The Royal Artificery Society - IC

[WindStruck]

"Does the name actually need the word 'team' in it?" Shandara asks.

She shrugs and says, "I don't know if we have much in common at all. It's more like Team Hodgepodge, if you ask me."

[Prehysterical]

"Well, uh... no." Bolten's enthusiasm falters. "But sometimes it just fits."

He blanches when Shandara suggests a more self-deriding name and turns to regard Ulrik. "What do you think, Ulrik?"

[DeTess]

Ulrik shakes his head. "I'm mostly here for the challenge. Don't have too much of an opinion on team names or whatever, as long as it's not too silly."

[WindStruck]

Shandara looks at the others sheepishly and then finally clears her throat. "Well then, shall we just go with that, or would you rather think of some different names?" Since Ulrik did not seem interested in this subject at all, her gaze was directed more at Ash and Bolten.

Good grief. With the way things were going, she wondered if forming a proper team and naming it was going to be more difficult than the actual challenge itself.

[Prehysterical]

Bolten shrugs. "Team Sprocket it is, then. Well, now that that's settled, should we be getting into position for the challenge?"

[WindStruck]

Shandara shrugs and says, "Yes, fine. I think all we need to do is sign up now."

[DeTess]

A little while later team Sprocket was all signed up. The remaining artificers looking for companions had all clumped together, and the plaza had gotten a lot busier. The stands where getting pretty crowded with on-lookers, and the clock was ticking ever closer to the starting time.

"Can I have your attention please?" A loud voice calls out across the plaza. A tall man with ginger hair, likely Glenn, though it's hard to tell at this distance has taken a position on a podium in front of the massive illusory black box. The way his voice carries despite the distance suggests that there is likely some magic involved. "It's still a couple minutes to the official start of the competition, but it seems all competitors have arrived by now, so I won't begrudge you an extra minute or two to work. All of you should have been informed of the rules during sign-ups, but if anyone is left with questions, you can come find me later."

"Now, today's competition was inspired by the recent troubles in the Stormdrains district. Your goal will be as follows: design an apparatus using the materials provided by us to filter raw sewage back into drinkable water!" Glenn pauses a moment as the crowd reacts with a mix of cheers, good-natured curses and groans. "Before someone asks, we've got some alchemical powders to test the water with, so no need for taste-testing." Some laughter follows Glenn's assurance, and the lets it die out before continuing. "And now, for the second part of the reveal." He raises his right hand and snaps his finger, the sound amplified by the same magic that amplifies his voice.

The big illusory box disappears revealing a rickety wooden construction behind him. It roughly resembles a ship that has been dashed on the rocks, its belly rent and torn. The ships aft-castle, masts and sails can still be identified, but the construction appears rickety enough that it was likely build up here in the plaza, rather than being a real ship that was moved here, something that would have been pretty much impossible for an object that size.

"I present to you, the wreck of the Marian, courtesy of the Streidekker and Sons shipyard! As you might know, this old ship sank in the harbor two months ago, and the Society had been able to buy it and get it moved here especially for this competition! Inside the hold you'll find a significant portion of its cargo, including a load of now waterlogged herbs and a variety of base metals that might have some useful properties for enchanting. I've also been informed that some of the sea-life still clinging to the hull might have be of interest to the alchemists among you. You're also welcome to use parts of the hull for your creations, but please disassemble it from the top down, as we don't want it to collapse!"

"Now then, that's it from me for now. Artificers, to your stations! You've got 8 hours to make your filtering apparatus. Best of luck to you all." Having said his piece, Glenn hops down from the podium, and the competition begins in earnest.

[WindStruck]

Shandara stares at this spectacle, not exactly awed.. but perhaps bewildered. "They.. want us to purify raw sewage.. from the wreck of a ship?" she groans.

"I suppose we are lucky we were not actually on that ship and wrecked it on a deserted island..."

She stood there as the crowds of people began moving towards the ship. Oh, wait. They needed to get in there! Ah! For some reason, Shandara was having some flashbacks to the Drow market places deep underground. The packed crowds, the fierce competition there sometimes was... It rather made her uncomfortable.

"Oh no. Are we.. they'll get all the good things before us.." She says, moving toward the hull of the boat and making timid attempts to peek inside. She felt like the runt of the litter, left out and unable to vie for the mother's milk. And literally speaking, she rather was the runt of her family.

