressurizing Torpedo Room, sir...... preparing to fire... you got alignment?"

"Aye."

"FIRE!"

The Red Spring is suddenly rocked by a massive explosion of bubbles from her lower fore end.  The submarine's nose kicks up.  For an instant, the searchlight illuminates a grim face of sheer rock and two very surprised trout, then a curtain of bubbles masks everything for a few seconds.

Alarms begin to chime all over the helm.  Hull integrity, navigation, power fluctuations... the works.  Over all of it, the collision alarm sounds out and puts them all to shame.

"Ok," shouts the Helmsman, "Torpedo tubes are re-sealed... let's do it again!"

Torpedo Room

Uthor slams the hatch closed behind him, a loud whistling telling him that pressurization has already begun.  He grabs onto it to brace for impact, already feeling the rapid rise in pressure in his ears.

The room is empty, all torpedoes stowed safely against the walls and all targeting indicators and primers dark.  The tubes have been braced open to the room so that they too will be pressurized.

Alarms sound, but one thing catches your attention.

Right beside one tube, a small green creature is slowly hauling an aqualung and attempting to lift it into the tube.  It totally ignores Uthor... until the tubes are opened.

A deafening roar heralds the blowout of air into the ocean.  It lasts only a second but is sufficient (in addition to the shift in the ship itself) to send the Gremlin sprawling across the deck to the opposite side of the room, shrieking in pain.

Uthor does not hear this sound.  For one thing, the roar of air and the distracting process of holding on for dear life.  For another, the depressurization has blown out his eardrums (Shaken and temporarily Deaf).

As the ship settles, Uthor and the Gremlin right themselves.

Combat:

Gremlin: 7 spades - 1st
Uthor: 2 spades - last

The Gremlin sprints across the bulkhead to its aqualung and goes back to pushing it toward the torpedo tube.

Hallway

Alveris and the Gnomish sailors brace themselves against the bulkhead, grabbing on to whatever they can.

It's hard to hear anything over the shouting of crew and the alarms, until a loud groaning noise from somewhere in the hull drowns that out.

Alveris is thrown forward too suddenly to regain a handhold.  As his face approaches the deck, his mind runs through all the terrible things he's done in his life and laments that he might not be able to do them again...

That is until his mind (and the rest of his body) passes effortlessly through the deck and into the room below.  Alveris lands gently on the floor in Lower Observation/Tactical.

Captain's Quarters
James rushes himself and the Captain to safety, unable to make out the exact curse words Olek is using over the din, but able to very clearly understand the gist.

The submarine rocks and rolls, then becomes quiet again though at a slightly skewed angle.

Uthor rights himself immediately, despite the ringing sound drowning out everything else.

[Spirit 11]

Setting his eyes on the gremlin, he flips his handaxe around and charges.

[Wild Attack (Nonlethal, vs. Unarmed) 7]

[Nonlethal Damage 5]

The flat of the axe strikes the little green creature firmly on the forehead.  It stumbles for a moment but keeps its feet.  Nonetheless, it is clearly dazed.

[Gremlin: Shaken]

In reply to GM (msg # 130):

Conrad observes the dials and gauges grimly, then nods toward the Marshall.

"How many more of those can we survive, and how many will it take to get us where we need to be?"

He points at a few choice gauges and swears.

"Hull integrity is fine for now, but we're losing systems left and right.  If it's going to take more than one or two more pulses... but no, we're committed now."

Conrad activates the broadband intercom for a brief message before shutting it off again.

"Attention: additional course correction required.  Hold fast, brace for continued impact."

To the Marshall, he suddenly grins, defiant in the face of death.

"Fire at will."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 132):

A stunned Alveris contemplates his surroundings.

"Am I dead, or did I just freaking phase shift through the floor?! I LOVE YOU MAGNETO HELM!"

Alveris hustles back up toward the torpedo bay to confront the gremlin and his destiny

Uthor flips the axe back the right way and finds something to grab on to.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 133):

James will wait it out under the bed until the blasts cease.

Wait there until we are done with the blasts.  I didn't save you from the brink of poison to have you die of bludgeoning when the ship flips over.

Suddenly the captain's curses make sense as Francis apparantly ducked under the table with the captain and has his arms and legs wrapped around the captains torso and is shaking and crying in fear.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Wed 09 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 135):

EXPLETIVE DELETED

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 136):

Helm

"A few more at least, Sir... we're moving all right, but it's like steering a... well like steering a sinking sub with a potato cannon... we're prepping the next blast... it will be from only one tube so we can spin our ass around!"

Everyone braces for the next explosion...

Torpedo Room

The Gremlin steadies itself and waddles back toward the wall where it seizes a stray pipe for stability (recover from Shaken, no action).

It mutters something, but nobody in the room has working ears.  The Gremlin makes a peace-sign with it's fingers, then points to itself and then to the aqualung.  It then points to Uthor and to another Aqualung at the opposite end of the room.

Although Uthor's ears are already damaged, he can feel the pressure building in the torpedo room...

Captain's Quarters

James stayes in duck-and-cover.  Images of Cold War Era infomertials run through his head...

All Over

Warning klaxons continue to blare.  Alveris races past Gnomes taking cover or locking down hatches.

"Brace yourself you friggin' idiot!" one calls after the Fey.

Outside, the Red Spring has sunk past escape depth... she is leaning backward heavily and still hovering over a sub-sea trench of impossible crushing depth...

In reply to GM (msg # 137):

Alveris runs through one more hatch, completely ignoring the gnomes advice before stopping to grab hold of something in anticipation of the next blast.

Magneto Helm! Take me back Ultron and the Gremlin. I frickin promised I was going to skin him alive to skin you. Don't you want to be lined with plush Gremlin?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 138):

Olek holds on for dear life.

By the great gaudy greasy gonads of the Gods, what is going on here?  If -EXPLITIVE DELETED

Despite James' many years of experience, his knowledge of both the Gnomish language and anatomy has been expanded.

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 139):

Francis frantically grasps at the captain and begins to slide upward so he is now wrapped firmly around the captains head and shoulders.

James has forgotten the goblin even exists at the moment.

What was that about a hermaphroditic triple testicled sea god?  I'm writing that one down for use in future?!

Uthor uses the right end of the axe this time.

How stupid do you think I am? he attempts to shout, charging wildly at the gremiln.

[Wild Attack vs. Unarmed 6]

The axe sinks in between the neck and shoulder, dropping the gremlin in a gush of blood.

[Damage 8]

Uthor lets the axe go with it and braces himself for another impact.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 141):

Helm

Conrad clenches the edges of his command chair and braces.

"Here we go, Sir.  Shaggo, fire Port tubes on my mark, then Starboard tubes on my second mark.... MARK!"

There is another rumbling, but the subsequent cloud of bubbles is lost to the side of the sub as the entire affair is thrown into a spin.  Everyone on the Bridge is thrown to one side of their chairs in a dizzying spin.

Several of the warning indicators blink off.  Most likely this DOES NOT indicate that the problem has been resolved, but that the particular alarm system is now broken.

"MARK TWO!"

There is another burst and the spinning slows somewhat.  Through the viewport, there is only darkness now.

"Ridge behind us, Sir.  Re-pressurizing torpedo room for another go...Let's hope we only need one or two more of those.  We certainly weren't designed for this so I have no clue what horrors it's doing to our pumps..."

"Looks like we might be taking on water in our ballast tanks," Shaggo comments, "Let's hope that doesn't impair the process..."

Torpedo Room

Uthor does not hear but feels the whoooosh of air running out through the torpedo tubes.  The lifeless body of the Gremlin is tossed up into the air and then slammed against the bulkhead as the ship spins.

