The final Storm Trooper hits the deck and breathes his last.

"Dutuy done..." he sighs.

Uthor hauls his axe out of the body.

James now has the time to tend to the wounded, though he now has both Conrad and Doro of Mya to deal with/choose between (OOC:  You're in the golden hour now, make the most of it).

Under the orders of Captain Longthrow, the remaining agent is placed in the cargo hold (in a cell beside Ragnar).

All told, only one Gnome was lost on your side to 6 Storm Troopers, 1 517 Agent and Mirewood on the other side.

There are a total of 4 AutoGnomes now (3 with built-in repeater carbines) and 2 Servitors.  These do not appear to take any notice of what has happened.  They continue to follow the AutoGnomes, wind them and respond to explicit (but simple) commands from Gnomes.


While cleaning the bodies of Commander Schtock's troops off the upper deck and packing the G-PAG for travel, a funny thing happens.

The entire ship seems to shimmer and glow reddish, and for a second you swear that the island you just left was not wooded, but covered from end to end by a massive industrial fortress with walls, cannon and tall spires spewing smoke.

An instant later the island is as you remember it and the only thing showing over the water is the moon.

Presumably, Conrad and Doro are brought to the infirmary so that James has access to his tools.

After an hour or so of preparing the ship to get underway, sweeping for further intruders and dealing with the corpses, Olek orders the rest of you into the infirmary to debrief.

In reply to GM (msg # 1):

Before I commend you on an amazing show of heroism, combat prowess, hard-headedness and all-out Gnomish duty in the light of amazing odds: would it be too much to ask YOUR side of what in the hells just went down here?

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 2):

Venturing a guess?

The magneto helmet that I had previously worn is a gateway to some sort of alternate reality featuring a gnomish empire largely similar to the one you all so dutifully serve. In procuring the helmet and accessing its powers so wontonly (that's potentially my bad), we likely alerted the other reality to our presence.

This was exacerbated during our previous reality hopping adventure where I fell into the second reality/Reach, and Connie had to helm up and rescue me.

Time passes, the other reality decides they want their doom helmet back, and they launch an incursion against us to do it.

The rest is just blood and math.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 3):

Stop harassing my patients.

James says fixing Olek with a look that would curdle milk.

In reply to James (msg # 4):

Between coughing fits, Conrad manages to explain what little he knows.

"The island had an Imperial artifact storage facility on it, where apparently someone had been gathering the body parts of a long-dead and dismembered necromancer. Since it had been compromised and the items were at risk, I triggered its self-destruct and buried the most dangerous artifacts amid the rubble."

He motions to the artifacts he had saved.

"These are the less-dangerous items, which I recovered for shipment back to the Empire. I hope the next storage site is hardened better than this one was."

"Alveris has the right of it, I believe. The helmet we recovered from the Reach has some link to a parallel reality slightly different from out own. That Empire is far more militant than ours, and has developed advanced technology that the agent we arrested claims we've been stealing. Technology like the autognomes, which I'd never seen before we ran into Jeeves aboard the Reach."

He shakes his head.

"I don't think we'd do that, but the traitor might, and to those in the other world, there'd be no difference between his forces and our own."

Conrad pauses to cough a bit more.

"The new fey is named Doro, and seems to have been exiled to that island for some reason. I assume Alveris or James knows more about him, but I will say that he was very helpful during our stay on the island. It's completely infested with recaps and sheep, and neither are friendly."

"The Templar forces were dead before we got there, and with the fortress destroyed they have no reason to come back."

He scratches his beard.

"The thing I can't figure out is how these jackboots got onto our ship in the first place. If the helmet is what does the teleporting, and we have it, how'd they get here? And how can we secure something that might exist in two places at once?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:52, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 5):

Shut up Connie

James says hastily holding an ether rag to render him unconscious.

This is going to be... unpleasant.

Make yourself useful or back to the bridge, don't you have mooks to boss around... or something.

