“Perhaps it was disguised as a mere outcropping of stones, or maybe sunk deep underwater? Hmm, wait, you were only gone several minutes, what, did you travel outside of time itself, Brooks certainly looks a bit older.” He says, petting the raven’s head.
“Time runs differently far out at Zee. I’m afraid my ship’s engines aggravate that as well. Their influence is why I can only take a mirror out to the Hussy, but must then zail her home to Aestival – or here to London.”
The Captain pauses, some worry on their face, “I do not think I should recommend anyone other than one experienced in the Sunless Sea try to replicate my feats. The Serpentine is a deadly and experimental engine, even now I worry about it’s effect on my crew and my self.”
Then, more thoughtfully, “Perhaps it is best if rather than talk details of it we instead focus on the practical effects. I can, in the course of the time it takes for me to find a mirror added to the time it takes to return from the docks undertake a journey to Zee. Odd as that sounds, I suspect you will find many Captains born on the Sunless Sea will find extremely familiar.”
“What if I told you, I have a relic embedded into this very table, that could very well transport us, and everything on this table, onto your ship? It is a relic I obtained on the very same adventure, that inspired me to create this organization. I believe Dirae and Evensong have realized what I am talking about, can you confirm that?”
“I fear if you told me that I should be honor-bound to ask that you not do so. The crew of the Brazen Hussy are either Navy – sworn life and limb to her Eternal and Imperial Majesty – or they are pirates loyal to the Governor of Aestival. By order of the Admiralty I am bound not to risk civilian lives on my missions – I must admit I also was engaged on a surveillance mission for the Dark-Spectacle Admiral during my search.”
“However, I do own a personal vessel, a swift zee clipper, the ‘Audacious’, we are welcome to it’s use.”
“Or, if strings were pulled the Admiralty might be convinced to amend their orders for a special mission . . . . . stranger things have happened – but I do not have such pull at Admiralty House.”
"Sir, then I would claw your table apart in search of this mysterious artifact. I am tempted to do that right now." They admit their burning curiosity. "I do hope you have a good reason to bind such a rarefied item to this table." The Game-Carver hits the table that bears the mysterious mechanism "All the possible uses of such power are both terrifying and fascinating."
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 5/25/2016
Appolonia listens quietly to the discussion.
She nods at Koldun’s ideas about the rubbery and perhaps a sound that is designed to drive a zee predator away that is some kin to them. That makes sense.
She reads Amelia’s card when it is made available. She places hers also on the table, should anyone wish her contact information.
"A relic? Obtained on an adventure? That sounds like a tale for the telling!"
"In layman’s terms, it is a chunk of solidified spiders, turned to mirror by strange magic. It was at one point, a man fused with a spider council, calling himself the spider king. He had created a process to use mirrors to turn spiders into figurines that allowed for teleportation. This figurine ended up in my possession, but then stolen from me. Myself, Diraae, Evensong and Nobby embarked on this quest, and after several exciting events, were able to find the Spider King’s castle in Parabola, where he originally planned to house a collosal spider council, fused using the figurine’ teleportation power. Of course, we had destroyed many of the circles that housed the spiders that would be required to create the gigantic council, he still planned to create an army of beings like himself, half council, half human and control them with a fingerking venom. Using the very same mirror that created the figurine that ended up in my possession, I turned his spider half into mirror, and broke off a large piece, which allowed for large scale teleportation. (For the full story, read the Mirrored Crime Post)
Phryne has listened intently to the discussions going on before and after the Curious Captain’s return. She smiles quietly to herself about all the secrets these folks are so carelessly revealing in their excitement. There’s a week’s worth of honey and wine in all this, surely! Absent-mindedly, she has begun playing with a notched and worn black chess-piece she always carries with her. Only two people present recognize it - they both knew its previous owner - and pale upon seeing it.
"Gone, you say? Maybe the Fathomking has already intervened. Whatever was hidden at St-Francis-Lookout is hidden there no longer, or I’m a Rubbery. No use searching for it, unless you have a Zubmarine and maps of the zee-bottom. Good luck with that.
"Captain, I apologize for doubting you earlier. I wasn’t aware of your special abilities. Travelling through Parabola and befriending tigers, hm? You’re certainly more interesting than I thought. We’ll have to talk more privately sometime. Here’s my card. Or just enquire with the Knotted Sock, they usually know where to find me."