[Prehysterical]

At first, the competition seems a surefire win for the team. Shandara had done exactly the same thing weeks ago. This would be like combing a babe's chin whiskers! Once the shattered hulk of the ship was revealed, however, Bolten's sails flagged a little. Well... at the very least, they had a shipwright on their team, so they weren't totally in the dark.

While Shandara was meekly looking on as the other contestants began scouring the hull, Bolten shook himself into action. He liked to hang back, as well, but someone had to take the initiative and, well... that left him.

"Ulrik, I trust you'll know which parts of the ship are best worth salvaging. I'll try to find some decent metal inside the hull. Ash, you mind looking for some of that sea life he was talking about?"

[DeTess]

When Bolten made his comment, he realized Ash had disappeared. He could just make them out ahead as they ducked inside the ship.

Bolten had little making his way around the wreckage himself, his stout dwarven frame easily allowing him to push through the press. Finding useful materials, on the other hand, was quite a different matter. Metal was used all throughout the ship, but all of it was badly tarnished and rusted. Not beyond usefulness, but it certainly didn't help. Eventually though, Bolten stumbled onto the upper deck, and found what remained of a large ship's compass. The compass itself was mostly rust-free, though repurposing the metals involved would be tricky. Still, it resembled a couple bounds of bronze, brass and iron of far better quality than anything else Bolten had seen on the ship.

Shandara had a bit of trouble getting around. Her light frame resulted in her often getting bumped aside by other people moving around. no one seemed to do so intentionally, but everyone was so focused on finding things that they paid less attention to everyone else moving around. Still, her search did turn up a couple things off interest. One create contained a couple lead pipes. Lead wasn't inherently useful for enchanting, but it could function as an isolation material of sorts, keeping energy from leaking away too quickly. She also found a very small pouch containing a kind of glittering dust. Identifying it in the dimly lit spaces of the ship was difficult, but it could be some kind of gem dust or Mythril dust, which would be very useful. During her search she also ran into Ulrik, who pointed her to a hidey hole in the cabin of the ship's captain, which contained a pouch of badly tarnished coins. The gold, silver and copper coins it contained could be turned into inlays to base an enchantment on though, provided she could clean away the tarnishing.

[WindStruck]

Thankfully the crowds were thinning, somewhat. And also, perhaps just as thankfully, the things she found were pretty small but still potentially quite useful or valuable. She could easily carry these things with her and keep searching a bit longer...

Spoiler: ooc

Show

I think I'll try another round of the same thing.

Reflex: (1d20+3)[16]

Arcana: (1d20+17)[20]

perception: (1d20+6)[9]

Oh, I forgot. She'll have that dazzled penalty if either her or the thing she's looking at is in bright light. Though I guess since we were talking about going inside the hull of a ship that didn't immediately come to mind.

Think we always need to keep that situation in mind..

Once Shandara had found a few more things she thought would be useful, she returns to her group at their table to see what all they had come up with so far. Either they could start working on something then, or figure out what else they might need after.

[DeTess]

Shandara's continued search is a bit less fruitful. She does find a chest with waterlogged fabrics that also contain several pieces of jewelry. If the gem-stones are real and the metal is actually gold, she could disassemble them into materials useful for enchanting and holding magical charges, but the pieces look rather cheap. Most of the stones are probably just colored glass held in cheaper metal covered by gold foil, but if one or two are real that would still be useful.

She also finds the remains of a thin silver grate in the bow portion of the ship. A hole is punched clean tot eh middle of the grate, and the grate itself is heavily encrusted with salt. It was just lying on the wooden floorboards, clearly discarded by someone else. However, Shandara can tell that this piece has once been enchanted, to the damage will have wrecked most of said enchantment.

Bolten's search lead him to a room in the ships aft. Entrance is blocked by a heavy door, but it's clear that others had already gotten to it and broken it partially open, leaving enough of a hole at the bottom for the dwarf to crawl through. Inside is a small armor, probably once sued by the ship's contingent of guards. It has already been ransacked, but a pair of steel breastplates still remain, as do several shortswords and spears. The metal has been tarnished somewhat, but not nearly as bad as that of most of the other metal Bolten has found. The armor and weapons where likely well oiled when the ship went under, which protected them at least somewhat.

It takes Shandara a little while to find Ulrik and Ash after she's left the ship behind, but eventually she finds them at a large table at the edge of the square, set under an awning providing at least a little relief from the bright sun beating down on her. Ash is busy poring over a small crate that seems to be filled with alchemical ingredients, though most appear to be quite waterlogged. Ulrik is working over a coupe large wooden beams, scraping off all manner of sea-life and and dumping the in a bucket near Ash. He also seems to have secured a large piece of sail-cloth, which lies neatly folded next to the table.

