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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1406515" data-attributes="member: 9744">Part 14 Voyage of the Princess Profiteerchapter 1 All AboardThe Profiteer hung in the sky above the hills surrounding the colourful port city of Haven. The steel plates welded on to the sides reflecting the sun as it slipped below the horizon. Black smoke drifted down lazily and a rhythmic pumping sound could be heard coming from the vessel. The large crystal sphere at the from of the ship caught the light and scattered it over the incandescent sails.“If you stand a little closer," Pic told the others once everyone had joined them. "Then we can all go up together.”“How?” asked Serena, curious to know how they were going to get up to the ship so high in the sky.“A short dimensional jump, nothing serious.” Pic stated as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.“Intriguing.” Malkir felt a familiar urge to be standing on the deck of a flying ship, but he could not remember ever having done so.The broad-shouldered goblin held up his crystal contraption and adjusted some of the tiny wheels and levers. Coloured lights shone outwards illuminating his flat face. The others looked up to see a small shower of silver sparkling lights descending from just a few feet above them. A strange tingling was experienced as well as a brief moment of pain and the silver pinpricks of light simply passed through their bodies.When companions could see again they found themselves standing on round metal plates on the deck of the ship. Crew members dressed in blue and purple uniforms rushed around them getting the ship ready for it's voyage. Men and women, goblins and dwarves were each busy with their own tasks and despite the initial impression of chaos patterns of order could be discerned.A tall handsome man wearing a blue uniform with a brass backpack that had tubes and valves coming out of it strode over to the companions. He walked with a leisurely pace, but managed to get across the ship in only a few strides. His straw blonde hair was tied with a black ribbon and he carried a three-pointed hat under his arm. A long thin scabbard banged against his leg and on his other hip he had a short metal tube with a wooden handle.“No I am not Captain Malkir, though I do look like him.” Malkir said quickly before the tall man had a chance to open his mouth. The mystic was glad that they had not arrived on the ship inside the brig and wanted to set the record straight from the start.“Yes, Pic has informed me." The man bowed slightly and studied each of the new arrivals in turn. "I am Captain Koff Jameson of the Profiteer and on behalf of the crew I'd like to welcome you aboard. I know that you are not Captain Malkir but Pic has explained somewhat. Perhaps we can discuss this as we travel.”“Yes." Malkir was unsure of how much the goblin had told his Captain about the Convergence and how he'd received the news. "You are planning to go to the Outlands directly now are you? That rather handily takes us closer to our goal and I'm sure that Caleb can find his own way there.”“This is Clavun my cosmologist” The Captain pointed to a bladeling with pouches who bowed deeply. The creature was humanoid in shape and had short metal spikes that covered all of his visible body. The bladeling had a variety of implements and gadgets attached to his belt including what Littleby recognised as a miniature etheroscope. “This is Skinner, the healer on board this ship." The Captain indicated to an elderly dwarf. "You've met Pic, who is in charge of mechanika. The rest of the crew you'll meet as we travel. And your names would be?”“I am Serena Allman,” the seer made a small curtsy.“Littleby Cakebeard,” the dwarven scholar nodded to the Captain and his senior officers.“Malkir,” the mystic decided against adding Captain to his name.“Andrew Rimilia,” as soon as Andrew told the Captain his name, he could see that the Captain had already forgotten it.“It's a pleasure to meet you all and welcome aboard." The Captain led his new guests to the Captain's quarters where he bid them to make themselves feel welcome. "We have enough fuel to make the jump to the Outlands. Once we are there we plan to set down, refuel. We can travel some distance, but the ship does need repairs.”“This is fascinating." The dwarven scholar had been absorbed in studying a miniature replica of the ship inside a bottle. "You have a ship which can cross dimensions. Does it create a portal?”“Pic is the expert on this, but it does not exactly create a portal. It..." He paused looking around for his mechanika expert. "Pic, what's the best way to explain it?”“Well you see, it's like this." The goblin produced a sheet of parchment that had formulae in blue writing as well as arcane symbols. "The ship's engines create a bubble of reality around the ship, which harmonises to the plane that we wish to travel to.”“Ah.” The dwarven scholar nodded his head and studied the diagrams intently. There were a few bits and pieces here and there that he recognised from an ancient book he'd been reading.“By consuming items with magical charge that fuel the bubble." Pic decided not to go in to detail about how they'd acquired the items exemplifying neutrality. "The ship's bubble then becomes more like the plane that we are travelling to and less like the plane that we are currently in. Hence the ship slides between planes. However, this means that we have to be careful about the items aboard ship in general. You don't have items with strong resonance to particular planes?”“Perhaps it would be better if I stepped out for the duration of the trip” Serena said, thinking about her Garden.“But then you would not travel with us,” the goblin replied somewhat confused.“Ah," the mystic commented. "But actually she would.”“What is the likely effect of such an item being aboard ship?” Littleby asked curious to find out more details about the ship's inner workings.