[Uthor, please make a STR check difficulty 4 or take d6+1 impact damage]

There is another rush of pressure and the spinning stops.

[Uthor, please make a Vigor check difficulty 5 or be Exhausted by rapid pressure changes (the bends)]

Hallways

Alveris rushes through the hallways, opening this hatch and that on his way to the torpedo room.  Unlike the sailors around him, he clutches the Red Mantle rather than handholds, so when the ship is thrown into a spin, although he has made it to the Torpedo Room door at that point, he is wholly unprepared.

[Alveris, please make a DEX check difficulty 6 or take d6+2 impact damage]

Captain's Quarters

The alarms, the constant rumbling and Olek's curses form an impenetrable din that drowns out almost all thought.

James thus cannot hear the announcement of another explosion...

[James, STR check difficulty 4 or take d6-1 impact damage (since you're braced under something)]

In reply to GM (msg # 142):

Conrad scowls, rubbing his temples in an attempt to physically remove the dizziness threatening to pervade his every thought.

"Hopefully the ballast can survive another salvo or two, 'til the job is done.  No point in putting them back together with that blasted gremlin on the loose.  On the plus side, Sven and his team are already there.  'Course, they should be bracing at the moment."

He notes the dials and gauges and sighs.

"When this is all said and done, and they ask about the Conrad-Goath Maneuver or whatever newfangled name the engineer corps is sure to use to describe what happened here, we may want to leave out the part where it blows your internal systems right to the bloody depths.  You know," he adds hurriedly, "to keep the crew from worrying."

He glances out the useless viewport for a moment, then checks to make sure his straps are secure.

"Nothing for it but to finish the job.  Fire!"

The ship lurches suddenly, again, and Uthor steadies himself against the blast.

[Strength 11]

He starts to feel dizzy from all the pressure changes for a moment, but he grits his teeth, shakes his head, and steels himself.

[Vigor 11]

Thinking fast, he grabs an aqualung and puts on the headpiece with the air supply.  Then, he dashes to a corner and braces himself against two walls for the next salvo.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 144):

James pushes with both his knees and his arms against the bottom of the bed and doesn't budge as a result of the tailspin (Str 5).

In reply to James (msg # 145):

The shifting of the ship tosses Alveris from his feet, but only makes for a fitting setup before performance of a totally sweet combat tumble,

[Agility 6]

allowing him to land safely and unharmed at the torpedo bay door.

Alveris braces against the door waiting for the next impact. Once the next impact is completed, he will open the door and chuck freaking knives at the first thing even resembling gremlin he sees.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 146):

Helm

"Ready..... MARK!"

The Red Spring shakes horribly and you are all thrown forward, kept from going through the viewport only by your restraining straps.

"One more ought to do it!"

"Pressurizing, Sir....  Ready."

"Go for it!"

Once again, the ship lurches in reverse, then seems to steady.  Everything is at a slight angle, but for now things are calm.

Conrad looks around only to see that the Helmsman and other officers are bracing themselves EVEN HARDER than before.

The Helmsman twists some dials and silences all alarms on the Bridge... save one.  The master Collision alarm.

"Now, Sir," Shaggo says "We hope to crash gently..."

Torpedo Room

Sealed away in the aqualung, Uthor barely notices the changes in pressure, though the rush of air does force him to cling desperately to an array of pipes and levers.

The body of the Gremlin continues to slap around until finally vanishing out through one of the torpedo tubes.

Finally the rumbling stops, the torpedo hatches swing shut and the over-pressure alarms in the room stop blinking...

Through the helmet and the punctured eardrums, Uthor cannot hear any announcements...

Outside the room, Alveris alternatively braces and performs tactical tumbles to avoid harm.

When the ship returns to relative calm, he is able to make his way to the torpedo room door.

Alveris throws the door open and leap/rolls in...

Captain's Quarters

Two more thunderous explosions follow one another, punctuated by roars of anger from Olek and blaring alarms.

Then, all is calm...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Thu 10 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 147):

Alveris combat tumbles into the room, drawing both knives as he lands in the combat firing stance, arms pulled back and ready to fire.

"WHERE IS THE GREMLIN WHO PROMISED ME HIS TANNED SKIN TO LINE MY HAT?!"

.."Ultron? Why are you in the walkabout suit. Is something going on with the air in here?"

Uthor pulls off the helmet of the aqualung once the pressure is stable.  Alveris tumbles in, spouting off some nonsense that sounds like a high-pitched ringing.  Business as usual.

Uthor, considering Alveris' questions, responds with a keenly phrased,

WHAT?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 149):

Conrad activates the master broadband.

"This the helm.  We are pleased to report that our evasive maneuvers have been completely successful, and we are absolutely, 100% pretty sure that we're probably unlikely to be mercilessly crushed to death in the endless abyss of a deepwater trench."

He pauses, clearly aware that he should perhaps have phrased that better, and clears his throat.

"All crew should remain braced for one additional impact as we attempt to settle on the seafloor for emergency repairs.  Collision with our temporary resting place is imminent; from there, we will evaluate the damage and get to work on repairing it. I know it doesn't feel like it, but so far things have gone well. Hold fast!"

Conrad switches off the intercom and shrugs.

"Nothing we can do to soften our landing, aye?  What damage can we expect to sustain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:09, Thu 10 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 150):

James braces under the bed repeating over and over again

I don't wanna die
I don't wanna die
I don't wanna die
I'm so gonna die
I don't wanna die
I don't wanna die

Alveris pantomimes Gremlin, adding in an elegant Kabuki interpretation of what you assume to be Feyic origin, complete with a resplendent orgy of throat cutting and stabbing motions.

[Knowledge Court Dance and Procedure 5]

[Agility 6]

You get the idea he's curious if there's still a gremlin to kill.

Uthor nods, indicating that he has, in fact, slain the gremlin.  Then, realizing that he is deaf and not mute, mumbles out:

I chopped it down but it shot out the tube.  Now I need a new axe.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 153):

Alveris dejectedly hangs his head and mopes out the torpedo bay, heading for the safety of the first secure location he can brace at.

Fucking Ultron.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 154):

If the impact of the Red Spring upon the rocky ledge overhanging the bottomless trench made a noise, none are able to hear it over the bone-jarring, teeth-rattling, intestine-loosening force that radiates almost instantly from the bottom-aft of the ship up through every deck, bulkhead and person aboard.

The force is felt, not heard, and is so powerful as to nearly wipe the memory of itself out of your minds as quickly as it finds purchase.

The decks heave beneath your feet, solid steel warping and quickly returning to shape (although not always the shape it was before).

[anyone not strapped down (i.e. in a harness or on the bridge) makes a STR roll difficulty 6 or take 2d6 falling damage.  Additionally, a Vigor vs difficulty 5 or be Fatigued (bumps and bruises) by the combined noise, change in gravity and pressure fluctuations as the ship is partially crushed against the rocks]

Pipes rupture and wires are severed all over the ship.  The ship is plunged into darkness.  Metal groans and settles.  All alarms are silenced as the reactor hiccoughs and attempts to re-start.  On the bridge and in the hallways, emergency lighting comes on though it is patchy in areas.

Bridge

The Navigator's chair somehow came off its mounts and is at the back of the Helm near the door.  He seems alive but isn't moving.

The large viewport has several cracks and water is slowly leaking in...  All displays here are dead.

Torpedo Room

Water is trickling in through the torpedo tubes.  A panel near the back of the room has broken off of its screws and has exposed the parts and wiring within.

The only light in the room comes from these exposed wires since several have caught fire.  A few meters away from the growing flame, sit the torpedoes...

There is a fire extinguisher (Requires Engineering or Shoot:Advanced Weapons to use effectively).