Giving the captain another dazzling smile, she takes her leave. "I have an appointment with a Black Ribbon duelist. Do go on with your treasure hunt, I’ve learned enough for today. But you’re a funny bunch, I’ll keep in touch. Oh, and Koldun? I should really want to read up on the difference between Drownies and Rubberies if I were you, petal…
"See ya."
The Inescapable Professor makes her best not to smack her cane in every head available, because that would be an unsporting thing to do with people who weren’t her thick-headed students. She starts, instead, to write notes and has a sizeable pile when the conversation finally allows her a moment to speak.
"A moment, please? Before you all trail away from the problem yet again?" She adjusts her glasses. "I know that everyone is excited for adventure, and I myself love me a good adventure, but I am also first and foremost a scientist. I refuse to take action without examining the evidence we already have. Then, yes, we will look for more."
She puts a big sheet of paper, made by smaller sheets glued together, containing a big lettters transcription of the recording.
"Now, bear with me for a little. Let’s talk about the Captain wereabouts. He speaks that he is close to London, right? And that he would stop at the St. Francis Look-Out, so it is safe to conclude that this Look-Out IS close to London. Now, you said that the wind and the frost-moths suggest north, but what would a captain coming from the west - Hell is on the west, right? - would do north? What is there of interest there? Is it possible that he thought that he would be close to St. Francis, but is actually lost far away from there? If that is the case, where was him? If not, why a place not faraway from London would have frost moths and whatnot?"
Her finger slides to the next few lines of recording.
"The lights. Are St. Francis Look-Out inhabited, that we know of? By whom? If it is not inhabited, what could those lights be? The Captain’s sentence suggest that the second case is more probable: it is not normally inhabited, or the lights would not be a curious incident. Now, do lights even suggest that there are people in the place at all? I have zailed past islands that are alive and have their own lights,"
She points to the Captain’s last words.
"Why did he stop talking? Was he killed or at least made unconscious here? It seems like a stealth move. This worries me. You are talking about sirens, drownies, fanatics, monsters, but are any of those things capable of stealth? Now, what about this sounds? What could cause these sounds? There are two sounds, so we are looking for two things, maybe?"
Her hand stops at the quote,
"Dante. Intriguing. But it cuts the possibility of religious fanatics. I know religious fanatics, being quite religious myself. They would have quoted the Bible, if they were trying to make a point. Why did this person quoted that particular verse? What does it mean? What is this person, assuming it IS a person, trying to tell us, if they are trying at all?"
She looks at them pointedly:
"No one tried to answer my question from earlier: why did we found those disks at all? If those people, or creatures, were trying to kill or kidnap the crew, why would they bother to send us neatly packed evidence? Why are they trying to lure us there? What would be the whole point of letting people know that this captain did not simply vanish in Zee, like many others?"
She adjusts the glasses again, and puts one white strand of hair behind her ears.
"Now, answer me the more pressing question: why would it not be a foolish thing to zail directly to a possible trap in search of more evidence? We are talking about beings that very deliberately and stealthily took a ship, than very deliberately sent us a message. It was cooly calculated on their part. What could we do so we do not end needing rescue from those creatures ourselves? What preparations should we do in light of the questions I did? Does anyone have any possible answer to any of those questions?"
Her bat chirps something. She smacks his head and waits for what the others have to say.
Appolonia looks very pale at the description of the relic.
The sorrow spider on her shoulder chitters in her ear. She turns and whispers something back.
She may be too distracted to focus on the Professor’s very reasonable questions.
“We use this” He pulls a lever, and suddenly, out of the center of the table, rises a large chunk of mirror, that to an untrained eye would look like a sculpture. Yet upon closer examination, one would see the faintest of trembling from the spiders embedded in the chunk, and the most minute movements of their hairs, only these hairs were reflective of any light that passed through them, “This is the relic that allows for the teleportation on a large scale. I used Correspondence sigils to link its magic to both the desk and the seats, as well as the wooden panel on which the desk is situated on. There are also sigils inscribed on the cloth from which the seats are made of. All it takes is for me to hold onto it, and say the location, and we will be sent off to whatever location we need to be. The sigils marking the seats are able to inflict pain on any one that the person residing in the seat feels threatened by. I believe the translation is, “Let he who brings fear to my flesh, may have his razed and cut.””
[quote=Professor Strix]The Inescapable Professor makes her best not to smack her cane in every head available, because that would be an unsporting thing to do with people who weren’t her thick-headed students. She starts, instead, to write notes and has a sizeable pile when the conversation finally allows her a moment to speak.