Minute 0

He looks around the sick bay as inhabited as it has ever been he sighs heavily.  Looking more like a dance than surgery he begins.

You brave dumb son of a bitch.  He says as Connie's eyes close.

He immediately digs into Conrad pulling out bullets suturing wounds administering disinfectant.

Healing 10

OK. on to the next one

He gracefully pirouettes over to doro grabbing some sterile gauze along the way.

Minute 10

He nimbly bandages the fey lordling humming while he works

Healing 8 

He then turns his attention to Alveris who has been talking the entire time but James has not noticed.

Minute 20

He gracefully grabs Alveris' hand and with a passable fey dance step spins the tantric troubadour into a chair [fey dance 4].

He cuts off the fey's tactile neck resulting in a wall of curses in myriad languages he quickly picks out Alveris' mostly superficial wounds and stitches a deeper wound in his chest that took the brunt of the shotgun blast.

Healing 10

He then helps Alveris up and kicks him out of the infirmary.

Minute 30

/ooc so if I have this correctly its a heal with a raise for everyone.  Meaning Alveris removes two wounds, Conrad removes two wounds, Doro is as stabilized as he is going to get./ooc
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to James (msg # 6):

Olek ignores the Fey.

Something happened to the Spring, aye, though what I'm not sure.  There was a red light, and the world seemed to shimmer just like that thrice-damned helmet of Alveris'.

Just after that, the crewmen topside started shouting about a fortress appearing on the island, and soon after that we were boarded.

This Mirewood character demanded we surrender and turn over the helmet.

I refused, but if it weren't for your timely arrival they might have broken into the code room and taken it.

Olek shivers.

I don't like that thing and I don't want it on my boat.  However, that's not up to me.  What IS up to me is that I can safely say we've accomplished our mission and can return to port.  What we do with the remaining invader in that time is up for debate.

He glares angrily at the items Conrad shows him.

Do any of you know what these things are?  Or if they're dangerous?

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 7):

Conrad, once he regains consciousness, explains to Olek what the various items do. Except for the maps in the scroll cases and the pouch of dust, which he has no idea what they do. He also shows him the manual he took from the facility which detailed what they were and which ones were to be taken vs. destroyed.

He will also try to figure out if any of the armor worn by the stormtroopers, agents, or other enemies is better than his, and if so, appropriate it along with a shield and a shotgun.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 8):

The Storm Trooper's armor, the Gnomish sailors report as they clean up the bodies, is not really seperable from the Storm Troopers themselves.  Indeed they appear to be half Gnome half machine, with armor and other equipment built into them.

The shields, axes and shotguns, however, are removable.

The 517 Agents armor is less integrated, though the goggles they wear appear to be.

In reply to GM (msg # 9):

OOC: Is the agent armor better than what I'm already wearing? What about the guy on the roof of the sub, who had slightly different armor?

"These cybernetics are... disconcerting."

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 10):

The 517 Operative armor is built for stealth, it provides a penalty to be hit with ranged weapons in the dark and has integrated knife wrist-holsters.  It also has a "stealth pack" that can provide limited camoflage ability.  Exactly how it works will probably take Sven some time.

It provides no armor, however.

In reply to GM (msg # 11):

Conrad asks Sven to figure out if the stealth pack can be adapted to the armor he's already wearing, but otherwise considers it to be useful "for other people."

When he has a spare moment, he combs through his kit and weeds out some of the more bulky items, returning his pistols and harpoon guns and mundane axes to the armory and the scimitar to the pile of artifacts for safekeeping.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 12):

So, that was a lot of questions and commentary. Let's approach this in pieces.

First- Doro is a Fey in much the same boat as Jamie and I. No small importance to the court- in fact, arguably more important than we are, and with almost no likelihood of returning based on the current interests and machinations of the court.

Second- I'm surprisingly familiar with some of those objects. The magic bag you've got, if i'm not mistaken, is of particular familiarity to me.