Captain's Quarters

Olek, still under his bed, seems to have hit is head.  He has a nasty gash and is unconscious.

Through the open door, James can just make out a huge jet of steam now being vented into the hallway, effectively sealing them in the room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:53, Fri 11 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 155):

"Blazes!  How are we still in one piece?!  Goath, see what you can do for the Navigator," Conrad says, unfastening his restraints and running toward the viewport.

"Not good," he mutters, tracing his finger along the hairline cracks and licking at the water that has pooled upon it during the process.  He grabs some tools that have scattered across the floor and does his best to patch the problem.

[Repair: 10]

Satisfied that the leak has been contained for the time being, as best as he can fix it, anyway, he walks over to PA button and clicks it.  When nothing happens, he clicks it again in frustration, then slams his fist on the console.

"Figures," he mutters.  "We'll need to get the reactor back online as soon as possible.  I'm heading there myself.  Stay here and keep an eye on the Navigator and the viewport."

Conrad exits to the bridge and heads toward the reactor room, yelling as he goes to any gnome he sees.

"All hands on deck! Grab your tools, and secure the room you're currently in.  Once that's done, move on to the next.  Prioritize Engineering and the Reactor room, and somebody secure the Larder while they're at it.  We may be here a while.  And somebody find Sven!"

Repeating this mantra (or one very similar to it), Conrad makes his way to the reactor room.  He cuts an imposing figure, having survived the maneuvering and subsequent crash with nary a scratch, and he glowers as if daring anyone to question his command of either the ship or the situation.

If anyone gets in my way, I'll have to treat them as a traitor and a mutineer, he thinks as he goes, idly running a hand along the activation switch of his axe.  The Empire will not miss them.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Fri 11 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 156):

Conrad makes his way through the ship, barking orders and sending confused Gnomes scurrying in all directions as he goes.

His movement is halted some meters from the Power Plant by a massive leak of steam from some pipes in the floor which creates a wall of super heated water.

In reply to GM (msg # 157):

Doing his best impression of a badass, Alveris grabs the hatch door (which he has tactfully sealed behind that Gremlin killing asshole Ultron) and braces firmly for impact.

[Strength 10] [Vigor 9]

"It's going to take a little more motion in your ocean to affect my spirits baby", as Alveris playfully strokes the wall of the ship. Sensing that the worst is behind him, Alveris reopens the door to the torpedo room.

"Ultron, you ok?"

Uthor is thrown across the room, slamming against a bulkhead.  He rolls with the blow, minimizing the damage and ending up with only some minor scrapes on his arm.

[Strength 5]
[Damage 5]

[Vigor 5]

He clicks on his flashlight and sees Alveris tumbling and swaying as well.  He looks to be alright, though.  Seeing the electrical fire, Uthor swiftly sweeps his flashlight around the room until he spots the fire extinguisher.  He clips the light to a convenient coupling on the shoulder of the Special Ops suit and grabs the extinguisher.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 2] - 1 Benny Used

He can't seem to get the pin loose.  This will require more examination.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 159):

Upon impact the bed rises up off of the floor, and as this is not a naturally tenable position for large heavy-framed beds to be in it promptly falls back to the floor.  It looks like one of the legs is going to crush Jame's chest but at the last minute using both his legs and his arms he manages to redirect the heavy frame of the bed harmlessly to the floor (Strength 11).  The pounding of James' heart overwhealms any pounding from the outside world (vigor 8).

He crawls out from under the bed and takes stock of his surroundings.  Seeing the captain he mutters

Gods damnit Connie.  I had just patched him up.

James puts a few hasty stitches into the captains head to stop the bleeding (heal 5) he strips the bedcloths and makes the captain as comfortable as possible.

Looking outside the door of the captains quarters he ascertains the direction from which the steam is coming.

James takes the mattress off of the bed and sticks it out into the hall to see if it effectively blocks the steam.  If it does he will use it to make his way to the helm (carrying the mattress with him in event of other steam leaks).  While on his way to the helm he is looking for Uthor, Connie, Alveris and/or Ragnar.

In reply to James (msg # 160):

Using the mattress as a soft shield, James is able to temporarily block the flow of superheated water long enough to slip out into the hallway.  By then, however, the moisture and heat have wilted and soaked the mattress so that he is forced to drop it on the ground and abandon it.

There is only red emergency lighting to go by in the halls, leaving everything in shadow.

James takes a step and nearly collides with a Gnome just emerging from a maintenance tunnel.

Only a silhouette is discernable, but James can make out the unmisyakable shape of a hatchet in the figure's hand.

COMBAT:

James - On hold, 1st (surprise)
Gnome -

It is dark, you cannot back up due to the steam.  You surprised the Gnome so you can go first but he WILL attack if you wait.

In the torpedo room, flames licking at the electrical wires, Uthor tries once again to operate the fire extinguisher.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 3]

But with little more success.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 162):

Seeing Ultron up and about, Alveris nods, and makes haste for the bridge.

Lord knows Connie will need my help.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 163):

James does his best impersonation of the captain in his quarters and lets loose a scathing tirade about the triple testicled hermaphroditic sea God.

PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON YOU WORHTLESS FECES EATING POLLYWOGGLE! (Intimidate 11)

James steps back until he can feel the heat of the steam on his back mainly to allow Francis a line of attack if necessary.

Francis lurks in the darkness at James heels (stealth 8) and is on hold until the gnome either puts down his axe or takes a forward movement

/ooc I forgot what opposes intimidate rolls /ooc

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 163):

Alveris darts out of the torpedo room.  Soon after he does, Author notices that the flames have spread to a second panel.  Those torpedoes must be getting hot...

Outside and in the hallways, crew are alternately lumbering about with minor wounds and critical confusion or else rushing about trying to accomplish something or another.

Here and there, things are leaking, dripping, sagging or burning.  One i n particular is a large pipe labeled 'reactor coolant' which is currently split down the seam and leaking thick liquid profusely.

Soon, Alveris reaches a section of hallway blocked off by a heavy jet of steam.  He can hear Conrad cursing on the other side.

Uthor fumbles with the extinguisher some more, nearly dropping it.  As he catches it, the ring pops out and the handle clicks into position.  He immediately dispatches the flames.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 3 4] (1 Benny Remaining)

If the extinguisher has any juice left, he carries it with him into the hallway.  Either way, he heads out to find the others.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 166):

"Connie! What did you do to the ship? Are we finally safe?"

"Ultron was in the torpedo bay, and he stole ALL my thunder and killed the gremlin. I also fell through a solid floor. It's been a weird 10 minutes"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 167):

The would be assassin is so shocked to hear a line of profanity so unique to the captain when he was coming to kill (save?) the fey that he he (almost) drops his axe. (opposed roll 4 he is shaken).

/ooc I'm hoping that this is all a misunderstanding and it's rags come to save me and cap /ooc

Uthor runs down the corridors until he joins Alveris and, separated by the steam, Conrad.

In reply to James (msg # 168):

Seeing the gnome visibly shaken from the tirade the fey smiles to himself at his new verbal toy and bellows

IDENTIFY YOUR NAME AND RANK SAILOR

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 169):

Ultron! Can you fix that pipe so we can get to Connie? I think that we're likely just discovering the worst of this.

SNIPES AREN'T EVEN REAL!  These fey...

Uthor rubs his ears, sound still drowned out by the ringing.

C'mmander!  Is that you?

He asks, realizing that he won't be able to hear the answer.

I better fix this pipe so we can get through.

Uthor takes out a pair of insulated gloves from his toolkit and sets to work on the pipe.  He makes little progress, however.

[Repair 3]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 172):

Despite Uthor's best efforts, it appears that the leak is too large to be repaired while there is still steam billowing out.

