driftfleet | (no subject)

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Who: Felix Harrowgate and crew currently on the planet
Broadcast: Nope! (but he wishes)
Action: Lato'li and the crashed SS Goldstone
When: About a week after the crash

Before

[It was important to him that this task be done correctly. The wards on his last ship had been sufficient, but he'd learned a few things since then about the nature of the ships themselves. He'd been stalling just before they entered the system, wanting to put a little more polish on the job. But the crash had changed all that. The crew was in danger, and it would not...could not....wait until they left the planet.

It took days to clean up the ship enough to begin, marking symbols in various places of the ship to serve as a mental and thaumaturgical focus. The prime warding stone was a large dark sphere of something close to granite. He'd placed on a squat metal stand right in front of the ship's engine. He'd placed it in the kitchen back on the Starstruck, aiming for the approximate center of the ship at the time. But as his brother was so often happy to remind him - the center was not always the heart. Now that he was an engineer, he now understood that the engines were that. Stronger symbols would lead to stronger wards. He hoped.

The warding stones he'd selected were arranged around the pedestal with chalked marks all around them, connecting them like invisible wires. Once everything was settled, it began. Just like the first time, his hands flat on the dark stone and his eyes shut in concentration. The stone began to glow, slowly at first, then flaring to an almost blinding level. The smaller stones echoed the larger in a riotous concert of colored light, filling the engine room and the connecting hallways. The symbols chalked on the ship walls also flashed and then disappeared, as if they'd never been there at all. Magic infuses the ship, becoming part of the very walls, and the feeling to anyone sensitive nearby is like crashing thunder.

Inside the engine room, Felix stumbles back at the spell sets in place and collapses to the floor against the wall. The light in the largest warding stone, however, isn't completely gone. It pulses and swirls with pale gold the way no solid piece of stone rightly should. Felix himself will be unconscious for about half a day.]

After

[Felix does his best, the next day, to round up what crew is still on the ship for an announcement. He looks perhaps unaccountably worn out, and while he's been undertaking plenty of small physical repairs on the ship it's the magical fatigue that's getting to him now. If he cannot round them up for meeting, he will corner them later once they return to the ship.]

I realize we all have important tasks to be seen to, but it's important that I explain what I've done to the ship. In short, there are now protective wards on it that will help prevent further damage on the ship, which, yes, I realize is a little bit late. The tertiary function is what's the most important right now. Anyone entering the ship will not be able to attack anyone under the protection of the wards. Or rather, they'll be incapacitated for even trying. We had a similar system back home, but unfortunately the usual method for connecting you to wards of this nature are a bit more permanent than we have the luxury to implement...[He raises a hand, flashing the bright tattoo's covering it in a demonstrative and wry fashion]...so I opted for something different.

[He'd been carrying a bundle in his hands - a borrowed towel by the look of it - and opens it up to reveal an assortment of stones in varying colors and shapes, and pluck one of them out with two fingers]

These stones are keyed to the wards. You must have one of these on your person at all times. Do not lose it. Or the wards will not be able to protect you.

[He smiles a little, somewhat rueful] I had intended to have these set in jewelry to more easily be carried, but this will have to do for now. If we get out of this you can do what you like with it, but for now, keep it in your pocket.

((OOC: The wards on the Goldstone are now in place. Please note that Felix's intention is to put the attackers to sleep but the effect will rather be a short term stunning. This is confirmed to work on the Vieziri. Please see this post for more detailed information and to claim/customize your warding stone, even if your character is not currently aboard the Goldstone.))

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[Tempest has to be cornered, because once everyone had been accounted for and whatnot she'd made herself scarce when she wasn't needed. She had, of course, felt what he had done the day before - hard not to, when she can feel it in the walls. But she knew better than to interrupt or distract when another magic user was doing something - so she had let it be.

She picks an onyx rock out of the ones offered, glancing over it briefly before regarding Felix with a curious look after his explanation]

Since we are under this protection, are we able to attack anyone who enters the ship? [and, more importantly] My magic will not interfere with it?

It shouldn't have a reaction to your magic, no. Well, depending on what you mean to do, as that particular aspect of the wards are based largely on intent. I would't recommend intentionally trying to set a part of the ship on fire, for example, even if it would mean catching an invader in it. But a destructive spell that happens to also strike the ship wouldn't be an issue.

[He pointed to the stone in her hand] The stone does not allow you to attack so much as decides who or what to protect. You could attack an invader on the ship without this and as long as they didn't have one of these on them, you'd still be free to act.

