escordvi | closed 🌻 the crew finally gets underway

Entry tags:

closed 🌻 the crew finally gets underway

Who: ~~Zelda's floating circus~~ The fledgling crew of Hand and Hearth
Status: Closed
Where: Elah, Nogard, Eltrut, all over the place, really
What: Zelda and her crew are collecting materials to offer to Elah in order to receive their ship.
Warnings: Setting-typical danger, probably.

[ Sometime after the Ghoul's Moon but before Winterstide, Zelda reached out to everyone who had agreed to help her with the relief organization she's been working hard to develop. She created a group chat via the shellphone network and announced that she had filed the necessary paperwork to receive a ship and officially found her crew!

... That was a couple months ago.

Today, at long last, her paperwork has made it through the bloated bureaucratic machine that is Paladin HQ. As soon as she finds out, Zelda immediately grabs her shellphone to share the news. ]

Everyone, I have wonderful news!

I just received word from the Assistant Deputy Director of the Elah Drydocks that we've been approved to make an offering to the leviathan Elah in order to receive our ship!

I'm sending you all the list of materials we've been instructed to gather for our offering. Most are the expected fare, but there are a number of things that are rather... esoteric.

[ >"List.txt" sent to group members. ]

I shall track our progress on the Purah Pad, so please keep me apprised of everything you gather.

And if you are uncertain of anything on the list, I shall be happy to assist as best I can.

I. The Normal Materials

[ What even goes into making a ship? Well, usually, the classification of the ship comes first. Once that’s resolved, the plans and materials are given to a shipwright, who turns these common materials into something seaworthy.

In this instance, however, the shipwright appears to be Elah themselves.

Each person in the crew probably has their own idea of what constitutes a strong and sturdy vessel– what could go wrong if everyone was allowed to bring their ideas to the table? Sure, too many cooks might spoil the broth, but is there really such a thing as too many ideas when it comes to shipbuilding?

Lumber is abundant enough, but things like rope, metal, cloth, lacquer, resin, and any other materials might be a little harder to come by. Given the world that they’re in, magical substitutions might just be what the Leviathan ordered.

Thus, the crew is tasked with finding the normal ship construction mundanities throughout Eltrut, Elah, Nogard, and everywhere in between. Pair up, fan out, and salvage everything you can. There’s no wrong answers when it comes to shipbuilding, obviously. (Protip: There are.) ]

II. The Personal Materials

[ Seafarers often speak of a mysterious being known as a Klabautermann, a fairy-like being that inhabits a ship and becomes its very soul. While this might seem like nothing more than superstition, in this world of magic, the Klabautermann could very well exist.

Willing one into being would take a more personal touch, requiring each member of the crew to offer something that represents who they are. This ship will carry their hopes and efforts across the seas of this world; it’s only appropriate to give these wills form in the shape of personal effects.

Each crew member is tasked to find an item that they feel best represents who they are and why they’re a part of this crew. Perhaps it is an item they own that is important to them, or one that represents something meaningful to them. An item related to their past, or to their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future. It would be a disservice to both ship and crew if the vessel didn’t carry a dash of each crew member, permanently enshrining them in the story of the vessel.

Hopefully the magic of Elah will give the Klabautermann conjured by these items a suitable form. ]

III. The Objectively Cool Shit

[ The common materials are gathered, the personal effects carefully selected, but there’s still one thing missing. Something that represents the coming together of this crew, that showcases their unity– a challenge to bond them in their shared undertaking.

Rumors have recently begun to circulate about a serpentine, dragon-like beast that inhabits a remote island across the distant sea. Its scales are said to be tougher than titanium; lightweight, durable, and, when bleached in the sun, they shine like a platinum beacon.

The Rhadiandendron.

Two scales of this creature, while difficult to obtain, would make an excellent prow for the ship. A beacon to cut through even the darkest squall, that those seeking aid could see upon the horizon.

All that remains is to obtain them from the behemoth... a task that will take the cooperation of the entire crew. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That shouldn't be a problem then, I should have it ready in a couple of days.

[Darin takes the piece of equipment and sets it carefully on his workbench. First order of business is to sketch the whole thing and really get the specs down.]

Well, that should cover your contribution then. That wasn't so bad, right?

Actually, it was the most traumatizing conversation I've had in a while, thanks.

[The dryness in that sentence could dehydrate the ocean.]

So... now that I'm handled. Your turn.

Are all turians so constipated with their feelings or is it just you?

Yeah, good luck getting anything outta me. I've got zero ideas and I feel like making a replica of something of mine would feel...fake?

Oh, it's genetic. On my father's side.

[Garrus be nice to your dad.]

Mm. What about taking... a piece of something of yours? Couple pieces. Use it to make something new.

