Lady Blackbird: Tales from the Wild Blue Yonder

[LoP]

The Hand of Sorrow
Somewhere in the Blue...

Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover, the pirate king Uriah Flint.

However, just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag.

Even now Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the commander of the cruiser, Captain Hollas, runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast Cyrus Vance.

~ ~ ~

You are all imprisoned within the Hand of Sorrow's brig. There is just one other inmate within the brig - a woman the crew of The Owl recognize from a past misadventure, the bounty hunter Elena Harwood, thrown in there just a day ago on a trumped up assault charge.

What are you all going to do?


Some more questions, which you can answer as details of your posts, or ignore, at your choice. Only answer one question per player, please. The questions in bold should probably be answered.

What will they find when they run your ship's registry through the wireless, Cyrus? Have you seen any imperials you recognize here or who might recognise you?

Did any of you notice anything interesting on your way through the Hand to the brig?

Are you all in a single cell or multiple ones?

What does your cell look like? Are you shackled?

Have you encountered Captain Hollas before?

Is your cell guarded? By how many guards?

Are there only humans on the Hand?

[Veet]

Cyrus' hand fumbled in his empty pocket. Normally there would be a small brass watch there attached to a chain but that had been taken, along with his belt and shoes. He at least had enough sense to stash his pistols before they were boarded, though they wouldn't do him much good from over in the Owl. He sighed and ran his fingers over his hair "I liked that watch too" he mumbled. He glanced at his cell mates, Kale seemed to be patting his clothing taking note of whatever he managed to avoid having confiscated, Snargle had his ear pressed to the door listening to hall outside. The Lady Blackbird and Miss Bishop were in a different cell, if they were in a cell at all.

"Well I guess we better not overstay our welcome" he said patting his knees and standing "Our hosts have been gracious but we all know what will happen when they run the Owl through the registry. Mr Snargle is the coast clear? Mr Arkam did you happen to get the key before we checked in?"

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird/Natasha Syri
Holding Cell

Natasha sigs and lies down on the long metal bench. It was a solid length of aluminum, cold and bolted to the wall. It was wide enough to accommodate a person sitting with their back straight against the equally cold and uncomfortable wall, but not wide enough to fit even Natahsa's slender frame laying down. It was designed this way, so that those held in this brig could never quite be comfortable.
The commoner's garb she was dressed in wasn't helping the comfort situation either, but it had deflected awkward questions when the Imperials had boarded. If she had been dressed properly, in bright silks, bedecked in jewels, with bells on her wrists and ankles, they would have identified as either a noble or a con artist. As it was, if the soldiers managed to find the secret compartment where her things had been stored, the ruse would be over anyway. For now, they just thought her and the crew unimportant, simply having violated a few regulations, and hadn't even bothered with shackles.
She gets up, unable to maintain her position on the bench, and walks over to the door. She calls to the bored looking young private at the watch desk. "Would you mind terribly bringing us some refreshments? I expect your commander will be quite some time still in checking our vessel. It would only be polite to offer us something to eat and drink while we wait."

Rolling: 1+1(charm)+1(charisma)[roll0]

[pyrocide]

Snargle mumbled to himself as he dragged his ear from one part of the metallic and white door. His eye and tongue scrapped across the surface as well, leaving little wet trails each time he moved, though that was of no real concern to a goblin.

He finally found a spot near the bottom of the door that had a bit of an opening. Not enough to squeeze through, but enough that he might just hear something. Sure enough, a pair of guards were nosily speaking. About what Snargle couldn't quite make out, but at least he knew they were there.

"Got two of 'em outside boss. Pretty close by," Snargle reported, taking his ear (and eye and tongue) from where the door met the floor. A little trace of saliva dangled from his lip as he sat up.

"I could pull de ol' sick prisoner routine, that would get 'em in 'ere." Snargle offered, trying his best to help with the situation. His tongue rolled back out of his mouth as he gave a crooked open-mouthed smile and waited on his commander's orders.

[Icilia]

Kale finishes patting himself down, and begins to drop the few items he had managed to hide. He pulls out a steak knife, a lockpick, a wrench, and a few cogs, nuts and bolts.

"I could also try picking the lock. If there is access to one on this side. If we plan on fighting our way out, I have a knife and a wrench. I guess it could be useful."

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood
The Hand Of Sorrow

"Bit polite for this place. I'm told yellin's the tradition here. Your way might work better, though."

The prisoner in the cell who had, up until now, apparently been absorbed in her fingernails, looks up with a friendly smirk that shows off her scar. It's what is named a Sebastian Smile due to what the madman liked to do to victims who refused to be silent - he'd put a knife into their mouth and push up to one of the corners of the mouth and not stop pushing. The woman's smirk highlights the scar until the vicious bruise on her forehead is just a distraction.

"You don't want to stay. The captain of this ship's a corrupt berk and never seems to have heard of a good mood. Though maybe that's just me." She adds, reflexive. "I did shoot him in the leg all that time ago."

Aware she's drifted, the woman leans forwards and lowers her voice. "The take-away is I'm getting out of here. I'm thinking someone soft like you wouldn't be favored in prison, so want in?"