In the hallway outside the Captain's quarters, the mystery Gnome turns and flees.

In reply to GM (msg # 173):

Whatever Steam. Magneto Helm will keep me safe from you!

Alveris executes a tactical combat tumble through the steam, somewhat confident the mysterious helm or his sweet moves will protect him.

[Agility 4]

Uthor, noticing this, looks for a shutoff valve for the steam.

[Notice 11]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 175):

Alveris leaps through the jet of steam.  Despite his skill and confidence, neither the Mantle nor the steam are impressed.

The steam burns him (7 damage, ignores armor) and the pressure slams him against the deck, sending him tumbling back from whence he came.

Author looks around.  There is no shutoff valve in the hallway, meaning that this particular steam line must be critical.

In reply to GM (msg # 176):

A bealeaguered Alveris tumbles backwards, visibly shaken (-1 Bennie to soak) from his valiant tumble.

"So probably need to find another way around. That things sealed tigther than.."

Uthor is relieved to not be able to hear as Alveris pantomimes and describes 'tigther'.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 177):

Once the gnome turns to flee Francis pounces from his hiding spot.

James unties francis

Catch him bring him back to me

The goblin cackles in glee at the thrill of he chase.  James jogs behind them keeping Francis in sight.

/ooc Since Francis was holding until the gnome moved is he able to grab him before he gets too far? Also he's shaken is he moving at half pace? /ooc
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Sun 13 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 178):

"The gremlin's dead? Best news of the day!" Conrad shouts through the wall of steam.  "We're safe for now, in very relative terms.  But with the gremlin gone we can focus on patching the ship up.  I was coming to check on the reactor; we lost all kinds of power in the crash.  How bad is the damage on your end? Fixed the viewport in thethe bridge butto there's a lot of systems offline. Can you do anything about this steam? Only way around is to swim outside and enter though another hatch..."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:05, Mon 14 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 179):

Ultron's looking for a shutoff valve, but it's not readily visible. I tried to tumble through it heoricly, but that steam is NOT fucking around.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 180):

The gnome bolts and stumbles as he is trying to leave in the darkness (agility 1) and Francis easily grabs him (agility 4).

Francis and the gnome flail around ineffectually at each other (1 fighting vs 1 fightin) until James sighs heavily and helps Francis gain the upper hand (5 to assist totalling 2 fighting vs 1 fighting).

Now tell me he growls in his best Batman voice Who... are... you...

/ooc The +1 could also be the gang up bonus as opposed to me helping.  Not sure how this works with dueling 1's/ooc
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Mon 14 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 181):

/OOC: to my thinking, SW doesn't have a good formal way of dealing with this scenario. The result either way here is that 2v1 and Francis having Goblin Sociopathic Martial Arts, you overpower the Gnome/

With James' help, Francis tackles the Game and pins him down.  From somewhere, the Goblin produces a jagged shard of metal, which he holds to the GNOME's throat.

"Mercy... get offa me" the Gnome chokes horsely.

When you move into the light, you see that the Gnome is Ragnar the Medic.

When he recognizes you he asks "what are you doing?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:00, Mon 14 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 183):

James lazily gathers up the end of Francis' lead that is still attached to his neck

In Goblin:

Good job Francis.  Hold him there if you kill him before I tell you to, no money, and I will let the the captain do whatever he wants to you when he wakes up.

He kneels down next to Ragnar and takes the axe from his hands.  The goblin quivers with a desire to kill the gnome but his desire for money currently outweighs his desire for blood.

James voice softens significantly he walks around lazily playing with the axe.

Now Rags what the hell are you doing sneaking around here with an axe?  You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit jumpy considering I'm on a boat full of traitors that is falling apart, I was almost killed by a runaway bed, shortly after almost being killed on another gnomish submarine full of snakes, shortly after nearly being killed by a present from my father (Francis chortles at the memory) and you were supposed to be helping... whats his name... in the torpedo room.

More importantly Ragnar, why did you run?  And why are you here?

Quickly Ragnar and if I think you are lying to me...

The use of his full name and serious tone fully drives home the serious shit the gnome is in.  Francis cackles in glee at the fey's murderous tone, not helping the situation any.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:24, Mon 14 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 183):

Ragnar squirms a bit, but Francis quickly puts an end to that.

"Damnit you green monster get OFF of me, we're on the same side!"

Francis refuses, whether out of loyalty to his master or love of violence is a question for the ages.

"I came back to help the Captain," Ragnar continues, "When we hit, I got battered around a bit.   Right after I got on the move again, I was jumped by...." he eyes James carefully, "If not you then by Alveris, I'm sure it was no Gnome!  I grabbed the axe to defend myself."

In reply to GM (msg # 184):

Having listened to Ragnar's plea James walks along behind Francis.  You can see his hand ball into a fist around the makeshift leash for the bristling goblin.  James heaves a heavy sigh, looks down at his feet and says

I want to believe you, I really do....

He says two quick words in goblin.  Ragnar squeals and begins protesting about his wife and children.  Francis shakes visibly and slowly crawls off of Ragnar's chest, shooting a venomous look at James.  He continues in goblin

There will be time for blood later

He reverts back to common

Tell me about it every detail.  I had just gotten out of the captains quarters so it definitely was not me who jumped you.  The fact you are alive means it likely was not Alveris either, he might be mad as a hatter but he's as lethal as they come.  Pray to whatever sea god you like that our traitor is not Alveris.

James holds out his hand to Ragnar, who looks at it like it was a snake.  Slowly he takes James' hand and rises from the floor

While you are telling me the details of your assault we will go find Connie.  I'm sure there are plenty of crew members in need of our combined assistance.  Lead the way....

James gestures indicating that Ragnar is to go first.  He fixes him with that soul-penetrating gaze that was perfected by his father

Oh and Rags, if you lie to me... Francis will get his goblin tribunal... and it will be with you.

James kneels down and holds his hand out to Francis.  In goblin,

Give it here no weapons unless cash cow gives them to you.

Francis gives James a venomous look and James returns it with a very serious one.  Francis drops the pointed metal peice into James' hand.  James puts it into his pocket and pulls out a peice of silver and replaces the jagged metal with a small coin.

He then follows after Ragnar a foot or two back.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 185):

"Alveris, I think I'll be ok for now.  This part of the ship wasn't badly damage, nor are many of the crew trapped over here.  You and Uthor should head to the reactor room and make sure the repairs are going smoothly.  I think I can reach the galley and the code room from here; I'll grab a table from one of them and use it to brace the worst of the steam.  At least for a moment."

He turns and makes his way toward whichever is closer: the galley or the code room.  Any gnomes he sees along the way are ordered back to work doing repairs or providing medical attention.

"Another hour or two of hell, lads, and then we'll break for lunch," he deadpans uncharacteristically.

We need to get moving. I'm getting a bad feeling about this.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

Aye, C'mmander.

Uthor heads for the reactor room.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 187):

Alveris dutifully follows Ultron to the reactor room to oversee the repairs.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 188):

Power Plant/Reactor Room

Uthor and Alveris burst into the Reactor room which seems relatively undamaged.
The lights are on and there is a steady hum and glow visible through the reactor shield glass, all normal.  There are no leaks or fire.

However, Sven is running about with two other sailors pulling levers, turning knobs and pushing buttons.

"Reactor stable," one sailor shouts, "but temperature is rising!  Coolant pressure is very low, almost no flow on that."

"S'the 'mergency heat shunt on?" Barks Sven.

"Aye, sir.  But it isn't shunting much."

Upper Decks

Conrad races up to deck 4.  The Galley is closest, the main table is too big for one Gnome to move and likely too big to even fit out the door.  There are chairs and some smaller serving tables that could be moved.  It's pitch black in this room.