I don't have much. Hell, the most of what I have is...the forge itself. And the cottage with Zelda. I've never had a lot of possessions and I'm fine with that. I've never needed it.

...Honestly, I don't know if I ever expected to live long enough to accumulate much of anything.

You came here with a sword, right? Anything you could shave off it? Make into a smaller version?

[He doesn't really know if that would work, but he's trying. Maybe if you sharpen it, smaller pieces come off or something.]

That - I can understand that.

No!

[Darin snaps his attention up from his work, his expression hard.]

N...No. No, I can't. I don't even like drawing the thing. And it's..it's my Old Man's Masterwork. I don't even know how he made the thing. I've never seen metal like it.

[What the hell was that? Why'd he get so defensive?]

[He holds his hands up. The universal pose of placation.]

All right, all right. Just wondering. Figured maybe you shaved off bits when you sharpened it, or something.

No need to bite my face off.

[What the hell bro.]

Fine. Not the weapon. Why not forge a new hammer, then?

Sorry I...I don't know. I don't like using that weapon, even if it's mine. My old man put everything he could into it but...

But...it just seems. Weird. I studied most of my life under him. I have no idea how he managed to make it.

[Darin's eyes fall to his sheathed dao. A jet-black blade that seemed to negate all light save for the platinum runes lining the flat of the blade.]

...Maybe but that seems too...easy?

Something from the forge would work nicely though...I mean, being a smith is everything to me. It's my passion.

You're asking the wrong man. If it was a firearm, I could probably tell you.

[But it's like trying to read another language without a translator. He just sees a big, sharp hunk of metal. Granted, it's a nicely made one. The writing on it is interesting, when he last saw it. But he has no frame of reference for it.]

Probably not enough time to try and replicate it before we need to get the ship ready. Or else I'd suggest that.

But hey. If smith work means that much to you... make something. Something personal.

Easier said than done. I don't...make things for myself. I've never made anything for myself. At best, I make things for other people that occasionally include myself.

[Darin turns and looks around the forge.]

This place was the most I'd ever really done truly for myself.

[His gaze falls to his drafting board, completely covered with blueprints and sketches. Alongside it was a bookshelf of neatly organized journals, all bearing sketches and notes of his time here.]

... ... ...

[Wordlessly, he moves over to regard them closer.]

...Maybe...Maybe something like this...

Looks like now's your chance to try it out.

[It's kind of funny, in a way. Neither of them are the kind to collect things. To do things for themselves, really. And here he is trying to advise anyway.]

[Give him a second to catch up, and, step over to peer over Darin's shoulder. Garrus, don't loom over people you tall bastard.]

I'm guessing you don't mean using one of the books?

The books, the blueprints...

Almost all of this is in my head anyway. I can always document it or...Gods, Zelda's always using that pad of hers, maybe I can take pictures of it all so they're stored...

[Somehow, the idea of just having photos of this seems...weird. He's so technologically disinclined he probably sounds like an old man.]

It's how I always did things but maybe I can start something new.

Her digital pad, right. It's like an omnitool from our world. I'd definitely get these scanned in, if they mean so much.

[In his mind, leaving things just in physical form without digital backups is ... it doesn't make sense. You always back up your data.]

[Especially the important data.]

Then give one to the ship building.

I just...I dunno how much I trust converting everything to digital. What if something happens to the...interface...hard memory...thing???

[Do not tell him he sounds like an old man.]

You sound like an old man.

[Sorry, what was that, 4th wall?]

That's why you make backups. So if something happens to one, you have others.

What?! Why?! How?!

And what if something happens to the backups?!

Pencil and paper are fine! I'll use a pen if I want to be fancy.

What do you mean why?

You make backups and keep them somewhere safe so that doesn't happen.

Why the hell do I sound old? I'm only twenty five!

Yeah and what if they get stolen! It's a lot easier for someone to run off with one of those pad things than it is with a bookshelf.

Because it takes an old man to be this resistant to digital backups.

Fine - don't back all of them up. Backup whichever one you want to throw in for the ship, and let the rest sit.

[He does not add: and potentially catch on fire from a stray forge ember.]

I just have a way of doing things and I don't exactly trust something I can't physically work with!

Zelda's been trying to get me used to using the shellphone. It's....weird. I get how it's convenient but...I dunno.

How do you get photos out of the thing?

Remind me sometime to find you a digital sketch kit...

What, get physical photographs? You could probably just find a printer, hook up and print.

A what?

There's a machine that makes the photos real?

A printer.

Yeah, there is. It takes the data on the computer, or the phone, and prints it out into physical copies.

...And it stays in the phone? Like, if I print a picture, it doesn't take the picture from the phone?

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