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

Natasha turns to the women, her extensive training social graces and self-control being the only thing that keeps her from flinching at the sight of the horrible scar. "Are you daft? Of course I want out of here! Though I may not be so "soft" as you suppose, a ship's brig is certainly not a comfortable place, and I wish to depart post-haste." It is only belatedly Lady Blackbird remembers that she is currently Natasha. Her shoulders drop a fraction of an inch, her head tilts forward instead of slightly up, and her voice changes. "Sorry 'bout that. I learned was always best to talk proper when dealing with the authorities. Tends to make them them you're somebody that they oughta listen to. Acting indignant and haughty like the nobles makes it easier to pull off. So, I'm Natasha, and this is Naomi; no surnames until we know you a bit better. What do we call you?"

OOC: I'll be changing between Natasha and Lady Blackbird dependent upon what she is calling herself at the moment.

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

Elena watches her new friend for a moment, suddenly clear-eyed, before dropping it and going back to her easygoing smirk. "No worries. Never got the hang of that stuff myself, but it's a good trick to have." She confesses. "It's Elena. Came here to bag my bounty, got thrown in instead. One of Flint's ex-men in charge. No chance of fairness there." Her smile goes sharp for a moment, twisting up at the edge of the scar, and then drops again. "But that's me. What about you?"

She pauses as another thought strikes her. "Oh, and I'm gonna start shouting at you in a second or two, so don't be surprised."

[LoP]

The overly thin private with the extensive overbite currently at the records desk, closest to the women's cell, simply glances up at you, Natasha, gives you a sour look, and returns to reading his penny dreadfuls without a single word. Doesn't look like you'll be partaking in any refreshments - or attention - anytime soon.


Cyrus, Kale, Snargle: It looks like you are hatching a plan... what is it? What are your orders, Captain? Do you know where your passengers are?

Natasha, Elena, Naomi: Do you know where the crew of the The Owl are?

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"Hmph, what a rude man. Rather sloppily dressed and not paying the proper attention to his duties either. Seems in need of a good flogging.

To Elena: "Have at it, then. Once we get out of here though, we need to locate the men that came with myself and Naomi. They are the crew of the ship, and it would be much easier to escape with them. I'd suspect they are being held somewhere on this level, likely on the other side."

Dice: 7 Condition: Trapped

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

Elena seems to find the finery of Natasha's language amusing, and getting her permission to enact her plan only makes her smile wider. She gives the other woman a wink, and then starts shouting with rather convincing vitriol. "Yew blasted crank! Trying to pull that muck on me? I'll kill yew, yew get me? I'll kill yew!"

Having gotten rather into her role, the prisoner turns and slams a punch into the wall, sending a loud boom echoing throughout and outside the cell. There's a pause as Elena suddenly realizes how painful this idea was for her fist, but she manages to suppress her whimpering by attempting to stuff her other hand into her mouth, biting down on her fingers. With her elbow, she keeps up the regular thudding sounds.

"Anyone else do anything an' I'll do to yew what I did to her!" Elena yells, positioning herself beside the cell door to prepare for entry. "See if I don't!"


Rolling 1+Country Girl+Clever+Loud+Intimidating+2 pool for a total of 7.
[roll0]

Punching the wall might hit her Key of Quick Draw for not thinking things through. Does it?

[LoP]

The Crew of The Owl

Even as you whisper amongst yourselves, you hear a commotion outside your cell door. You can't really see what is happening beyond the white-painted thick steel door, but Snargle can hear the two guards stationed near your cell clamping off to another section of the brig.

The Ladies' Cell

Unlike the cell the men (and goblin) are in, the women's section of the brig has iron bars - less privacy. Elena has angled herself so the young private at the desk can't see her - but he sure can hear her.

"Oy!" he yells nervously, dropping his illustrated stories. "Quit it, you, or I'll... I'll drop the floor out from you, I will!"

"Cadview, Shorken! I gots trouble!" he yells down the hall. Within moments, a pair of guards bound into view, rifles at the ready.

"What is it?" one shouts back.


The Owl Crew: The coast looks clear. What do you do?

Ladies: There are now three Imperial guards heading your way, all armed; also, this IS the type of brig where the bottom of your cell can be opened - probably straight into the Blue. The guards look fat, lacking exercise, and nervous, however; what do you do?

[Icilia]

Kale looks at his fellow crew.

"This looks like a chance for escape. 'Scuse me Snarg, I need to get to the door."

Kale looks over the door to see if there is a keyhole on this side of the door, and attempts to pick it if there is.


1+Dextrous+Locks+2
[roll0]
5 Dice remain

[Veet]

tilting an ear towards the commotion, doesn't sound like one of ours but definitely a good distraction. Cyrus walks up behind Kale as he checks out the lock. "How does it look? can you do what you need from this side of the door?"


If he can't get to the lock from this side of the door Cyrus will pop him over to the other side.

[LoP]

The Crew

There is no way to access the lock from this side of the solid door... or is there? Kale fiddles with the wall, and a panel pops off - or rather, is pried off, revealing clockwork mechanisms which he fiddles with.

The door slides open with a whirr and a clank. The white hall, lined with cell doors, stretches in either direction.

You are now free. What do you do?

[Veet]

"Excellent" Cyrus said with a smile as he poked his head around the corner taking stock of their location. If he recalled the setup of these naval brigs correctly they would be back in the high security cells, Snargles gobley wiles necessitated a solid door that he couldn't slip through. The minimum security cells would be up near the records desk, as would be the alarm trigger.

"Now we just need to find our passengers" the racket seemed to be coming from up front "I think that way seems likely" he said as he pointed towards the noise "Mr Arkam there will be an alarm trigger by the front desk can you make sure it isn't working before we leave?" Cyrus suddenly realized that being on this ship was causing some old habits to emerge, like referring to his crew by the naval honorific 'Mr'. He shrugged off the thought before taking the lead to stalk down the hall to find the others.