The hallways are dark and there are few Gnomes up here.  However, a little ways down the hall from the Galley, a long tall figure is looking down over two smaller figures (James, Francis and Ragnar).

Conrad can't hear what they're saying over the hiss of steam from behind them.

Dark Hallway

Ragnar is clearly pissed and terrified, Gnomish sailors are not accustomed to being questioned, especially by Fey and Goblins.  However, he goes through the story again in greater detail.  It amounts to much the same.  He was heading to the Captain's quarters to tend to him and, if possible, learn if it was truly poison that had the Captain down.  There's a small lab onboard which Ragnar planned to use to test the Whiskey.

On his way the ship crashed, he kept trying but was attacked.  He grabbed an axe and, seeing who he thought was his attacker, leapt to.

There is a flick of motion.  In the red lighting, James can make out a shape moving off down the hall near the Galley.

"My knife?" Francis hisses.

Everywhere

The intercom squawks and clicks.  It sounds as if someone is trying to get it to work.

Anyone who takes a second to look at the random dials might note that the O2 levels are lower than they should be...
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 189):

James hands Francis his knife and says in goblin

Hide it and yourself.  Hold until I say to attack.

Ragnar, you are going to find what just moved up there.  I'm trusting for now that you are not a traitor, and that you are telling me the truth on your assault.  I will want to know more on that later.  He draws his rapier and hands Ragnar the axe head first

Francis fades into shadows (stealth 18)James follows not quite as well though (stealth 7)

go call back if its safe... scream in pain if it isn't. 

James says but his sardonic smile just looks like a sadistic leer.

Ragnar takes the axe and trudges forward muttering

Sadistic paranoid fey, with psychotic goblin pets... what a day.  I should never have listened to my dad... join the military he says, serve the empire he says.  I could have a nice tidy little practice with a bunch of boring clients...

Ragnar arrives at the location of the motion

In reply to GM (msg # 189):

Ultron- Tell me how I can help. I haven't gotten to poke, torture, or stab ANYONE today, and I just feel like I'm not contributing as effectively as I could be.

Is Sven giving you all the help you need? Could he perhaps be poked into helping you more?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 191):

Conrad considers the tables before him, judging the main table in the officer's galley too large to move and the serving tables too flimsy.  He is just about to head to the code room with the hope of grabbing the equivalent table to the one he used as as shield in the Dark Reach earlier when he notices the shadows at the far end of the hall.

Odd that they are not working, he thinks, preparing to give them a piece of his mind.

It is at that precise moment that the tall figure and one of the small figures fade into the shadows themselves, leaving a single small figure in the distance.

"Name and rank, sailor," Conrad calls out gruffly, pulling a repeater pistol from his belt and leveling it at what he does not know is Ragnar.  His voice carries every note of authority.  "And why aren't you aiding with mechanical or physical repairs? Any gnome not working right now is either injured or a traitor... so make it good, or so help me, I'll shoot you where you stand."

He winces as the intercoms squawk to a semblance of life, then peter out once more.

Useful, but far from the most pressing repair we should be making, he ponders, keeping the repeater leveled at the shadowy gnome down the hall.  Perhaps a quick trip to the helm is in order before I grab the table, just to make sure all is well.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:53, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

Looks like a leak in the coolant line somewhere.  If you can find it, that would be the most useful.  We should seek it out.

Uthor scans the room for any other signs of distress for the reactor before departing.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 192):

Ragnar immediately winces, dropping his axe and putting his hands on his head

Ragnar, 2nd tier acolyte sir! 

He says in a quavering voice.  Conrad harumphs ready to give him a peice of his mind when the tall figure appears from the shadowy darkness

Connie!  You have no idea how great it is to hear your voice you old codger!  We are in a bit of a situation here, and need your help as I'm not quite sure what to believe.  Apparantly Rags has had a hell of a day.

The tall figure kneels down to what you have now assumed is Francis doing something you can't quite see (Francis gives the knife back to James, and James picks up the axe that Ragnar dropped and sticks it in his belt).

James walks out of the darkness behind Ragnar with Francis in tow.

So heres the deal Connie... First of all the captain is stable, not in the greatest of condition but hes fine for now.  I cured him of the poison, just in time for him to get knocked cold by a homicidal runaway bed.  I stitched him up and he is unconscious but stable.  Hes probably gonna be very sleepy and suffer from the worst headaches of his life in the next few days, but thats beside the point.

There is also a steam vent preventing exit or entrance from the room... Francis and I got out but had to sacrifice the captains mattress.  That was the point that Rags tried to kill me... well maybe thats putting it too strongly but he was coming around the corner with an axe.

I asked him to identify himself exactly as you had... well not exactly (wow I sound like Alveris) but with certain similarities, and he runs.  Francis and Pounce and subdue him and thats when I find that my assailant was Rags.

Ragnar says he was attacked by someone not gnome, since it could not be me... *significant pause as James looks directly in Conrad's eyes speaking slowly and clearly*
I did not attack Ragnar, nor did Francis, nor did anyone under my knowledge or direction attack him.

So you know its true.

He believes it to be Alveris who attacked him.  I don't believe him because he's not a ghost *James pokes Ragnar*.  At least I don't think

Ow quit it I am a medic of the gnomish empire and I do not deserve this.  I should be treated with respect and dig....

Ragnar is cut off by a growl from Francis

quite small turd until cash cow asks you to talk

James raises an eyebrow at Ragnar

I believe he was attacked by someone who he thinks is Alveris.  I know for a fact there were more problems than just the gremlin on board, we somehow missed him in all of the sweeps.  I'm beginning to doubt if our traitor is actually a gnome at all but another stowaway.

All that being said what do you think Connie?  Do you trust Ragnar with your and the crew's life?  If so then point us to your wounded and we will get to work.

In reply to James (msg # 194):

Conrad listens to the diatribe with interest, though there is far too much data to accurately process it all.

"I have trouble believing that there is a traitor among our ranks, if only because they know what I would do to them..."

He narrows his eyes, then checks his repeater, sets the safety, and slips it back into his belt.

"Anyway, your talents are needed at the helm.  I'm afraid the navigator was not strapped in as securely as he should have been, and took a nasty tumble.  I'll walk you over."

As the group begins to move toward the bridge, Conrad muses aloud.

"You know, if there's the chance of another stowaway, we should make sure the Captain is safe while he recovers.  Who did you leave guarding him?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 195):

Reactor/Power Room

Ears still ringing, Uthor checks around the rest of the room.  Nothing else seems to be out of place.  All indications are that the Reactor is working just fine, but is slowly heating up.

The O2 levels are also lower than they should be.

Deck 4

"Just tell me where to head, Lt. Commander.  I'd prefer it NOT be anywhere with that green menace, however..."

In reply to GM (msg # 196):

Well I'm certainly NOT an engineer, but this doesn't look like it usually does, at least as far as I can remember. My memory is generally much better once I've had a few drinks..

[Streetwise (Gather Intel) 5]

Alveris waves his arms to flag Ultron down and points with the girls at that thing he found..

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 195):

I left a door and big fuck off size steam vent gaurding the captain.  Nearly killed me trying to get out.  May not be a bad idea sending someone to watch over him in case that vent does run out of steam.  I found out about the stowaway only after leaving the room.  At that point it was either turn Ragnar loose back to the cabin whose loyalties were in doubt at that point... or send him with Francis... which is another bad idea... or leave Francis to guard the captain... a really bad idea for both Francis and the captain... or leave Ragnar to guard the captain; who as I said at the time I had conflicted opinions as to his loyalty.

James tsks at Ragnar. Relishing in the gnomes discomfort

Rags both your duty and my duty are where the sick and wounded are.  The captain has made it very clear that Francis is not to leave my sight therefore wherever you go Francis goes.