Alveris takes a pinch of powder and drops it over a nondescript gnome.

"You want to go get me a sandwich"
"I want to go get you a sandwich"
"Go get me a sandwich"
"Let me get you a sandwich"

The nondescript gnome scurries off to get Alveris a sandwich.

Yup. Dust of Compliance.

Alveris smirks takes a generous pinch and tucks it into his pocket.

What? It's for personal use.

Third- I'm reasonably certain you're holding the Chalice of Titania, which is basically the ambiguous Fey cup of whatever the hell you want. It basically gives you licence to do whatever you want.  You know, day of the week depending.

So uh, apparently you discovered a pretty significant Fey tomb. ..You didn't happen to find any scrolls in there, did you?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 13):

"We might have," Conrad says, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "I thought they were map cases, but they could contain scrolls, as well. Uthor was carrying them."

"But why would a fey tomb be in the same place as an Imperial artifact storage facility? Did we just... build one over the tomb?"

He grins slightly.

"That's brilliant!" he begins, then notices the expression on his allies faces. "I mean, as far as inappropriate, disrespectful actions go."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 14):

..Did you just huff some paint? Want to fill the rest of us in?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 15):

"What are you talking about? You're the one who mentioned a tomb, not me. We found all these things in the Imperial storage facility. I have no idea how they got there initially."

He narrows his eyes slightly.

"And don't start throwing that dust about the crew. How long does it last?"

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 16):

*shrug*

Less than a lot, more than a little? Variety is the spice of life Connie. Buck up.

We survived somehow, again, and we've got a buttload of Fey artifacts. The bigger question now is what do we want to do with them? Do we want to call the Fey court?

Do we want to study them?

And what the heck happened to the ship we were supposed to be chasing?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 17):

The bundle of scrolls appear, at first glance, to be scholarly writing in a mixture of languages.  They appear to concern the study of alchemy.  Sort of an "Alchemy 101" class in written form.

In reply to GM (msg # 18):

Nope, not what I was looking for. A bunch of nerdy stuff about alchemy and magic.

Lame!

In reply to GM (msg # 18):

"As far as I'm concerned, these are Imperial artifacts," Conrad corrects Alveris gently. "They may have once belonged to the Fey, but I believe the captain will agree that anything found in an Imperial storage facility is under our protection."

"As for the ship... wasn't that the templar ship we already found? I believe our mission is completed and we're meant to head to port at this point. I'll defer to the Captain on the issue of contacting the fey court. Captain?"

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 20):

Oh sorry, I didn't remember. That's when I was cleaved out of reality by a zombie templar holding a monkey paw.

Thanks for bringing that back up. I can see near death has done nothing for your disposition. Ass.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 21):

The Lt. Commander has the right of it.  These artifacts are Imperial property and will be returning with us.

I also concur that our mission is complete.  We located the ship and returned her cargo to Imperial control.  Our next stop will be home.

It's good to hear that the... parts are gone and buried.  Always a beautiful thing when protocol is followed.

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 22):

Wait. Returning home. Are you taking us to Gnomeville? What becomes of Jamie, Doro, and I? None of us really has much of a home to go back to.

Jamie/Doro will likely be killed, and I'll likely be Pucked.

Oh my god. I've got Stockholm Syndrome

The nondescript gnome returns with an overstuffed hoagie for Alveris.

"Here's your sandwich sir"

"Thank god for small miracles."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:49, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 23):

We will return to our port of origin, Olek growls.  Neutral territory.  If your people choose to send an escort to meet you, so be it.  If you choose to jump off the ship before then to avoid detection.  So be it.

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 24):

"We should try to collect Magni, too," Conrad says. "Do we know if he was recovered?"

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 25):

Doro, Jamie- Do we take the dust of compliance and go on a bender, or do we stick with the gnomes and take our chances in neutral territory with the Empire or the Court?