[Icilia]

Kale dives after Cyrus, moving to complete his given task.

"Aye Cap'n. Catch sir."

Kale passes off the steak knife, and readies the wrench he had on him incase of trouble.

Can I hit my Key of Fraternity?

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

Natahsa runs to the door, blocking the view in. "Help us! This woman has gone mad! She is attacking my companion! Please, assistance, please!" Hopefully, the soldiers don't notice Natasha's fingers have arched into an arcane pattern.

1 + cunning + deception + misdirection + 2 pool: [roll0]

[LoP]

The Ladies

"The prisoners are fightin'!" the private calls to the portly two guards down the hall who had come to investigate.

"So what yer want us for? Stop 'em!" the portly guard with the red beard calls back peevishly.

"Oy, reg'lations call for at leas' a two man assist for every cell-" the private calls back, equally peevishly.

"I'll tell ya where t' stick yer reg'lations-" the portly guard with the wart covered nose calls back, but the two jog over to help out the skinny private, who is nervously approaching your cell with a ring of keys and a pitted six-shot pepper pot revolver.

" 'way! Clear the door! Clear the door or I'll dump the lot o' ya, I will!"


The two guards are still down the hall, not quite yet in line of sight of any of you. The private is trying to see what is going on in the cell. What do you do? Where is the lever that will open the baydoors beneath your feet? Naomi, how badly do you want to crack some Imperial skulls?

[Mekboy]

Ignore me!

[Mekboy]

Naomi Bishop

Smirking at Elena's mistimed enthusiasm with the wall, Naomi follows the charade, collapsing beside her newfound ally in feigned agony. Mostly feigned - she still ached from the guard's revenge after she'd made a mess of the first one to go for her Ladyship.

"That all you got, windowlicker?" she snarled through clenched teeth, hopefully loud enough for the guards to hear. "You gonna finish what you started?"

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena grins at Naomi, sticking to her position as she shouts again. "Drop us all out? Yew do my work fer me, grand!" She pauses, and then shouts with sudden anger "Yer money's no good here, crank! Not even if yew offer that much!"


Rolling 1+Country Girl+Clever+Loud+Intimidating for 5 die to trick the guards inside with their greed.
[roll0]

[Veet]

Cyrus took the knife from Kale with a nod. It wasn't ideal but better than nothing, knife fights were a whole lot closer and more chaotic than using a sword like he was used too. He pressed a finger to his lips in a command to move quietly and padded down the corridor towards the ruckus noting that it may not have been an entirely bad thing that their shoes had been confiscated.


Rolling 1+Smuggler+Sneak for 3 die to surprise the guards.
[roll0]

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

Natasha moves to the right, so that the door opens away from her. She stands on the bench, acting the part of the frightened waif. She glances towards the men outside the door, hoping they aren't going for the lever just a few feet away that will send the prisoners into the Blue. It might not be so bad for Natasha, but Naomi certainly would not enjoy the experience, and it was doubtful Elena would. From her higher vantage points, she glances downwards, and notes that these men are wearing the standard infantry boots, being non-insulated and just oh so full of shiny bits of brass.

[LoP]

The Brig

Like the footpads you are, the crew of The Owl sneaks as quietly as it can down the hall. They see two rotund guards armed with standard issue essencelock long rifles and a skinny private with an older caplock pepperpot revolver yelling at the occupants of some open bar cell.

" 'way! Clear the door! Clear the door or I'll dump the lot o' ya, I will!" the private is yelling.

"Drop us all out? Yew do my work fer me, grand!" a voice comes from the cell... a voice you find very familiar, unfortunately. "Yer money's no good here, crank! Not even if yew offer that much!"

"I thought they was searched?" one of the rifle-touting guards asks. "Howsit she's got cash?"

And its right then that one of you makes a noise - which, in the sterile white halls of an Imperial ship, echoes like mad. The guards and private whip their heads in your direction in alarm and their eyes widen.

They don't seem to be very quick-thinking, because you've caught them fairly flat-footed directly in front of the ladies' cell. If you're quick enough, you can act before the guards can do anything. What do you do?

One success from Cyrus isn't enough for them to not hear you, but its not too shabby. They hear you; keep your dice.

Elena's trick doesn't make enough sense to get them inside the bars - but its successful in the sense the guards are confused as all get out.

The guards are now huddled about the bars of your cell with the crew of the Owl on their flank. The bars look fairly strong, but perhaps not that strong compared to Naomi's automatic arm.

[Icilia]

"Uhm, hi? We're all from engineering. Apparently there's an issue up here? The tri-flux capicotor isn't interfacing the telifoil opperator, which is cause static issue with the terafold modulator. Just over here. Shouldn't take a few momements to fix."

Kale quickly moves behind the desk that Cyrus instructed him to go to, and attempts to find the alarm. Hopefully he was quick enough and used enough big, confusing engineering words to confuse the guards. Obviously a tri-flux capicotor wouldn't interface with a telifoil. That's just stupid.

Rolling: 1+Quick+Repair+3 Dice
Rolling both quick and repair to have the guards confused.
2 Dice Remain

[roll0]

[LoP]

An extraordinarily long second passes. Mouths agape, it does not look like the guards are buying your story, but surprise and indecision are still clear on their faces. But they can tell you are heading towards the alarm lever, and the private moves to block your path. He reaches for it with the hand holding the ring of keys, the other holding his revolver shaking...

