>>190691

Hmm... Are there no spotlights on this thing? If not, the 'search around with a flashlight' option actually seems like a solution.

Get on the bullhorn and rudely demand that someone show you where to land.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/11(Fri)19:55 No. 192295 ID: 35cea2
File 127631135717.png - (19.74KB , 886x558 , Darkness.png )

Simon is dropped off via rope in the middle of town with the flashlight. As the airship approaches all the windows are shut and some of the lights are turned off. The already quiet town has turned oppressively silent.

Ignoring this, Simon wanders around until he finds a place suitable for landing, then signals Io to land the ship by shouting and waving his harms around like a lunatic.

wait for ship to land, when locals see Karsci get off they should ease up a little.

>>192295
"Hello there! Don't mind us, just having a stopover."

Ed Pastry 2010/06/11(Fri)20:49 No. 192349 ID: 35cea2
File 127631454737.png - (19.42KB , 886x558 , Darkness2.png )

Simon spots someone out of the corner of his eye.

Simon: "Hello there! Don't mind us, just having a stopover."

The watcher immediately dashes away into the night.

Simon: "Hmm. Is everyone in this town so shy?"

>>192349
I guess we'll just have to see what they're like when it's not so dark out.

Stay alert, in a poor town like this, it's like you have a sign saying "I'm rich, mug me!" hanging fron your neck.

Remember you are flying in a PIRATE ship.

>>192349
Maybe Karsci can help in this instance?

Y'know, since he's like an official soldier of this place rather than some random dude with a flashlight, and all.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/12(Sat)20:41 No. 192872 ID: 35cea2
File 12764005135.png - (31.16KB , 886x558 , Townsfolk.png )

Io lands the ship, and the party heads a ways into town. Karsci calls out to reassure the populace.

Karsci: "Don't worry, we're not here to cause trouble."

A man peeks through the ragged curtains in front of his house.

Man: "Who are you then? Why did arrive in the middle of the night on a dark airship?"
Karsci: "I'm from the Olvadtvar militia, and I'm escorting these people here on an important mission. We came here to resupply. Landing at night was just a little misjudgment on our part."

While Karsci was talking, more and more townspeople cautiously show up to ogle at the newcomers. A woman speaks up.

Woman: "Oh, thank goodness. A bunch of us thought it was a raid by pirates."
Man: "Not like there's anything of value to loot here."
Simon: "I can understand your confusion. This airship used to belong to pirates. We drove them off it though."
Woman: "Oh my, how brave! You all must be very tired. I could show you to the inn if you'd like to rest here."

>>192872
Yeah, sure... unless the blimp has places to sleep. This being a poor town, the inn might not be so great. In that case perhaps we could just get some supplies and use the beds on board.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/14(Mon)16:39 No. 193760 ID: 35cea2
File 127655879495.png - (22.32KB , 886x558 , Morgen.png )

Karsci: "On second thought we'll just use the beds on our airship. In the morning we'll stop by to purchase supplies."
Man: "*mumble* If you're just gonna stay on your airship then why bother landing here and scaring the pants off all of us?"
Karsci: "Sorry citizen. We had no intention of startling you."

The party heads back the airship and the townspeople head back to their homes. In the morning of the next day a man calls out to them from outside the airship.

Man: "Hey! Are you awake?"

Simon opens the door and answers the man.

Simon: "Mostly. What's up?"
Man: "Just wanted to let you know my general store's open, if you want to resupply now."

thank the man and go see his store.

>>193760
Ask him to lead the way!

Ed Pastry 2010/06/14(Mon)20:55 No. 193844 ID: 35cea2
File 127657415960.png - (28.83KB , 711x444 , Shed shop.png )

The shopowner leads Simon, Slater and Karsci to his store while Io holds down the fort. The tiny general store is very meagerly stocked. Karsci can buy a day's rations for $3 (up to a max of 4). He doesn't have anything that Io or Simon would find edible.

Aside from food, he has nothing except for the few supplies he has on the shelves for display.

>>193844
What supplies are those? Also, may as well buy the full 4 days since our rations are incompatible.

>>193844

Yeah, buy 4 rations for him. By the way, if he's going to tag along, he should know that we're heading out of Cremate territory soon. How hard would it be to find food for Cremates out there, in other cities?

>>193844
What are those little yellow and blue boxes behind him?