He claps Ragnar on the shoulder in an overly familiar manner that the gnome intensely dislikes.

Besides we work so great as a team.  Remember how we patched up Connie?

In reply to James (msg # 198):

James' rag tag lot (with or without Connie you decide) head over to the helm.  Despite the mistrust Ragnar has of both fey and goblin they prove to be a formidable team with James taking the lead and Ragnar assisting (Heal 6 on the navigator; Heal 8 to everyone else).  They patch up the navigator as best they can providing a good level of care.  They then move throughout the ship finding the worst injured and performing intensive care on them.

I'm sure they are at this for a significant period of time

Eventually as the gnomes are almost all able to get up and walk around James, Ragnar and Francis will set up shop in the sick bay.  Word spreads across the ship that all injured personnel are to report to the infirmary.

Even Francis gets in on the action acting as an administrator asking everyone

Why is sissy little gnome shit here?  Where does it hurt?  Any other little shit that can not make it to fey fuck cash cow?

If any gnomes are reported unable to report to sick bay then James and the team will go to them returning ASAP to the sick bay to heal for the rest of the gnomes.

In reply to James (msg # 198):

Conrad leads the group to the helm, and motions toward the Navigator as they set up a temporary medical bay.

"See what you can do for him, and keep an eye on the viewport.  I fixed a crack earlier, but who knows how long it'll hold.  You might want to use the galley for the patients you collect, as it's larger and I'll need this room soon. Marshall, a moment?"

The gnome who had been attending the Navigator walks up.  "Aye?"

"Come with me.  We're going to move some furniture."

Conrad stops short, glancing at the dials.

"Oxygen levels are failing... and there are jets of steam erupting throughout the ship.  We need to get a team to the engine room to check the boilers.  Let's move it."

The pair make their way to the code room, setting aside the maps and claiming the table.  On the way back to the wall of steam, Conrad grabs a serving table from the galley as well.  He and the Marshall soon stand near the wall of steam, assessing how best to use their tools to create a passage.

"Any ideas?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 200):

"Well, sir... the pipe is busted all along the seam, see?  Can't plug that easy unless we shut it off."  He looks closer at the pipe.  "Can't seem to tell what it is from here.  We can probably use the table to sneak someone by... but that's hotter'n Satan's arse-hole, Sir, it'll like still burn you even with the wood as a shield.  It's a good way to sneak by in a punch but it's a far cry from a fix."

All over the ship, the intercom squawks again.

In reply to GM (msg # 201):

"We can shut it off?" Conrad says aloud, before he can stop himself and internalize it.  Embarrassed, he continues.  "What would happen if we did that, and where's the valve?"

He glances with irritation at the nearest speaker, then hits the PA button next to it.

"If you can hear me, stop mucking around with the PA system and start focusing on repairing critical systems instead."

[Knowledge (Military): 4]

He sighs, remembering something or another from officer's boot camp.

"Not to say the PA isn't critical.  I know the code.  It's... just that I'd rather have the oxygen pumps, reactor core, propellers, and ballast tanks working. Keep up the good work."

He switches off the comlink and swears at the steam, then glowers when that does nothing to aid him.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:06, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 202):

Between patients James will continue to grill Ragnar about his assailant.

When you were jumped what happeend?  Did he engage you physcially?  Shoot at you?  What weapon was he carrying?  How did you escape?

We need to know this because if it is Alveris we have to pursue this very delicately.

James grabs a passing gnome and asks him to go to his quarters and grab his bow and quiver

The gnome begins to question him but James snaps at him

Just get it.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:46, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 203):

Upper decks

"Not sure sir, can't be sure what it is.  It's big and it's got no easily accessible valve... means it's probably important in my book."

He taps a dial.

"Air getting' thin, sir.  Like we have a leak... or a problem with the pumps... or maybe fires."

Helm

"It was too fast to see much... and dark.  It was a blur of knives and shadow like... like a shadow itself!"


Lower Decks

Alveris points and gestures (rudely) enough to lead Author to the leaking coolant pipe.

The pipe is cracked and broken clear in two.  Very little coolant is leaking, which means the pump (fortunately) auto-disengaged when pressure dropped.  It will take tools, some replacement pipe and care to fix (also the coolant is highly toxic).

In reply to GM (msg # 204):

Alveris prods the goo leaking from the pipe with the Girls.

Ultron, should I be worried about this stuff? Because, and hear me out..

I kinda just want to rub it all over my face. What a freaking sweet shade of combat burgundy that stuff is.

Wouldn't advise it.  I'll need some replacement pipe here and some tools.  Let's go find some.

Uthor goes and retrieves some replacement pipe and tools, along with a HAZMAT suit if one is readily available without taking too long.  Then, assuming that goes uneventfully, he returns to work on the coolant line.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 206):

Hmmm...

I think I have heard about a creature like that... maybe once or twice.  I never really believed it existed though (common knowledge 4 if it does anything in this case).

The gnome returns with the bow and hands it to James who quickly strings it and puts it someplace close

I'm better with this than I am with the rapier he says by way of explanation.

In reply to James (msg # 207):

"If it's fires, we can probably seal off the oxygen to those specific areas, snuffing out the flames easily," Conrad muses aloud, scratching his chin in thought.

"But it's probably leaks.  Everything's ruptured, it seems, and we're having a hard time repairing it quickly enough.  I was really hoping to have the reactor back online by now, so we'd be able to switch off our emergency power and bring the lights and such back."

He glances at the steam and sighs, lowering the table.

"You and I aren't much good with tools anyway, and there are only a handful of gnomes on this side of the sub to deal with any further complications.  No need to singe ourselves half the death for no reason.  Let's return to the bridge.  I can coordinate the repair efforts from there once the PA is working again, which seems to be promisingly soon."

Conrad narrows his eyes slightly.

"Besides, that way we can keep an eye on the fey and my prisoner.  Something about the story he told about Ragnar doesn't add up."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:42, Wed 16 Oct 2013.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 206):

Alveris supervises the repairs, glowering menacingly at any who attempt to enter the room or disturb Ultron.

"Management is hard work."

Uthor begins working on the pipe.  He is able to sand and cut down the broken pieces, but makes little progress so far.

[Repair 3]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 210):

Well I don't know much about technology about Ultron, and I know even less about whatever you're doing besides that reactor coolant is a sweet color, but I do know that I believe in you.

Well, I believe in you in the sense that if you don't repair that pipe, and quickly, things will probably continue to get worse. The last time things got worse on the sub, Connie apparently responded to that situation with a series of tactical explosions and crashes.

So let's not give Lt. Commander Connie any more reasons to have to make tough decisions and fix that pipe! You can do it!

[Spirit to Aid/Inspire Ultron 8]

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 210):

Lower Decks

Uthor collects the pieces, tools and Hazmat suit he needs and is on his way back to the leaking coolant pipe.

On the way he notices two things.

Firstly, the hatches to Deck 1 have been sealed.  Normally this only happens in the case of some sort of emergency such as flood or fire.  They can be opened easily from your side, but nobody in Deck 1 would be able to get to Deck 2 without cutting through them.

Second, just as he is setting up to fix the pipe, he is approached by a grimy Gnome who has climbed out of an access shaft.

The Gnome speaks urgently for several seconds before noticing that Uthor is pointing to his ears and shaking his head.  The Gnome nods and pantomimes "communication" and "broken" and points to the shaft, indicating that he would like some help.

The two sailors helping Sven show up and look around, apparently for something to do.

Deck 1, Communications, Coolant Leak

CROSSROADS

Upper Decks

Conrad marches toward the Helm to see how the Navigator and Helmsman are doing and to regroup.