Two successes was not enough to fool them, considering you are not wearing uniforms and one of you is a goblin. Take your dice back and add another to your pool.

Escalation: within moments the private will set the alarm.

What are you going to do about it?

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"It would seem subtlety has failed. Time for the showy way." She utters a single syllable, sharp and crackling. Her fingers arch, and lightning lances down into the floor. Beneath that shiny white finish is solid aluminum, and those poor soldier boys are loaded down with metal. The lighting courses through the floor towards them.

1 + Master Sorcerer + Spellcaster + Lighting + 5 pool = [roll0]

[LoP]

"You ain't enjuneerin', you ain't got those funny goggly things!" a guard yells incredulously. The two of them wheel their rifle barrels down the hall. "Sound the alarm! Pris'ner escape!"

But before the skinny private can get his lanky fingers around the lever, Natasha reveals what a Stormblood can do. There is a flash, shouts of pain that rapidly become staticky "ZTZTZTZT!"s, and the air begins to stink of ozone and roast pork. The three Imperials drop, electrocuted.

Their weapons, and the keys, clatter to the ground. For the time being, you have the brig to yourselves.


Major success there. The immediate threat is gone, but say goodbye to those 5 dice.

Cyrus: Now what? Whats the plan? How are you going to get past the more heavily armed guards just outside the brig?

Snargle: Are there other prisoners in the brig? Who are they? How do you feel about the dead/horribly injured guards?

Kale: Do the guards have anything useful on them?

Elena: Before being thrown in here, you overheard Hollas mention something... interesting. What was it? Do you share this info?

Naomi: Two of the guards look like they are still alive. What do you do about that?

All: What do you all think of Natasha's show of magical prowess? Were you aware she could do that?

[Mekboy]

Naomi

Blinking the flash out of her eyes, Naomi surges to her feet. She'd gotten used to the burnt meat and ozone smell from her Ladyship's more extravagant displays, but the light was still proving problematic. "Bit more warning next time, Ladyship." she mutters as she reaches through the bars for the keys. Might as well not make too much of a mess ripping the place open. After a moment of fumbling around she manages to hook the ring of keys. A few seconds more fumbling and the door's open. Snatching up the revolver, she takes a second to check it before dispassionately putting a couple of rounds the two livelier looking guards, glaring at the newcomers and the bounty hunter as if daring them to question the action.

[pyrocide]

Snargle stares as the sparks fly. It was beautiful, and terrible, and amazing. The sheer power was astonishing. Sure, the goblin had heard of Stormbloods, but to actually see the full force of one in action... just amazing. It even looks as though the attack ended the lives of the unfortunate guards rather quickly, which was good, because Snargle hates seeing people suffer even if they are his enemy.

That's when the goblin heard a tapping noise slowly and rhythmically repeating down the hall. Snargle slunk off to chase down the noise, which led to an occupied isolation cell. Through the small window on the sturdy metal door, Snargle sees a blonde woman knocking on the other side of the entrance. When she sees the goblin, she is somewhat surprized and stops knocking, and instead motions for him to open the door. There is a strange lack of desperation that most captives would have, but the woman seems harmless enough.

"Oi boss!" Snargle says perhaps a bit louder than he should, "There's a lady in here who is needin' a rescue. Can you hand me dem keys?"

[Veet]

Having be in the process of getting ready to rush the guards Cyrus had caught the brunt of the light display with his eyes wide open he was blinking spots out of his vision when Naomi fired into the guards. "What in the wild blue do you think you're doing?" he shouts "shooting that thing off we might as well have tripped the alarm ourselves"

Cyrus moved to pick up the firearms of the other two soldiers tossing one to Kale as he grabs the keyring from where it was left in the cell door. "here you go Mr Snargle" he says tossing them back to the goblin a little distracted trying to think how to get past the soldiers that are inevitably on their way now then trying to think of a clever route to the hanger that might avoid more trouble. Then he noticed the third occupant of the cell.

"Elena?" he said in shock "What the hell are you doing in here?"

[Icilia]

Kale mutters to himself and wiggles his fingers and mutters a "I could'a done that..." to himself. Well, he probably couldn't. Most of what he could manifest was no where near that powerful. He might have to go learn a trick or two of the Stormer.

After catching the rifle off Cyrus, Kale goes to check the bodies for anything of worth. He mostly just finds keys on the guards, a few pieces of lint, and a sweet. Kale keeps a hold of the keys and the lolly.

"Nothing of worth here Captain. Orders?"

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird

Utilizing the power in her blood always made her feel so...alive. Her breathing is heavy, and her eyes are wide. The power is just so exhilarating.

Then Naomi kills the helpless guards.

"NAOMI! What in the Blue do you imagine you are doing? Such bloodthirsty behavior is absolutely unacceptable! These men were our opponents, not mortal foes!" Lady Blackbird shakes her head."Please arrange the bodies in a more dignified manner. They do not deserve to be found sprawled out like this."

She turns to the Captain. "Captain, I would like to first retrieve our possessions, before returning to the Owl. It is likely they have retrieved a number of items precious to me and stored them away."

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

The bounty hunter's mouth hangs open as 'Natasha' channels her powers through her words and out into the floor and the guard's feet. Her mouth is still open when the door to the cell opens to show no other than the motley crew from that old admirable rustbucket face-to-face with her. It takes two seconds before she can speak. "Captain." She manages, with a welcoming grin. "We have got to keep meeting like this. Is that for me?" She reaches for the rifle and attempts to snatch it out of his hands before she is distracted by the fierce tirade from Lady Blackbird.