"A moment, please? Before you all trail away from the problem yet again?" She adjusts her glasses. "I know that everyone is excited for adventure, and I myself love me a good adventure, but I am also first and foremost a scientist. I refuse to take action without examining the evidence we already have. Then, yes, we will look for more."
She puts a big sheet of paper, made by smaller sheets glued together, containing a big lettters transcription of the recording.
"Now, bear with me for a little. Let’s talk about the Captain wereabouts. He speaks that he is close to London, right? And that he would stop at the St. Francis Look-Out, so it is safe to conclude that this Look-Out IS close to London. Now, you said that the wind and the frost-moths suggest north, but what would a captain coming from the west - Hell is on the west, right? - would do north? What is there of interest there? Is it possible that he thought that he would be close to St. Francis, but is actually lost far away from there? If that is the case, where was him? If not, why a place not faraway from London would have frost moths and whatnot?"
Her finger slides to the next few lines of recording.
"The lights. Are St. Francis Look-Out inhabited, that we know of? By whom? If it is not inhabited, what could those lights be? The Captain’s sentence suggest that the second case is more probable: it is not normally inhabited, or the lights would not be a curious incident. Now, do lights even suggest that there are people in the place at all? I have zailed past islands that are alive and have their own lights,"
She points to the Captain’s last words.
"Why did he stop talking? Was he killed or at least made unconscious here? It seems like a stealth move. This worries me. You are talking about sirens, drownies, fanatics, monsters, but are any of those things capable of stealth? Now, what about this sounds? What could cause these sounds? There are two sounds, so we are looking for two things, maybe?"
Her hand stops at the quote,
"Dante. Intriguing. But it cuts the possibility of religious fanatics. I know religious fanatics, being quite religious myself. They would have quoted the Bible, if they were trying to make a point. Why did this person quoted that particular verse? What does it mean? What is this person, assuming it IS a person, trying to tell us, if they are trying at all?"
She looks at them pointedly:
"No one tried to answer my question from earlier: why did we found those disks at all? If those people, or creatures, were trying to kill or kidnap the crew, why would they bother to send us neatly packed evidence? Why are they trying to lure us there? What would be the whole point of letting people know that this captain did not simply vanish in Zee, like many others?"
She adjusts the glasses again, and puts one white strand of hair behind her ears.
"Now, answer me the more pressing question: why would it not be a foolish thing to zail directly to a possible trap in search of more evidence? We are talking about beings that very deliberately and stealthily took a ship, than very deliberately sent us a message. It was cooly calculated on their part. What could we do so we do not end needing rescue from those creatures ourselves? What preparations should we do in light of the questions I did? Does anyone have any possible answer to any of those questions?"
Her bat chirps something. She smacks his head and waits for what the others have to say.[/quote]
The Game-Carver responds to the Professor’s monologue of questions with only a sigh from beneath their mask.
Absimiliard jumps in, pulling the conversation back to the Professor’s points.
“It does have the feel of a trap does it not? That is why I planned to not land, unless I found survivors to be rescued. If I can stay unanchored there is nothing in the zee that can catch Brazen Hussy when she kicks up her skirts and flees for the horizon. Even a flock of Blue Prophets can not catch me, even with engines back full instead of ahead they still can barely draw close. She may not have the power of a frigate, but a Phorcyd class corvette is the fastest hull in the Unterzee, and the Hussy is the fastest of all those.”
“I can inquire at the Docks, to see if the Unions know aught of the destination of the Captain’s stated course and intent. But if you are right that it was an inside job, which is feeling likely to me as well, I do not know if that will help us.”
The Captain pauses, “But evidence is what we need. If no one else shall go question the Docks, then I will willingly do so.”
"What if we all go? It shall be a beneficial excursion for all of us, instead of sitting cooped up in here?"
edited by Koldun on 5/25/2016
[quote=Professor Strix]The Inescapable Professor makes her best not to smack her cane in every head available, because that would be an unsporting thing to do with people who weren’t her thick-headed students. She starts, instead, to write notes and has a sizeable pile when the conversation finally allows her a moment to speak.
"A moment, please? Before you all trail away from the problem yet again?" She adjusts her glasses. "I know that everyone is excited for adventure, and I myself love me a good adventure, but I am also first and foremost a scientist. I refuse to take action without examining the evidence we already have. Then, yes, we will look for more."
She puts a big sheet of paper, made by smaller sheets glued together, containing a big lettters transcription of the recording.