Along the way he notices two things.  Firstly, the hatch into the Tower (L) is sealed and hot to the touch.

Second, the door to the Communications Room... has been left open and it sounds like the Mirror is ringing...

Tower, Comm Room

CROSSROADS

Ship-wide

To anyone who is looking at gauges:

Reactor Temp - 105% Nominal (Shutdown at 115%, meltdown at 130%)
O2 - 90% Nominal and falling
CO2 - 1/10 and rising
CO - 1/10 and rising (4 is unhealthy, 8 is very dangerous, 10 is immediately fatal)

Again, the Intercom clicks on for a brief second.  This time there is a lot of yelling and screaming, then it clicks off.

As he works on the pipe, Uthor calls over Sven's assistants, needing an extra hand or two to finish the job.

[Assist (Repair) 5, 1]

With their help, he is able to repair the coolant pipe and move on to investigate the communications malfunction.

In reply to GM (msg # 212):

At this point the torrent of gnomes has turned into a trickle of bumps bruises minor cuts and burns.

James hears the screaming on the intercom.

That sound really bad.  Rags, lets go investigate

I think we would be better if we split up

Nonsense!  Whoever is in there is going to need both of us.

They go exploring and find the tower door being closed and hot to the touch.  Just as they begin to investigate James hears the mirror ringing.

Guess you are getting your wish Rags.  Be careful with that hatch once you find out whats in there come get me if you can.  If not I will be out here and thoroughly pissed off shortly.  Rags, don't tell Alveris about this.

Francis stay out here, guard cash cow.  If Alveris comes I want you to be ready to defend me, also there will be an axe to your right immediately next to the door

James carefully positions the axe for an easy pickup closes the door sighs heavily and picks up the call.

If his father is on the call he heralds him with an overly zealous

Daddy!

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 213):

"This... is not good," Conrad says, motioning to the superheated hatch.  "Not good at all.  See if you can find a fire extinguisher or water, Marshall.  I'll deal with the mirror myself."

He puffs himself up and marches to the comm room, muscling Francis out of the way, hurling the door open, and slamming it shut behind him -- but not before James can slip in to answer the call.

Anger and rage and frustration pent up over the entire ordeal have finally taken their toll on him, and he is visibly agitated.  Glancing at the screen, he jabs a finger at the person on the other side and muscles James to the side

"The reactor's going critical, the oxygen levels are failing, and the emissions levels are rising to dangerous concentrations.  What could you possibly want?!"

He continues without waiting for an answer, not caring who is on the other side or what they might have to say.

"The Empire does not have time to waste playing your damn games, and neither do I.  Do you hear me?  You're not dealing with Captain Olek or your fancy-pantsy lackies, slaves, and servants.  This isn't your damn court.  This is an Imperial Submarine, and I am in command.  Do you hear that? ME."

The combination of fully-outfitted Special Ops armor, axe, and a wide variety of guns and explosives make him a very literal powder-keg of energy to any observer as he quivers with continued rage.

"We were promised an ally when we undertook this mission.  Unless you called to start behaving like one, I have better things to do right now."

He glowers at the mirror defiantly, awaiting a response.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Wed 16 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 215):

James tries to contain his laughter.  Hiding his smile behind a nose scratch and a cough he takes up a position behind Conrad allowing the gnome to take the full brunt of the rage of Blackwood.

You heard the gnome he says flatly.

In reply to James (msg # 216):

Oh my god these sub repairs are so boring and forever taking!

Uthor and the two assistants examine the communication panel nearby but are unable to discern anything immediately.

I know, but we're going to need to investigate further.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 218):

While Alveris watches helpfully, Uthor works on repairing the coolant pipe.  It isn't terribly difficult but takes a good deal of time.

Finally he stands up, brushes the coolant from his gloves and proclaims it done.  A quick checkup in the Reactor room confirms that the coolant pump is once again working and the reactor temperature is stable.

Additionally, this means the emergency thermal venting can stop.  The leaking steam pipe stops spraying steam.

(Uthor and Alveris, you can chat but please hold until the upper decks catch up and the consequences of your decision take effect).

In reply to GM (msg # 219):

Somehow that was simultaneously less and more satisfying than I expected.  And didnt he call us... I think those gnomes were confused or drunk.  Also probably had something to do with Rags getting attacked.  However I got 99 problems and gnomes in black ain't one

Connie shall we go back to the super heated door?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Wed 16 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 220):

Conrad stares at the blank mirror for a long moment, then activates his axe and swings it at the object with savage force.

[Damage: 20]

He deactivates the axe, dusts off his hands, and heads toward the hatch James referred to without a word.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 221):

James stares in shock.  As Conrad storms out the room he says quietly

I love you.

Francis squeals in glee at the sound of the destruction.

James doesn't even realize that hes bleeding from a small cut in the side of his head.

He runs after Conrad.

So where are we going?  What are we doing?  He asks in rapid fire.

In reply to James (msg # 222):

"First, we're going to put out the fire that's probably burning in the tower and eating into our oxygen supply," Conrad growls, walking to the galley and grabbing a thick towel along with oven mitts.  "Grab those jugs of water."

Thus equipped, he walks over to the burning-hot hatch, dons the mitts, grabs the towel, and looks over his shoulder at the fey, goblin, and Marshall nearby.

"Stand back."

He activates the appropriate controls, heaves at the door, and attempts to open the hatch.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 223):

James stays far as far away from the hatch as he can while remaining within distance to run behind Conrad in a turn.  He keeps an eye out for ninjas or bees or something...

In reply to James (msg # 224):

In reply to James (msg # 224):

Upper Decks

It gives both James and Conrad great satisfaction to see the magical mirror not only smashed, but absolutely blown to smithereens by Conrad's decisive blow.

Conrad crunches a stray shard under his boot as he turns to leave.  Just as he's about to close the door, however, a strange low wailing noise picks up in the room.

The shards of glass begin to vibrate, then to shake.  One by one they zoom across the room to stick against the wall, finally re-forming the mirror.  The runes around the edge glow and the wailing noise turns to a haunting cackle, then is silent.

When you step out of the Comm room, you notice that the leaking pipe has stopped leaking, you now have access to the lower decks.

Conrad and James hustle to the hatch and starts releasing it.

The hatch swings open forcefully, knocking Conrad on his behind.  Flames gout from the opening, seemingly excited to have more space and more oxygen to eat up.

Conrad and James toss some water up into the hatch, but it does no good.

Lower Decks

Having finished the repairs (and the 'assisting' of the repairs), Uthor and Alveris hustle back.

There are still two sailors milling about, an officer looking to repair the intercom and a sealed hatch to Deck 1

CROSSROADS

Ship-wide

The intercom continues to click on and off, but it's just static now.

Reactor Temperature - 99% Nominal and holding (horay!)
O2 - 88% Nominal and falling (is the air getting a little thin?)
CO2 - 2/10 and rising
CO - 2/10 and rising

We've got to meet back up with Connie and James. The longer we're apart from them, the more likely we are to be mistaken for a red shirt and killed by the haphazard state of this crippled aquatomb.

What's the fastest way back up?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 226):

James looks at the mirror reassembling itself and says flatly

I hate you.  If anything the wailing of the mirror sounds smug   Hey Connie, you think it will do that if we smash it again?

James follows Conrad out to the heated hatch.  When the flames belt out of the room and the water proves to be ineffective James shouts over the roar of the flames,

Is there a fire extinguisher on board?

If not can we close the door and flood the tower from the outside?

James cranes his neck to look into the tower as best he can while keeping a safe distance of course to see if he can see what is on fire.  Providing he cannot find a fire extinguisher or we can't flood the tower he will go find the nearest blankets or large towels he can find and soak them in water.  He will then hand them to Conrad to beat the flames out.