She pops up beside the woman, frowning. "Sorry. But -killing people, potential hostages? Yeah, that's bad, don't do, but we don't have time to beatify the bodies. They're too dead to care anyway. Look, lemee introduce you-" She points at the Owl's crew in turn. "-that's Snargle, grand goblin and best pilot in the blue, Kyle can fix anything and Vance here's the noble captain. They'll get you out. As for me-"

She turns back to Cyrus, reaching out for the rifle. Her smirk turns dark, showing off the scar. "-Hollas said something about takin' me to one of Flint's old hideouts to have some fun. I'm going to get him to tell me where it is and then have my revenge. You know these ships - can you tell me where he'd be?"

[Veet]

Cyrus remembers the layout of the old ships he's served on, each one varies slightly but the general layout is almost always the same. "Bridge is usually below the main gun up top captains quarters are usually right there. Hangar is up front in the bow of the ship, that's where the owl will be and between here and both places will be better than a hundred armed sailors" he looks over to the now empty cell and the obvious outline of the hatch used to dump dangerous prisoners in an emergency "I suppose we could try to avoid the soldiers by using the maintenance scaffold on the belly. One wrong move and its a one way trip tot he depths but it's a straight shot to the Hangar"

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Nobody's getting anywhere if this ship can just chase or shoot us. Elena points out. "I vote we kill the engines and kill the captain. That should cause enough confusion for a getaway. Or I could capture the captain and see if they dare shoot at us while he's on our ship." She offers as a reluctant mollification.

[Icilia]

"I'll agree with disabling the engines, but I see no point in murdering the captain, and who says that these men will have the same courtesy. We could try getting the Owl and taking out the engines at the same time."

Kale looks at Cyrus, and adds:

"But it's up to you Captain. I just figured that if we could be gotten from the engine rooms, we would have more time to flee before they got the engines back online. I could take out the engines, but if they Owl has issues, I'll be needed there. But as I said Captain, whatever you decide to do Captain, I'll follow."

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Where else am I going to find someone who knows where Flint's hideouts are?" Elena snaps, and then does not so much calm down as dip into resignation. "Fine. I'll get off this ship quicker if we just do the engines, anyway."


Hitting the Key of Could-Have-Been for XP by giving up on hunting Hollas.

XP: 1
Pool: 5

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird


"-Hollas said something about takin' me to one of Flint's old hideouts to have some fun. I'm going to get him to tell me where it is and then have my revenge. You know these ships - can you tell me where he'd be?"

Revenge? I sincerely hope she either means the captain of this vessel or that if her target is surnamed Flint, then it is an unhappy coincidence of naming.

Her eyes narrow at the repeated mention of Flint. "Miss Elena, to which "Flint" are referring? Would it be the Captain Uriah Flint?" she asks, her voice soft and dangerous, the purr of a predatory cat with prey in its sights.

[Mekboy]

Naomi

Naomi shakes off Lady Blackbird's complaints. "Apologies, Ladyship, but my job is to keep you safe. This being the most expedient method of doing so. If they'd come too they'd have alerted the crew." She knew she was making excuses, but it had just been too satisfying.

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"There's another Flint?" Elena confirms, matching questioning Lady Blackbird's gaze with a careful one of her own, not letting her eyes give anything away. it's her voice that does, going wary and slow. "You know how I could get to him?" And then, a drop of concern. "Bastard hurt you too?"

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird

Skin hairs stand on end as static electricity crackles in the air. Lady Blackbird's hair blows slightly as small gusts of wind dart about."Should you ever threaten, or denigrate the character of, Uriah Flint in my presence, I know exactly how you could get to him: dead."

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

Despite standing unarmed and harmed in front of an evidently powerful mage, Elena does not look so frightened as angry. Her mouth twists up into a snarl, stretching the scar wide in a most unpleasant fashion. "Then get on with it." She growls, managing not to shout. "Do what you told your woman over there-" Elena nods at Naomi "-not to do to the guards, and kill me. But I'd say get out of here first."

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird

"I would not countenance killing you now. You will know when that time comes, for you will be armed, uninjured, and facing me on a proper field. We will escape for now, but you will hold still your tongue on the subject of Uriah Flint around me." The indoor weather dies down, and Lady Blackbird turns to Naomi. "I understand. I would ask you to limit yourself to less-than-lethal measures when possible though." With the lighting in her veins subsiding and no longer a reminder of the power wielded by the nobility of the Empire, Lady Blackbird is able to slip back into her persona of Natasha. "Lead onwards to the maintenance scaffold, Captain."

[Veet]

Cyrus shakes his head "Sabotaging the engines would be a help but I'm willing to wager that the Owl will fare better for longer down in the murk than the Hand of Sorrow will. Regardless we will have to move fast if we are to do anything." He turned towards the bounty hunter who had snatched away the rifle "Elena if you would be so kind as to use that firearm to set up a lookout at the door, if things get too hot feel free to jam it closed" he turned to Kale "Mr Arkam we will need some cable, rip it out of the walls if necessary get Snargle to help" Finally he turned towards the two passengers "Ms Bishop" he said as he slammed his fist into the button on the wall there was a his and a sudden rush of wind as the floor of the now empty cell fell away revealing a swirling mass of empty space and cloud below the ship "If you could assist me in gauging how far we will have to jump to get to the scaffold please".