It's drug induced bender..right?

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 26):

James smiles a wolfish grin.


BENDER IT IS!

Alveris exclaims triumphantly.

You know what would be good right now? He looks at the nodescript gnome.  Another sandwich.

I will get you another sandwich.

In reply to James (msg # 27):

Knock that off!

In reply to Olek Longthrow (msg # 28):

"Bring the captain a sandwich too. He's exhibiting the classic symptoms of low blood sugar"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 29):

James looks hurt

Whatever happened to:

He puff himself up and does his best impersonation of Olek

Before I commend you on an amazing show of heroism, combat prowess, hard-headedness and all-out Gnomish duty in the light of amazing odds: would it be too much to ask YOUR side of what in the hells just went down here?

In reply to James (msg # 30):

Alveris continues nibbling his hoagie as the nondescript gnome returns with 2 more.

"Ah. Brain food for the Captain. I think Jamie raises a good point. Why don't we use one of the hoagies as like, a speaking stick, and we can sit in a circle and just share each of our stories based on who is and isn't holding/eating the hoagie.

I mean, I don't want to say I'm advocating for a hoagie based culture of leadership here, but, have you tasted this zesty mustard?"

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 31):

James looks at the gnome with a wicked smile

Are you happy gnome?

Yes I am happy.

Does the captain look happy?

No he does not.

You should make the captain happy, go give him a hug.

The gnome obediently walks over to the captain with his arms spread

James munches his hoagie.

You're right this is a good hoagie.  What is there to share?  We sent the interdimensional gnomes home, we are gnomish heroes and my father is going to have me garroted again at his earliest convenience.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:50, Wed 05 Nov 2014.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 31):

"Back to port, I believe you said, Captain?"

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 33):

James quietly ethers Connie into silence again.

In reply to James (msg # 34):

And on that note...

~Crossroads and Epilogues~

Captain Olek Longthrow will order the Red Spring to make full speed back to the port of origin and from there into Gnomish territory.

If you have anything you'd like to accomplish durring the journey or prior to reaching either of those destinations, please let me know.  Unless you do something to make it not the case, all items found in the facility will be confiscated by Olek and locked up to be delivered back to Imperial agents.  This includes the dust, urn, chalice, helm, etc.

If you'd like any information from Ragnar/517 Agent from another reality, let me know.

Otherwise, you are free to write your character through the end of this journey and beyond as far as you care.

Well done team!

In reply to GM (msg # 35):

Alveris interrogates the 517 agent to the sounds of "Stuck in the middle with you"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJfORxWsZUY

In reply to GM (msg # 35):

Huzzah!

Conrad will, of course, question the agent and Ragnar throughout the journey while simultaneously trying to upgrade his gear with frequent visits to Sven. And heal. He will attempt to heal, as well.

In reply to Conrad Deepsavior (msg # 37):

Connie only has one wound left after my masterful healing.  He will get a vigor roll at +2 when the time comes to heal it out so he should be fine.

I will pester Olek to study the scrolls and see if I can make out their use... and learn alchemy.

I'll help Alveris being the bad cop to his worse cop for the interrogation.

I'll write something more satisfying later.

Uthor has no interest in any of the items found on the island save one.  He spends time with the rest of the crew on the way back to port, relaxing after completing a deadly mission and basking in the satisfaction of his duty fulfilled.  When the ship finally returns to port, he exchanges friendly parting words with all of his comrades-in-arms, especially Conrad.

No one hears much from Uthor while he's on shore leave.  No one sees him around town, really.  You would be forgiven if you overlooked the two shadowy figures ducking into an alleyway in the dead of night.  It would be entirely understandable for you to think nothing of the watertight map tube passed from one hand to the other.  And you would not be remiss in dismissing the only words exchanged between them, Well done, Chet.