[well. That certainly works for her, and she hums quietly in understanding and pockets the stone in a pocket in her cloak]

My spells only attack what I want them to, so it will not be an issue.

Ah. Well, I've seen a few uses of fighting with magic and it often tends to be indiscriminate. I'm am all for no further damage to the ship. I have enough to contend with as it is.

[He sounds more confident about that last part than he feels.]

[she shrugs a shoulder, crossing her arms - a bit awkwardly, she isn't used to being without her prosthetic]

I have some spells that are like that, but I have learned to control the damage because most fights I have encountered have been in the forest, and the trees do not appreciate being set aflame. [she says, as if she's quoting the fauna] How bad is the damage?

[He does his best to not stare at her arm and mostly succeeds. Most of the impulse is concern, but there is a lingering curiosity as well]

Extensive, but perhaps not irreparable. I hope. I'm working on what I can on the inside, but it will take the acquisition of materials to get to the rest of it. And assuming we get off this planet, I imagine we'll be patching up bits of the ship for months.

Edited 2017-10-27 21:57 (UTC)

What sort of materials? Is it anything that can be acquired down here?

[aside from cleaning up and setting a few traps outside around the ship, there isn't much else she can do.

And maybe she wants to kill a few of the locals and raid what they have, but details]

Honestly...I'm not entirely certain. But...scrap metal, in the very least. If there aren't shops, we know they have weapons that could be broken down.

[There's your excuse, Tempest]

I could acquire a few weapons, I think.

[she says casually, as if it isn't dangerous, or as though she isn't one-handed for the time being. Totally easy]

As long as it isn't too much of a risk, given, ah...

[He glances uncertainly down at the elephant in the room, otherwise known as her hand]

[Tempest follows his glance down at her hand - well, lack thereof - and then back up, eyebrows raised]

Given what?

[she's daring him to say it]

[Felix notices the challenge and rises to it. Mostly.]

Your present condition...which, may I add, I've been kind enough not to ask you about until now.

[he gets the points, but Tempest's expression just change]

I am missing a hand, Felix, not under the weather.

[for all the points he gains, the more tact she loses] I appreciate that you've not asked, but it is not an issue. I'll tape my bloody sword to what remains of the prosthetic if I have to.

[Tact can be a good thing, but it's also the weapon of politics. While Felix is perfectly aware of how to use it to great effect, it generally makes him tired.]

It's an issue if it puts you in danger. That said, if you must, perhaps we can work out something a little better for you. I don't have Tyrion's knack for this, but there may be a middle ground.

[a little dryly] We are all already in danger. Or have you forgotten that we were shot down?

[she sees his point, and she sees his concern. But her pride can be just as dangerous as her temper]

. . . I am not agreeing, but I am listening. What sort of middle ground?

There are degrees of risk.

[They're both a little stubborn]

Well, without time to plan something better, I was thinking perhaps a simple sling to carry one of the ship's firearms in it.

[that's a suggestion no one's ever given to her. Nor one she's thought of]

The - oh, the guns? [...] I do not know how to use one.

[ She is all kinds of concern with how worn-out he looks, which is pretty obvious from her expression, even while she listens to his explanations...

She looks the stones over, picks up a blue one - round as a marble. Must have it on her at all times? That's doable. She puts it in her pocket. ]

Thank you, Felix. That sounds amazing - not to mention incredibly helpful. Especially right now.

Well...it may have been more beneficial had I gotten them in place before this disaster.

[The idea has been eating at him since he started to prepare to cast the wards. They very well could have avoided getting shot down, but he'd been preoccupied with aesthetics when it came to the secondary warding stones and had drug his heels]

[ Sheeee knows that feel. But still. ]

Maybe, but also maybe not. Those were heavy anti-aircraft missiles. The kind you aim at warships, not ragtag fleets like ours.

Your opinion on that subject would likely be more informed than mine, even given the augment, but how things like that do against warding spells is fortunately or unfortunately an untested hypothesis. Well...until I can contact the Starstruck and find out how they fared in this debacle.

[ He... has a point about said untested hypothesis. ... Fine, be like that. She shrugs a shoulder. ]

Either way, it's here now, and those bastards can't eat us on our own ship. [ And she'll tear them to pieces for trying, thank you~ ] ... How are you holding up?

[He smiles thinly and returns the back of stones to the pocket of his coveralls]

I'm not exactly in my element, as they say.

[ She nods. That much was obvious. ]

What can I do to help?

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