In case anyone missed it I am actually suggesting jumping out of the hatch the guards were going to dump the prisoners down and swinging over to a narrow walkway with nothing beneath us but sky in order to avoid the extra guards which may be on their way as we speak.

[Icilia]

Kale whimpers at the idea of the Owl going down into the murk below. He just cleaned her up. Damn the captain taking her down there. And jumping out of an ejection chute to aim for a rampart over empty space. Bloody hell.

"Aye Captain. Do you require a certain amount cable sir?"

He is the bloody captain.


Hitting the Key of the Mission: Making action to get us out of the Brig to get Lady Blackbird to her goal
Hitting the Key of the Fraternity: Listening to Captain Cyrus regardless of the damage it will do to the Owl

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

Elena nods at Vance's proposed plan. It seems this is a normal day for her. "Aye-aye, Captain." She says, taking up position with the rifle. She points at the bodies of the guards. "Should we dump those down there? The search party might waste time looking for them, and there's worse burials than in the Blue."

[pyrocide]

Snargle listens quietly as he fumbles with the keys. He didn't like it when the crew argued, it reminded him too much of the hive he was born and raised in. Everybody always fighting and screaming at one another. Finally, after the captain formed a plan and the tension wore down a bit, Snargle opens the cell door and helps the blonde woman out of her isolation cell. After giving a simple nod and a smile to her, he returns to the rest of the group, and she follows quietly behind.

"Boss! You really meanin' to have someone jus' tie a cable 'round der body, den jump out o' de hole an' hope to de gods dat dey might land all safe-like on dat dere scaffoldin'?" He raised his right eyebrow high in suspicion for a moment, before relaxing into a smirk.

"May I, Boss?"


Hit Key of Conscience for letting the woman out of the cell?
Hit Key of Banter if anyone thought that last line was funny?
XP:0 (+2 if both keys hit)
Pool: 7

[Veet]

Cyrus nodded to Elena's suggestion. "The blue is a good burial for a sailor and they were just doing their jobs, besides the fewer bodies we leave lying around the better".

He listens to the additions of Kale and Snargle "We will likely have to clear at least 10 meters and the first to cross will have to do it with one end of the cable unsecured. I had been thinking of poping over myself to secure the other end but if you think you can do it Snargle..."

[LoP]

The woman - who has a weird kind of beauty to her - widens her eyes when she sees Elena, widens them further when she sees the dead bodies, and widens them still further (which shouldn't be physiologically possible) when she sees them go tumbling out the bay doors.

"Ss'eenip ads, dffangir oompal ranfest ip manik! Uck, vanisma ehk?" she exclaims, which none of you seem to understand. She keeps her distance from Elena.


Why was this woman wanted in the first place?

[pyrocide]

"Oh, no boss, you stay an' hold de line. Snargle can make dat dere jump easy..." at which Snargle looks out of the hole, and saw exactly how far he would have to clear to actually make the jump.

"Maybe yall could gimme a good push first tho?" Snargle smiles, joking about the situation as always without even really meaning to. His words have a way of coming out before he had known he even thought them.

Before the crew could respond, the woman that Snargle just let out of the cage starts yelling and pointing at Elena.

"Miss Elena, what did dis 'ere woman do ta have her all hollerin' at you?" Snargle moves between the two to make sure the enraged lady does not get violent. The last thing the crew needs is a another fight before the guards come.


XP: 2
Pool: 7

How soon can you hit the same key again? Key of Banter Hit if not too soon?

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Who- oh, come on!" Snargle's statement finally makes Elena look around and spot the strange woman who shouted at her. "Do you know how much trouble I got to in order to nap her? And I din't even get paid!"

She turns her back to the woman and her front towards the corridor, on the watchout for any guards. "Make sure she doesn't stab me or something. Shouldn't be a problem, seeing as she's just a thief, but what she stole to get that bounty on her head it beats me..." The bounty huntress trails off, muttering something about retirement money.


XP: 1
Pool: 5

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"I actually agree with Elena on the subject of what do with the bodies. I can perform the necessary and proper rites to send them into the Blue with their spirits appeased."

She goes over to the men, and lays them out in the floor of the brig, hands crossed over their chests. She opens their eyes before rigor sets in, so that they may keep eternal vigilance for their comrades. She glances down at their badges. "Pvt. Cullins, Pvt. Darcy, and Sgt. Quince performed their duty to the best of their capabilities, but were felled by a superior foe. They should feel no shame, nor desire vengeance. We, their former enemies, send them into the Great Beyond with no remaining feelings of ill-will, and will greet them anew should we meet in our next lives. May they find the peace and wisdom of nirvana, or a happier reincarnation, should that be their fate. Farewell, worthy opponents." She pulls the lever, opening the floor, and sending the bodies into the deep. A notice of the opened floor pops up on the desk the private was sitting at, but goes no further. Such an action is beneath the concern of the command bridge.

With that done, she turns to the yelling woman. Examining her, Natasha declares "This woman is one of the nomadic skywalker clans. I know little of them, but I can tell you that depriving one of their kind of their freedom and denying the ability to move is considered an affront on par with a brutal and uncalled for assault. She likely wishes you harm, a great deal of it, in fact."

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

" 'Actually'." Elena mutters, perhaps not aware of how her voice is carrying. Perhaps. If one wishes to be generous. "That Skywalker can join the queue, right behind you and a - damn, that's actually a hell lot of people."" Elena blinks, sarcasm stopped by her mental arithmetic. "Can you tell what she's saying?"