In reply to James (msg # 227):

The mirror reassembles itself before his eyes, which immediately narrow.

"Figures."

Turning to the flaming hatch, Conrad glancing at the blankets, scowls, and thinks better of it.  He slams the hatch shut once more and seals it behind him, choking off the oxygen as best he can.

"Flooding it from the outside is probably the best bet if we can't snuff it out by sealing its air supply, but the diving room is a long way from here."

He leads the others to the helm and looks at the dials and gauges grimly.

"Marshall Goath, I fear we have no need for further munitions testing today.  Report to the diving room, suit up in an aqualung, and head up to the tower from the outside.  Open the hatch, flood the tower, close the hatch, and return through the diving room once more -- I don't want the tower's volume of water dumped into this deck.  By then maybe we'll have the pumps working again.  Take a harpoon gun with you; you never know what you'll find."

Conrad looks at the bridge, which now contains James, Francis, Ragnar, Shaggo, a retreating Goath, an injured Navigator, and himself.

Grabbing a pencil, the duty sheet, and a nearby scrap of paper, he scribbles down his thoughts.

Conrad's Notes


He circles a few names and writes "MIA?" next to them: Colm, Hyle, and Urf.

I don't know what to do, he privately despairs.  But I'd like these three to report in.

Aloud, he turns to Shaggo.

"Are you any good with tools, Helmsman?  We don't have anyone in the engine room, and I think we probably need to take a look at it."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:51, Thu 17 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 228):

Connie, that screaming we heard on the intercom a few minutes ago worries me. How many intercom locations are there on ship.  I bet if we systematically check each we will find our missing gnomes.  Maybe there will be something Rags and I can still do for them.

In reply to James (msg # 229):

Marshall Goath rushes off to follow Conrad's orders.

Uthor and Alveris see a Gnome running by at full speed (making an appropriate ZOOM noise complete with doppler effect) and vanishing into the Dive Chamber.

Where's he off to in such a hurry?  Anyway, we better get back up with the C'mmander.

Uthor heads off to find Conrad, pausing to check at intercom terminals in an attempt to determine the source of the problem.

[Knowledge (Engineering) 10]

In reply to GM (msg # 230):

Alveris takes off at full speed in the opposite direction of the passing gnome.

"He's either running away from something awesome, or Connie/Olek just lit a fire under his ass- either works for me!"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 232):

When Alveris arrives in the room with Connie etc... James will step up and physically put a hand in his chest to stop him.  He tilts his head towards Alveris and says in Fey


You can see Francis is visibly agitated.

In reply to James (msg # 233):

"Speak in a language I can understand," Conrad warns.  "Please.  We wouldn't want the crew to think you're up to something."

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 234):

James will not respond to Conrad until he hears from Alveris.  Conrad can tell he is tense from James' ridgid posture.

On the other side of the room Ragnar audibly gasps and blanches at the site of Alveris.  He immediately jumps behind the commander.

In reply to James (msg # 235):

Is he full of stab holes? Because if he's not, it probably means I didn't attack him.

So no, I didn't attack, what was his name, Ragepar?

I went to the torpedo room with Ultron, I fell through the floor, and by the time I got back up, he'd already killed the Gremlin. Hrmph.

After that, we tried to get to you and were barred by the great jet of steam we just finished repairing, and now here I am.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 236):

Reactor Temperature: 95% Acceptable and holding
O2: 87% Nominal and falling
CO2: 2/10 and rising
CO: 2/10 and rising

As everyone gathers in the upper decks, the Helsman reports:

"Got power back up in Bridge, sir.  Power is spotty all over the ship, comms are down and I'm not getting readings from everywhere in the ship.  Looks like we've got a bad fire in the Tower and possibly some problems on Deck 1 somewhere."

In reply to GM (msg # 237):

Way to break the sub Connie.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 238):

James visibly relaxes, Francis following his lead.  He looks over his shoulder at Ragnar and Conrad he switches back to common

Thats almost exactly what I said to him.  The fact hes alive meant it was likely not you.

Ok so that is one problem solved but another is on the table

He fills Alveris in on Ragnar's accusation

So there is something on the ship that looks and moves like a shadow.  And it sounds like hes on deck 1.

He switches to fey and tells Alveris what they saw in the mirror and Conrad's magnificent performance.  He holds up a finger to stifle Conrads protests.

Connie, I told him about our encounter with the mirror... communications officer and all that.

Alveris now up to speed James pats him on the shoulder and steps out of his way.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:02, Fri 18 Oct 2013.

In reply to James (msg # 239):

Sorry about the misunderstanding Ragepar.

Alveris spins his knives dexterously, pantomiming multiple combat motions.

So, and it probably does merit a follow up, James and I did take a private call with Puck and the Good General Blackwood before you turned this into the SS Sinksalot. Puck was surprised to hear there was a Gremlin on board, and intimated there were more surprises in store for us.

An evil shadow which moves with the catlike grace and handsomeness of Alveris Alderis, assaulting medics during a time of crisis? Totally sounds like Puck.

So, ya, that was our bad not passing on that intel. No one's perfect.

(pausing)

What's the plan?

Might be that your helmet does more than you think?

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 241):

Oh it absolutely does Ultron. So far I only know about one cool thing, and either I've become transiently incorporeal, or this thing is even sweeter than I first thought.

I'd love to know more about it, but from just a straight caution to the wind perspective, I feel honor bound to not look into it.

Were you to educate me against my will, well, that would be another matter entirely.

Oh I don't actually know.  But I told you I had a bad feeling about it.  An evil shadowy thing that looks like you?  My first thought is helmet.

Uthor motions his temporary assistants to the comm panel and sets to work.

With their help, he completes the repair.

[Repair 3+1+1]

[Assist 4, 4]

Thanks boys, good as new.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 243):

Potentially Ultron, but Puck intimated to me the evil was already on board, and he would not have known I was going to obtain the helmet until a spy reported it back to him, or until he saw me in the mirror prior to Sinkapalooza 2- The Resinknening.

Magneto Helm definitely does some off book stuff, but I'm reasonably confident it doesn't create a dark doppleganger of me who attacked Ragepar. I'm also pretty sure it's a bad idea for anyone to try and take it off me. I think it somehow knows what I want, and I definitely don't want to stop wearing it.

I'll stick with the group for now, and we'll see if I produce any other miracles of science.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Fri 18 Oct 2013.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 244):

"I did not break the sub, you ingrate. Our maneuver likely saved us all. If we survive it."

He motions toward the dials.

"I sent the Marshall to flood the tower, so the fire should be resolved shortly. What's this about the first deck being sealed off?"

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 245):

smarmily:

You mean if you didn't break it? 

Just that, C'mmander.  We don't know why, but once I finish with these comms we can find out.

Also, I lost my axe in a gremlin.  Need to requisition another.

In reply to Uthor son of Magnusson (msg # 247):

James tosses Uthor the axe from Ragnar.

Here ya go. 

That was my axe!  Ragnar protests

You can get another one, besides if you need that to heal someone your doing it wrong.  Are you coming with us and the green monster?  If so then maybe we should grab you an axe.

James gets his bow, has his rapier at his side.  If Ragnar is coming we will get him an axe, I will also requisition another one for myself (if he is not coming I'm rolling with the rapier and bow.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Fri 18 Oct 2013.

In reply to Conrad son of Leif (msg # 245):

Ingrate!

Of all the ungrateful terms use to describe me, that's actually probably pretty accurate.

Part of being in charge is knowing how to roll with the punches Connie. Internalize failure. Externalize success.

This is like, leadership 101. What, does the Gnomish Empire really not teach its officers the tenants of Level 5 Leadership?