"Well, I hope you found something useful, because I doubt I could even brew tea with this crap." Ash greets the elf once she joins them at the table. "I mean, it's not quite that bad, but whatever I can still brew up with this moldy mess will not pack much of a punch."

[WindStruck]

"I found some things which may be useful for enchanting. And this grate.. quite promising... And there may yet be a way to salvage those ingredients, " Shandara says to Ash.

"Well I suppose we'll only have a limited quantity of sewage to purify. So perhaps aiming for one-time use may suffice. Hmm. I should really head back for a bit, I think," she says.

"The spell I have cast to detect magic will only last a short while longer. I will make a quick check for anything else I can scan..."

So, after dropping off those items, she will head back to the boat and broadly scan for magical auras. Considering the grate still had some lingering enchantment on it, perhaps something else would be useful? Or maybe someone else had already thought of this. Well, it was worth a try.

The basic procedure is pretty simple and shouldn't require much acute perception on her part. First, broadly scan an area. If there's no magic auras, move on. It may be wise to take multiple angles, in case some dense materials were to block the auras. Also there was some good news.. at least the other participants shouldn't be having magical items on their person?

[Prehysterical]

The smells of the ship leave Bolten loathe to get closer to the boards, but he gets over himself and crawls into the armory. His momentary lapse in dignity is rewarded by the salvaged arms and armor inside. As amusing as it would be to combat the sewage with spearpoints, perhaps the metal can be repurposed into some sort of container or cage. Realizing that a significant amount of time has already passed, Bolten starts to gather the items before realizing that the door still presented an obstacle. A few swings of his hammer make short work of the remaining door and Bolten walks out of the ship burdened with treasure like some privateer.

It takes some time, but Bolten eventually finds Ulrik and Ash at their table. Bolten tries his best to set down his findings without too much of a clatter. "Well, I've found a compass, so maybe we can do something with the lodestone inside of it. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to repurpose the steel from these armaments into whatever we need."

[DeTess]

Shandara's search was unfortunately mostly fruitless. There where some incredibly vague magic aura's, clearly residues of old enchantments that where now gone, or traces of enchanted components that had already been removed. She did see clearer aura's of spells cast on the ship's structure mean to keep it all intact, though these where all very recent and very temporary, likely cast as a precaution before the competition's start to prevent a collapse of the structure. She did end up finding a portion of a silver grate very similar to the part she'd already found, several rooms over from where she found the first one.

Meanwhile, back at the worktable occupied by the rest of team Sprocket, Ulrik cast a critical glance over the parts Bolten had brought back. "Hmm, these are pretty decent, yes. We can work with that."

"Says the guy who only brought back a big piece of cloth." Ash interjected, though their tone indicated it wasn't meant as much of a criticism.

"There'll be plenty off wood left if we decide we need some later, but there's a lot of things we could use this cloth for, and I didn't want anyone else to get their hands on it first" The shipwright responded. "Our Elvish companion should be back in a bit. Once she's here, we should discuss what we're actually going to make."

[WindStruck]

Shandara does return shortly, with only another piece of silvery grate to show for the minutes gone.

"I guess that's it. These grates used to draw salt out of the water. Perhaps, I could rework the enchantment into something else..."

"I've got a bit of gold, silver, and copper to work with, but we'd need to get the tarnish off... a gem of amethyst, aquamarine, and rubies.. some lead pipes, and whatever this dust is..."

"I might be able to think of some kind of enchantment to make. Just need some moments to think..."

Shandara takes out a magnifying lens to try to examine the dust more closely.

Looking around at the wood and steel Bolten and Ulrik procured, she then turns to Ash and their waterlogged herbs and stuff. "Can we do anything with those?"

[DeTess]

Looking closer, the dust seemed to be very similar to diamond dust, a premium ingredient for inscribing long-lasting enchantments. Unfortunately, the way it reflects light is just a bit off. Most likely, it is a tiny amount of diamond dust with something else mixed in, maybe glass or quartz. Not useless, but nowhere near as potent as the pure thing.