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"Not a bit, though when an individual is yelling like that and making such disturbingly threatening hand gestures, it is a fairly safe assumption that said individual is quite irked." Natasha turns to the yelling woman. "Ma'am, do you speak any form of Imperial, or possibly a trader's cant that one of our group would speak?" Cognizant of the fact this woman would possibly not be able to understand the previous statement, Natasha gestures at her mouth, ears, and the group while speaking.

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"If you can get her to understand, tell 'er that whatever she's threatening to cut of, I'm using it."

[Mekboy]

Naomi

Taking a moment to peer out of the gap, Naomi transfers her attention back to the group, keeping an eye on Elena. She gestured to the tattooed Skywalker. "So what's the plan with her, anyway? We gonna leave her here or what? Can't see her being too happy about having to leap out of there. I'm not, and I understand what we're doing."

[Veet]

Cyrus Vance

Cyrus shrugs and says to Elena as he secures one end of the cable to the upper part of the prison cabin "I doubt the woman will fare very well here now that a prison break has taken place besides it would seem to me that with no payment garnered you owe it to the good captain to revoke the services rendered"

He hands the other end to the goblin "Mr Snargle be sure to secure yourself to the other end so if things don't work we will at least have a chance at retrieving you. We can swing the cable from this end to help you gain momentum".

[pyrocide]

"Well, dat and you won't be gettin' a dime for dis 'ere Skywalker, cause she ain't one." With that, Snargle moves behind the woman and puts his hands on her shoulders.

In a low, shushed tone snargle breathes to the woman from behind her back "... Deesnif ip oomir. Rehk ik uck ads." And with that, the goblin begins to deeply - almost violently - rub his fingers into the lady's shoulders and neck. For a few seconds it looks as though the goblin had just decided to give the woman a deep tissue massage, but as he continues to manipulate the woman's muscles, they slowly begin to change. Some parts slim down, others grow wider, and eventually the skin turns from a pale white to a pale green, to finally a dark green. The entire time the woman, or whatever she was, did not look amused but she endured it regardless.

After only a minute or two, Snargle has transformed the woman from what she looked like to another, but this time female, goblin. Snargle is a darker green, with pointed ears and teeth, but they both are unmistakeably goblin.

"She was stuck in dat otha form, but dat just takes a good rubbin' on to let dem muscles get all loose again. She's good to come 'long now, right boss?"

Without stopping to wait for a response, Snargle grabs the cable and quickly fashions a loop to put around himself. After realizing the loop he made won't go around his waist as it is too small, he simply pulled it over his head and let it rest around his neck.

"Here I go Boss!" Yelled Snargle as he leaps out of the open floor. He did a decent job of jumping, though the scaffolding is still not within a normal human reach as he flies past it. Thankfully for him he is a goblin, and things like normal human reach don't exactly apply.


1 + Goblin + Agile + Glide + Warp Shape + 2 Pool = 7d6. 7d6


XP: 2, 3 if the key from last time was allowed to be hit.
Pool:7

Also, hit key of daredevil for jumping out a hole with essentially a noose around his neck?

Hit key of conscience for massaging out the shapefreeze so the goblin didn't continue to suffer from it?

[pyrocide]

With a quick stretch of his arms, Snargle grasps on to the scaffolding rail and quickly clambers to a safe position. He then takes the cable from his neck, unties it, and reties the cable around a very secure-looking beam. Snargle tugs on the cable a few times to make sure the knot is tight, then looks back through the open hatch to the rest of the crew.

"Good 'ere Boss! Come on down!" Snargle reports cheerfully, succeeding at his mission.

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"Miss Elena, were you quite sure that the woman you were hired to capture was of the clans? I find it suspicious that this creature would assume the form of she who you had been hired to capture, yet not be her."

She looks down warily into the Blue. She could fly if it was necessary, but she would prefer not to, especially after expending so much power on the guards. Hopefully the goblin tied that knot tight. She did not doubt his capability in tying the knot, but the whole race displayed a fondness for practical jokes that tended towards what would be considered malicious and cruel by human standards, a by-product of that species total lack of fear. A knot suddenly slipping and forcing whoever was on the rope to hold on, dangling in the air, would not be outside the realm of possibility.

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Hey, don't ask me. I just grab the bounty. You were the one who said she was the skywalker-clan thing." Elena spares a glance back into the room as a rest from her lookout. "Can we get quicker on that escaping thing?"

[Space Lawyer]

"Hey, don't ask me. I just grab the bounty. You were the one who said she was the skywalker-clan thing."

A strange sort of bounty hunter who does not know the details of her quarry.

"If you are eager, then may I suggest you take hold of the rope and go forth?"

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Dropping out into the Blue sounds great," The hunter says, with a disturbing absence of any sarcasm, "but Captain said lookout. You gonna take over?"

[LoP]

From Snargle's vantage point on the maintenance scaffolding, he can see another vessel approaching the Hand of Sorrow. Its an Imperial ship - a personal yacht, it looks like, with the fancy paint-job and the entirely ornamental wings.

Its following a docking trajectory, and as it nears the Sorrow he can make out the sigil flag, below the Imperial colors - a stylized white snowflake. The ship's name is painted in silver calligraphy across its side - The Cry of the East. Then it moves out of view, further up along the Hand for docking.

[pyrocide]

"What's takin' yall so long?" Asks Snargle from the scaffolding. "Dere ain't no grease or nothin' on da cable.... Don't we need ta be movin' on all quick-like?"