"Now, bear with me for a little. Let’s talk about the Captain wereabouts. He speaks that he is close to London, right? And that he would stop at the St. Francis Look-Out, so it is safe to conclude that this Look-Out IS close to London. Now, you said that the wind and the frost-moths suggest north, but what would a captain coming from the west - Hell is on the west, right? - would do north? What is there of interest there? Is it possible that he thought that he would be close to St. Francis, but is actually lost far away from there? If that is the case, where was him? If not, why a place not faraway from London would have frost moths and whatnot?"
Her finger slides to the next few lines of recording.
"The lights. Are St. Francis Look-Out inhabited, that we know of? By whom? If it is not inhabited, what could those lights be? The Captain’s sentence suggest that the second case is more probable: it is not normally inhabited, or the lights would not be a curious incident. Now, do lights even suggest that there are people in the place at all? I have zailed past islands that are alive and have their own lights,"
She points to the Captain’s last words.
"Why did he stop talking? Was he killed or at least made unconscious here? It seems like a stealth move. This worries me. You are talking about sirens, drownies, fanatics, monsters, but are any of those things capable of stealth? Now, what about this sounds? What could cause these sounds? There are two sounds, so we are looking for two things, maybe?"
Her hand stops at the quote,
"Dante. Intriguing. But it cuts the possibility of religious fanatics. I know religious fanatics, being quite religious myself. They would have quoted the Bible, if they were trying to make a point. Why did this person quoted that particular verse? What does it mean? What is this person, assuming it IS a person, trying to tell us, if they are trying at all?"
She looks at them pointedly:
"No one tried to answer my question from earlier: why did we found those disks at all? If those people, or creatures, were trying to kill or kidnap the crew, why would they bother to send us neatly packed evidence? Why are they trying to lure us there? What would be the whole point of letting people know that this captain did not simply vanish in Zee, like many others?"
She adjusts the glasses again, and puts one white strand of hair behind her ears.
"Now, answer me the more pressing question: why would it not be a foolish thing to zail directly to a possible trap in search of more evidence? We are talking about beings that very deliberately and stealthily took a ship, than very deliberately sent us a message. It was cooly calculated on their part. What could we do so we do not end needing rescue from those creatures ourselves? What preparations should we do in light of the questions I did? Does anyone have any possible answer to any of those questions?"
Her bat chirps something. She smacks his head and waits for what the others have to say.[/quote]
[li]
"Who says their religion was based on the bible? They appear insane. And you can base a religion on anything… I could proclaim a piece of cheese as god, bread as he Mesiah and a book full of recipes as the bible. And why does anything try to trap a random collection of people?"
"I do believe you on the trap theory, which is why we should be well prepared and know the good Captain’s business before we sail. I believe Amelia has already stumbled upon some interesting there with her comments on cowards. A coward who is probably out carousing right now.
An additional note: I own a zubmarine. It’s very chatty but very brave."
[quote=Koldun]"What if we all go? It shall be a beneficial excursion for all of us, instead of sitting cooped up in here?"
edited by Koldun on 5/25/2016[/quote]
"If by ‘go’ you refer to using the miraculous artifact attached to the center of the room, then I agree."
"If nothing else, we all entered this small Anti-Criminal Association. Many a criminal would delight to see us locked up on some island. The Game is always an option, too."
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 5/25/2016
“Alright, then. Hold on everyone.” He places his hands onto the large chunk of solidified spiders, and suddenly, anyone sitting at, or close to the desk, blinks out, along with the table itself. They reappear in an old derelict Docks warehouse, with large puddles on the floors, and a musky smell coming form the wooden walls. Light shines in from the cobweb filled windows, and the shelves are bare, save for a few rats. The Desk, the chairs and everyone in them or around them appears in the center of the warehouse. “One of my safe houses if you will, an alternate club meeting spot to be exact. Should we be discovered by parties that we wish we in less than optimal health. I also have a small collection of books in that chest over there.” He points to a large, moldy trunk sitting against a wall.
"Books. How unnervingly specific." The Game-Carver makes an attempt at sarcasm "Seriously, thought, would you kindly provide more specificity before we open the container?"
Appolonia stands.
"I wish you good luck in this exploration, but I am uncomfortable with this device. It is certainly a marvel. But, perhaps I am simply sentimentally fond of spiders. As I believe your intent is to travel together using it, I will excuse myself."
"A pleasure to have met you. I will leave my card. If I can be of any assistance, don’t hesitate to contact me."