Ash shrugged in response to Shandara's question. "Maybe? This box is the kind a travelling alchemist would carry around, full of very versatile ingredients. Thirisflower, ground bezoar, blackroot, whitestem, dried Avela mushrooms, dehydrated adder blood, the works. If I'd gotten this box in a pristine state I could cook up basically anything you could dream of. However, it has spent time at the bottom of the harbor, and that hasn't done much good for any of these reagents. I think most of them should still work once I'm done filtering out the mold, but they'll have lost potency, and any brew I try to create will involve a lot of guesswork to try and compensate for that. Plus, some of these molds look exotic and might have properties of their own which will be tough to account for." The half-elf shakes their head. "I should be able to create some simple brews with some trial and error, but don't expect alchemy to carry us to victory on its own."

[Prehysterical]

Bolten considers their treasure haul thoughtfully while rubbing his chin, his beard hairs clumping up between his fingers.

"Well, removing the tarnish shouldn't be too hard. Ash, do you have baking soda, salt, and vinegar? We could give the silver and copper a bath that should remove the tarnish. Takes about half an hour, but it's pretty reliable. Luckily, gold doesn't tarnish, so that's easy enough."

To Shandara, Bolten asks, "Would it make the enchanting easier if I could smelt the grate into a finer mesh? I'm still new to the whole magic thing, but perhaps increasing the surface area might make the enchantment more effective."

[WindStruck]

"Hm. I imagine that we could use much of the metal and wood as a container of sorts. A structure that overall is and contains the purifying functions.." Shandara says. "I have some paper with me, if any of you would like to draw up some schematics."

Looking over at Bolten as he asks his question, she shakes her head. "If you destroy the object, you most certainly destroy the enchantment. Melting down the items would certainly do that. However, what we have here is more a question of: can I subtly change the enchantments present, or would it be better to go along with your idea and create completely new ones."

[DeTess]

"Vinegar I've got." Ash responds to Bolten's question by lifting up a small bottle. "Still sealed too, so shouldn't be any worse from it's time in the harbor. Salt I should be able to get from those grates Shandara brought back. As for the baking soda..." They show a clay bowl with a white layer with yellowish spots. "Fairly certain this is what remains of it. I can make something work, but it'll take a bit."

"I've got some ideas as well." Ulrik ventures. "The enchanted grate would be great for filtering out the small stuff, but if it's raw sewage there'll likely be bigger chunks as well." The shipwright points at the sail. "This cloth has been treated to be watertight, which makes it great if we need any tubing. If we can undo the treatment of a portion of the sail though, I can fashion it into a filter. It'll take out anything that hasn't been properly dissolved in the water."

"Well, if you can tell me in what way it has been treated I can probably figure out a way to dissolve it without dissolving the cloth." Ash shrugs noncommittally.

"So, we've got the enchanted grates for filtering out anything that has been dissolved and a cloth filter for the rough work. Me and Bolten should be able to rig up the piping and tubing needed to channel the sewage through the filters. Anything else we might need?" Ulrik sums up the design so far.

[WindStruck]

Shandara offers, "There was a chest I got these bits of jewelry from. They were resting in some cloth. Perhaps we could use that, or any other cloth we may find as preliminary filters? It may be best to save all the sail cloth for tubing, if at all possible."

"Some other ideas, before we truly begin: would a distilling process involving evaporation and condensation be desirable? Setting it up and finding proper heat-resistant materials may be difficult, but fuel is no problem. Overall, I believe it is by far the simplest way to go about it."

"Actually, do you think it would be reasonable to ask the judges some questions as well? For example, how much total volume we are expected to deal with, the overall consistency of the sewage, or how much water we are expected to produce? It could go a long way in improving our design..."

[Prehysterical]

Ulrik's suggestion for the sail seems like a game-changer. In response to Shandara's suggestions, Bolten responds in kind, "As long as we have the fuel, distillation in such a manner is a pretty good idea. We would just need something to catch the vapor and accumulate the purified water. Extremely space and resource-intensive for an actual sewer system, but we could make it work on a small scale like this. Ulrik might be able to help with calculating the hydrodynamics involved."

As behind as they are, Bolten is forced to agree that getting more information is probably a good idea. "Aye, it's at least worth a try. Do you want to go ask together, or should one go and the rest of us get started?"

[WindStruck]

Shandara shrugs and says, "I suppose either tact works. I may as well go if you would like that extra cloth, regardless."

And if they were going with that distilling process, a way to cool off water vapor to make it dispense faster would be a big plus. Maybe, just maybe, she could reconfigure the grates to draw heat energy from water vapor. Now that would be ingenious, wouldn't it?