Snargle stops his line of questioning as he notices The Cry of the East come into view.


"Oi, Boss! "Da Cry of da East" mean anythin' to ya? Cause it jus' floated on by. Think it's gonna dock with dis ship soon."

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird

"Cry of the East? ...Oh no." Lady Blackbird pokes her head through the opening at looks in the direction of Snargle's gaze. The snowflake crest and imperial colors are unmistakable. "Captain, we need to leave NOW. That vessel is the personal yacht of one Count Carlowe, a singularly unpleasant man. He is one if my former suitors, and one of only two of my peers to defeat me in a duel. He cannot be allowed to know that I was ever here."

With that, Lady Blackbird grasps the rope and climbs hand-over-hand to the catwalk.

[Icilia]

*SIGH* "I can't let a woman be braver than I. And the sooner we move, the sooner I can be rejoined with the Owl"

Kale grabs ahold of the line, and shimmies down. Frankly, Kale is suprised Snargle even tied the line off in the first place, let alone well enough for him to make it to the catwalk

[Veet]

Cyrus Vance

"OK let them get to the end then our new goblin friend goes followed by Miss Bishop. Elena, we'll go last. You cross in front of me where i can see you, don't think I've forgotten about Port Elliot".

[Mekboy]

Naomi

Nodding decisively to show her agreement, Naomi turns to the goblin. Pointing first at the goblin woman, then down the line after Kale, Naomi slowly and loudly tries to explain the plan. "You next. I will follow after you."

[LoP]

Beneath the Belly of the Hand of Sorrow

You all make it safely across the rope line and onto a cramped, small maintenance scaffold beneath the featureless, unpainted keel of the Hand of Sorrow. There is a set of controls in the scaffold - the scaffold platform is movable, and can slide along rails on the underside of the ship, if you know how to operate it.

Below you is the Blue, miles and miles of endless blue skies and white clouds, turning darker and darker down below until your eyes struggle to find anything to focus on in the Depths. The Sorrow isn't moving - probably to facilitate docking with the Cry of the East - but there is still a fair wind blowing.

You are all alone beneath the massive Imperial ship. What do you do?

How long before someone checks on the brig?

Is the Owl docked somewhere outside the Sorrow, or is it in an internal bay? How are you going to get there?

What could possibly go wrong?

[Icilia]

Kale moves over to the control panel, and starts checking the control system, seeing if he can deduce how to use the system

[LoP]

To Kale, the controls seem fairly straightforward - move the platform port, move starboard, move aft, move astern. However, it looks like you need some key to activate the thing... and activating it might alert the pilothouse, or at least engineering.

What do you do? Are there other ways to move about the bottom of the Sorrow? Are they dangerous?

[Space Lawyer]

Natasha

"Well, here we are. If I remember anything about battleship layout, Owl is probably in one of the big open air bays amidship, where they launch the cutters from. Any other bay would be too small."

[pyrocide]

Snargle saunters up beside Kale, and inspects the controls alongside the human. After a while, Snargle sees what he believes is a possible override.

"Oh, lookie dere. You could take dat signature regulata from dat dere housing an' plug it inna de essence port after removin' de saftey latch. Dat would overload de regulata, power de scaffoldin', and get us movin'...." Snargle pauses for a moment before releasing the bad news.

"But... errybody in da ship's gonna know an unregistered scaffold is on de move when ya do. Still, we could make it to da hanga before nobody knows what is goin' on." He paused again.

"...So long as de regulata don't go kaboom halfway through de trip." Snargle said much more softly. Then in an attempt to cover his last sentence up he smiled, as if a cue for the rest of the group to not worry.





XP: 5
Pool: 5

Hit key of banter for piloting/ship/electronic techie speak?

[DeafnotDumb]

Elena Harwood

"Explosions." Elena's grin is a twin to Snargle's. Well, more like a wilder sibling. "Grand. If what 'Natasha' here says holds true, those big bays tend to have a lotta spare mooring lying around that we could use to climb up. Now, those are supposed to be all coiled up neat on the deck, but as any ex-Imperial can tell you-" Elena waves a hand at Vance "-bored soldiers don't often do regulations, right?"

[Veet]

That depends on how tight of a ship our good captain runs" Cyrus replies "and with Count Carlowe docking I'd bet there are a lot of soldiers up there hurrying around to tidy the place".

Cyrus turns to Kale and Snargle "As usual surprise is our ally here, if we can get close to the hangars quickly we may be able to make it to the owl before anyone realizes whats happening"

[Space Lawyer]

Lady Blackbird

"I believe simply taking our chances and going forward is our best hope in this situation. Or movement will likely be noted, but hopefully the time between notice, and individuals becoming concerned enough that there is no record of authorized movement in the logs will be long enough that we may escape to our vessel unmolested. In any case, we cannot go back to the brig, and we certainly cannot go through the ship. On a morbid note, should we be cornered by the personal forces of Count Carlowe, I will be leaping into the Blue from the nearest exit, and I would recommend you all do the same. I can assure, it is a fate both more pleasant and more assured of a full extent than captivity by that man."

Claiming XP from the past few days: Escaping from the brig (key of the Mission), Knowledge of Count Carlowe (Key of the Paragon), Where the Owl is located, due to tours of battleships she is entitled to/expected to go on as a noble (Key of the Paragon): 3XP

Total: 4XP
No conditions at the time

[Icilia]

Seeing no other option, and realising that the guards will soon notice their escape, Kale activites the control panel and begins the scafold towards the Owl.