“Well, we could compensate for it and adjust the engines." Pic rolled up his scroll and took out a small thin slab of granite with some tiny symbols carved in to it. His fingers danced over the runes and they glowed briefly as his long fingers passed over them. "But if the item has strong resonance then this would complicate matters.”“How about something that..." Serena was unsure of how to phrase her question and then changed her mind about asking it. "Yes, I think that I'd best step out.”“What item are you referring to?” The goblin asked, curious to find out more.Serena showed him the silver locket in the shape of a beautiful womanly figure with wings, inside the locket was a green gem stone.“Can I take it?” Pic asked reaching out towards it.“No!” The seer said loudly as she snatched the locket away.“Can I take readings of it?” The goblin asked, realising that he'd over stepped some unknown boundary. He held up his crystal to examine the Garden. The crystals pulsed with inner lights and green gem-stone flashed in reply. “Ah, interesting.” The mechanika expert walked over to the bladeling and discussed his findings. They muttered about it not being anchored and possibly a seed of some kind. When the bladeling nodded his head to indicate that all was well, the goblin came back. “That should be fine. It's not a problem. It is not attuned to any particular plane.”“These items, do they have to be physically fed in to the engines?” Littleby was hoping to find out more about the inner working of the flying vessel.“Yes.” Pic answered, unsure about how much he was permitted to say.“Just checking,” Littleby replied and he turned to study the miniature ship inside the bottle again. He could detect a faint aura of alteration magic seeping off it, as well as abjuration.“Ah, must make some minor adjustments." Pic said suddenly, realising that he'd forgotten something. "That should not be a problem. Excellent." He tapped the stone tablet again in many places and it glowed in response. "Only two to make adjustments for.”“Am I being adjusted for?” The dwarven scholar asked curiously.“Yes, somewhat.” Pic finished his calculations and put his magical and mechanical gadgets away.“Can I ask..” Serena began, but was interrupted before she could finish her question.“What specifically?” Littleby asked.“Uh, energies” The goblin replied vaguely. “I could show you the formulae but... Captain are we allowed to tell them?”“Normally I'd say yes, because of Captain Malkir." The Captain looked somewhat troubled. "But it's not Captain Malkir.”“Please don't make any judgements on the basis of who I was.” Malkir stated, aware now of what had been bothering the Captain since they'd come aboard ship.“That's OK." Captain Jameson smiled and a small jet of steam escaped from his strange brass backpack. "Unfortunately we cannot divulge these formulae as they are important for the defence of the realm.”“Quite understandable. Quite Understandable.” The dwarven scholar said nodding his head. The Captain led the others out on to the deck as the ship began to move.As they walked on to the deck, Malkir noticed a tall pale man standing in the crow's nest who had a large black sword strapped to his back.“Who is that man?” The mystic asked.“He claims that he is on a quest for his people and we've decided not to interfere." The Captain shrugged dismissing the strange traveller. "Best to leave him alone.”Serena, Malkir and Andrew remained above deck, keeping out of the way of the sailors and enjoying the magnificent view of the land below them. Littleby tagged along after the goblin and engaged him in conversation. The two climber down a ladder in to the bowels of the ship where there were many more humans and goblins at work.As the dwarven scholar walked through the narrow passages inside the ship he could hear snippets of conversation. He did not recognise some of the slang that the crew were using, such as 'steamo' and 'jackhead'. But other phrases such as 'band out of order' and 'almost got away with that one' were ones that he was a little more familiar with.Littleby asked Pic about some of the instruments that they passed along the way and the dwarven scholar began to recognise the names as ones he'd read in a book. When the dwarven scholar mentioned the words 'necrotech' and 'negation' it was as if he'd said a code-word of some kind. Suddenly the goblin was a lot more forthcoming with information and even went in to detail about how he'd managed to immobilise a Helljack and take it apart.“Where did you find one of those?” Littleby asked, enthralled by Pic's stories.“Well, in my homeland.” The goblin stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.“And that is called what exactly?” Littleby knew that the question would highlight his ignorance on this topic but wanted to find out where the goblin an this ship came from.“Cygnar in the Iron Kingdoms, of course." The goblin pointed to an insignia on his blue uniform. "How do you know about this stuff?” Pic had never met anyone from outside the Iron Kingdoms who knew so much about mechanika, especially necrotech. The goblin had studied it a little and had been reprimanded several times by his Captain for tampering with it. However, the dwarven scholar who'd just come aboard was a well-spring of knowledge about Negation and Pic was fully intent on learning as much as he could.As the two sat in the bowels of the ship discussing arcana, mechanika and Negation - elsewhere in the ship the engines were being stoked. One of the crew carefully pulled out some amber spheres that had butterflies of various colours trapped inside and fed them in to the furnace.The companions standing on the deck of the ship could see that the air around the ship was changing. A transparent sphere formed around the flying vessel and began to steam up with appeared to be condensation. Unable to see the sky above them or land below them, everyone aboard ship could feel as if the vessel was sliding sideways. There was a sudden burst of light that penetrated the entire vessel and everyone aboard and the ship began it's jump.</blockquote>

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