But if you paid close attention, you would hear a sigh of relief coming from one of those figures, and you might be surprised to see his cloak sink slowly to the ground, and a cat stalk out from under it.  As the cat bounded off after the other, strikingly identical, alley-cat nearby, you would notice that this is the first time in years that it's felt truly happy.

Free at last.

In reply to James (msg # 38):

Olek does allow James to study the scrolls on the voyage back [OOC: gain d4 in Alchemy].

He also allows the interrogation of both Ragnar and the inter-dimensional 517 Agent, including all the dancing and singing Alveris wants.

He does not, however, allow physical torture of any prisoner.

The 517 Agent is hugely polite and calm, and will tell you that HIS version of the Empire is very concerned about the threat posed by devices such as the Red Mantle (helm) that allow unrestricted travel between realities, hence his team entering the Red Spring when it appeared.  He suggests that the helm is unstable and unsafe and makes no bones about suggesting that you give it to him, at which time he will return with it to his own reality.

He explains his universe in broad strokes, explaining that the Gnomish empire is more advanced in his reality and controls far more land and resources.

In reply to GM (msg # 40):

As the dust settles, Alveris pulls the grouchy as fuck Olek aside and barters for his life.

Captain, I..need your help. I know, it hurts me to ask.

Here's the reality of the situation. Jamie and I were ostensibly sent here to die, or to retrieve the contract, which we definitely seem to have lost. And Jamie will have to live with that being his fault. But if we go back to the Fey, Doro included, we'll be killed.

There is, however, one way in which all 3 of us may live happily ever after, and without further incursion upon you or your crew. It will, however, involve you parting with the Chalice. In the grand scheme of things, I think you'll see it's going to be in your best interest to take my offer.

Alveris proceeds to pantomime, persuade, pasteurize, perjure, pontificate, proliferate, patronize, and prostitute any and all forces at his disposal in his quest to explain to the captain the Fey will be pissed the contract has been lost, and Doro has been found. To keep both matters quiet, to not brutally commission the murder of 2 faithful officers and Doro, and to smooth hurt feelings and maintain the status quo, parting with the Chalice of Titania, a relic of significance to the court but minimal if any artifact based used to the gnomes is an ideal plan.

It's simple really. We go down to the mirror. We show them the chalice. And then I proceed to force the General, Puck, Oberon, Titania..really the court at large here, to recite the following document out loud.

Alveris proceeds to pull on his sleeve, and out pops a rather fat scroll. With a deft kick, the scroll begins to unravel, spanning almost the entire length of the sub.

"When you're in my lines of work, it's pretty much a given someone is going to want to kill you. I must admit, this started as a one line document. "I will not kill Alveris". But then we had the Kittamer incident, and well, I started expanding.

You see, we Fey aren't allowed to break a promise. When you're forcing the hands of some very old, wise, and cunning Fey in the name of  your own life by making sure all parties have agreed to no direct, indirect, paradirect, extradimensionally direct, and lest we forget erect forces of retribution, well, suffice to say the linguistics involved are somewhat substantial.

Anywho. With the promise made in front of the 3 of us, yourself or Fireface, and the whole of the Fey court, we should be safe to lead out lives in relative obscurity for at least 50-100 years before the court legal scholars find a loophole in the logic.

I intend to ensure we've whored, cheated, stolen, drank, gorged, and every other synonym for hedonistic excess associated with a long and happy life before they come looking for us and the chalice.

Put simply Captain- Will you give us a running head start in recognition of our contributions, or will you sign our death writ?

Also. Remember the sandwich I got you!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Thu 06 Nov 2014.

In reply to Alveris Alderis (msg # 41):

Conrad makes as complete a map of the alternate reality as possible, given the agent's cooperation, using a blank map of the known world. He takes careful notes of the differences in attitudes, location, control, etc.

He then gets a medal for his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds and proves to everyone that he's more than just a meat shield.

Except for James, who views him as exactly that and nothing more forever.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Wed 05 Nov 2014.