[DeTess]

The crate of cloth is still where Shandara remembered it to be, though it's clear that someone else had also found it in the mean-time as it's decidedly less full. The cloth that remains appears to be a kind of linen or cotton, and it smells somewhat moldy, likely due to it's time in the water. There's still about 5 meter square of cloth left.

After securing the cloth, Shandara and Bolten set out to find the judges. Unfortunately, that proves to be easier said than done. There is no Booth or stand clearly indicated to before the judges, nor are any obviously 'judgy' people roaming around the square. In heir search, the two of them eventually run into Glenn, who is standing next to an illusory black box, much like the one that had covered the ship, though far smaller, forming a cube two meters high and wide. Glenn is currently talking to a gnome that both Shandara and Bolten recognize as Tonks Galbic, the enchantment expert of the Escribano workshop.

"... quite ingenious really, not that I expect any different from Escribano, of course." Bolten and Shandara arrive just I time to catch the tail end of Glenn's conversation with Tonks.

"There is no need for flattery." Tonks responds. "Plus, the core of the contraption is an enchantment that was designed by a freelancer, so..." His voice trails off as she spots Bolten and Shandara approaching. "Ah, speak of the devil. Bolten, Shandara, fancy seeing you two here!"

[WindStruck]

"Ah, hello Mr. Galbic," Shandara says, smiling slightly and shyly.

"I didn't mean to bother you two. We were just hoping to ask a few questions in order to.. refine the specifications on our project."

Though thinking about what she just overheard, it seemed there could be an issue. "... Um. Were you just talking about something I made? Is it in there? ..and is that going to be a problem?" she asked, pointing at the black box.

[DeTess]

"I... don't think it's a problem?" Glenn shoots a questioning glance at the gnome in response to Shandara's question about what she'd overhead.

Tonks shakes his head. "As far as I'm concerned, not really. This is a competition about ingenuity, and any advantage Shandara gets is due to her own ingenuity in the past. I'll mention it to the other judges just in case, but I doubt it'll have much of an impact on her team's score."

"As for your other questions, I assume they're about the way sewage will be provided?" Glenn addresses the elf and the dwarf. "Once the people from the Escribano workshop are done setting up their sewage dispenser I'll make a short announcement, and you can stop by their contraption to get all the technical details you need."

[WindStruck]

Shandara nods. There was some slight relief, though perhaps simply being disqualified may have been a reprieve in itself so she could go back to her home and rest. Weariness was definitely creeping onto her mind...

"Ah, well. It wasn't about how it would be provided. Though I do hope you have all the proper precautions in place, seeing as the enchantment is above ground..." She remembered hearing about some mishap in the Escribano workshop, and wanting to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment, lightly hinted at it.

"We had some technical questions, if you are able to provide answers now: How much volume of sewage are we expected to handle? And what is the quota of pure water to be produced?"

She figured that, perhaps the judges wouldn't or couldn't answer her other question about the consistency of the sewage. But if this was indeed the enchantment she devised, she may have a rough idea. She remembered that up to a certain point, the sewage could not be too firm/solid, so as to prevent attracting material like the soil in the ground, and reduce the incidence of blockages. It was also supposed to contain certain minimal percentages of water and organic matter: dead, waste product, or otherwise.

But whatever the enchantment pulled into it, it only had so much range. Perhaps far more range above ground, though there wasn't likely to be much of anything for it to find up here. It certainly was not going to pull anything out of a living creature.

[Prehysterical]

Bolten is surprised to see Tonks here, but he really should have known better given the nature of the challenge. He shares Shandara's concerns about prior exposure to the subject matter, which are thankfully disarmed by the gnome. Tonks informs them that more information will be forthcoming later, but Shandara seems keen on getting a jumpstart. Bolten hangs back and lets Shandara handle things, what with her being the expert on the topic.

[DeTess]

"You don't really have a quota." Tonks answers Shandara's question before Glenn can object to sharing the information right now. "We'll be scoring you in part on the speed of your process, as well as the effectivity, of course, but there isn't a minimum flow that we expect you to handle."

[WindStruck]

Shandara shrugs. "Alright then. I suppose.. I can only say we'll do our best. Thank you."

Well, that was a bit unfruitful, but it didn't hurt to ask, right??

Unless the judges had something else to ask of Shandara, she returns to Ulrik and Ash, with a roll of linen in tow.

"I didn't glean too much on the specifications I sought out. We'll just have to design whatever seems reasonable. However, they did say that we would also be judged on speed and efficacy."