Belgrafian MegafunnelThat Bloody Cat stared at its kill. Oh yes... oh yes. Wonderful. The rest of the peacocks could wait for the moment... That Bloody Cat had eating to do.
That Bloody Cat drags the peacock corpse underneath a bed and digs in.
Thus begins the feast. A lot of people have run onto the deck shouting, which means you won't be disturbed for some time.
Turn to chapter six, and look for a schematic to reproduce using the tools on hand.
You find a bit involving steam engines and pistons.
Techiness: 6
You skimread the adjacent paragraphs, before deciphering a rather archaic-looking diagram reproduced from a mural by an ancient steam-using civilisation. Strangely, their principle unit seems to be the "int", a measure of efficiency, though confusingly also a vector. You press on. The schematic uses four different valves partially inside one another, which can convert a great deal of pressure from an exhaust or expulsion of gas into potential energy stored in a spring.
The highest efficiency with which the device can operate is brought about by the largest possible gas to volume ratio: this means that the smaller the device is and the more gas you try to force inside it, the better it will work, unless it collapses. It also requires a strong and tensile material with low density to function well.
You not only understand and memorise the diagram, but add a few tiny improvements of your own, and correct a few of the more glaring arithmatic errors on the reproduction of the ancient mural. This might just be possible with your current tools, steel or maybe even wood being the least dense materials available. Pretty hard to do without better supplies, though.
Arc order's all crew to MAN THE DECK! none of this silly faffing about, we have a ship destroying channel to navigate in an old, clunky tub, carrying gold, peacocks, and murder.
"Lad! why would you navigate us into this? We're not a viking longship! This is a route for sleeker ships, boy! I oughta sell ya to the navy! Ahahahahahahahah. I wouldn't of course. But we're all dead now, so you might wish I had! Ahahahahahahah!"
Once the silly lot man's the deck and makes all due preparations, head inward, using every ounce of my seamanship, along with whatever scraps of such that the others have, to not die.
"Er. Whoops. I mean, have faith, captain Sir! I am a fully qualified..." mumble mumble "... and I am fairly sure that this is absolutely a direction..."
Man the front! Look out with good eyes! Cross my fingers!
Run up to the deck lolipop in mouth after securing all equipment and hiding it and locking it throughly.
Devan hesitantly assists with sail maintenance.
((Now, we have a group set of rolls. I'm going to do skill level x (roll+skill level) for these, to determine whether or not a certain number is passed. Bluff gets -1 to both skill levels, with no +skill level, as well as a - skill level on the end. Oh, and 1 or below for a (roll + skill level) is negative, 2 is a non-event. Skill level will be assumed to start at 1 for the multipier. Yes, it's overcomplex, but I made this for a laugh in a hurry, and am now desperately trying to balance it.))
Seamanship: 2x(
3+2)=10
Bluff: (5-1)x(
4-1)-5=7
Seamanship:
2=0
Seamanship:
3+1=4
=21
Gritting his teeth for focus, his hands for grip on the wheel, and his elbows for good measure, Captain Desmond sets a straight course through the looming masts and stays on it, unperturbed by the roaring currents. Jackson dashes from deck to deck, his sharp eyes rapidly identifying the deadly rocks and wrecks lurking just below the water before they smash through the hull. The bottleneck looms closer as the ship speeds along, before something moves beneath the deck, forcing the Gareth to one side. It lists, leaning further and further to starboard, the mast scraping hysterically against the wall of rock as the boat threatens to tip entirely. With heroic presence of mind, Devan rushes downstairs at the last instant, and with Octavius' help he herds the clamouring peacocks out of the cabin
somebody just locked all of them into, and to the other side of the ship, before heaving several gold bars out as well.
The vessel rebalanced, Arc wrenches the wheel about, nosing the prow onto the incredible current gushing from the gap, the ship yanked along and out, out into the open sea, at an unbelieveable speed. Breaking several Belgrafian maritimes laws, as well as a few records, the Gareth almost flies away from the megafunnel, the whole dangerous experience having taken no more than a few minutes. An hour or two of travel, and you will get to the welcomingly named "Cove of the Piratical Bureaucrats", in order to catch the dizzyingly fast winds that stream down from the mountains there, and cross the Belgrafian sea before sundown.
Purple shows distance already travelled.
Author
Topic: Maiden Voyage of the HMS Gareth, RTD, (Read 26733 times)