Examine everything then decide.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/20(Sun)20:55 No. 196611 ID: 35cea2
File 127709253513.png - (15.61KB , 591x449 , Stuff.png )

They buy Karsci's rations for $12, and then peruse the shop owner's slim selection of other goods.

>>195732
Most towns of at least medium size would have somewhere to buy Cremate food. Sometimes smaller towns as well if they expect tourists or travelers to come by.

By the thread and the soap flakes. The thread is cheap and potentially useful, while the soap is shenanigans in a box.

The shovel might be useful some day, but let's not go crazy.

Where were we going, again?

I think we should buy the shovel too, personally.

We're off to the... uh... okay let's see if we can find out where we're going next. Is there a phone book in this town? Or we could just ask the locals.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/22(Tue)20:50 No. 197470 ID: 35cea2
File 127726504813.png - (97.82KB , 2274x698 , Unventory4.png )

They purchase the THREAD AND NEEDLE, a SPADE and a box of SOAP FLAKES for $17.

Currently the party needs someone to fix the fuel line and a VACUUM IGNITER from Tamaishi.

>>197436
Asking around reveals that nobody in town has a phone, a phonebook, or the technical skill necessary in fixing the rocket's fuel lines.

I guess we'll have to go to Meleg Helyen to find a phonebook and hopefully a mechanic to fix the fuel line.

Yay, we've wasted valuable time coming to this poor town.

>>197538
Okay, where's Tamaishi? That should be our next stop, and we can find a repairman there, or on the way there.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/23(Wed)18:22 No. 197858 ID: 35cea2
File 127734256797.png - (12.62KB , 591x449 , Near Tamaishi.png )

Everyone gets back on board the airship, which leaves immediately for Tamaishi.

It is 15 days before The End. A few dozen miles away from Tamaishi, a strange airship appears in the distance. Io has tried to contact it with the radio but it does not respond. It is approaching very quickly.

>>197858
Evasive maneuvers!

>>197858

Even if they don't respond, try to communicate that you aren't pirates through the radio.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/24(Thu)15:49 No. 198438 ID: 35cea2
File 127741975575.png - (7.80KB , 579x468 , Following.png )

Io tries to steer the airship away, but the other airship just redirects its trajectory to intercept them. Io also continues to attempt to establish contact with the other airship, but to no avail.

dump all ballast, rapid ascend!

>>198438

Can we rig some kind of explosive bolts with dynamite?

We can't evade them, so let's just head the way we want to go and hope they don't shoot us down.

>>198438
Are we faster than they are? Same speed? We really do want to get the hell away from them.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/24(Thu)17:19 No. 198497 ID: 35cea2
File 127742514118.png - (13.10KB , 543x468 , Airship.png )

Simon starts shoving the unused crates out the door, but they can't climb fast enough.

At this point there are no guesses as to the other airship's disposition; it fires a javelin at their airship, missing narrowly.

The airship swoops by, slowly turning around to make another run at them.

>>198441
Taping dynamite the the airship's auto-ballista javelins will prevent them from fitting into the machine. Not like the dynamite would have detonated anyways.

>>198445
The other airship is significantly faster, but is slightly slower to turn.

>>198497
Wait, we have weapons on this blimp?

SHOOT THEM! If they're slower to turn then get inside their turning radius so they can't get to us.

Man the auto-javelin gun!

If you've got more than one, man all available!

Transmit an SOS.

>>198497

Begin a tight turn and fire back at them. Short bursts, try to lead the target

Ed Pastry 2010/06/24(Thu)19:03 No. 198564 ID: 35cea2
File 127743138337.png - (13.65KB , 723x468 , Airship shootan.png )

Io does her best to out-maneuver the enemy airship, but it still manages to get a head-on attack on them. It fires a volley of 3 javelins, one of which easily slices through their airship's envelope. The gas inside starts escaping, and the airship is losing altitude slightly.

Io fires a two bolts from her ballista, one of which gets stuck in the other airship's body, to the right of the cockpit. It is beginning to leak some kind of fluid.

>>198564
Keep firing!

Set course for Tamiashi. Hopefully we can crash land there. We'd better hope the town doesn't have the same temperament as this airship.

And keep firing. Try to score another hit on the leaky bit. Maybe it'll leak more or catch fire.

>>198564
Have someone else man the cannons, Io! You're busy DRIVING.

>>198564

Use tent fabric to patch the hole!

Ed Pastry 2010/06/25(Fri)14:28 No. 198863 ID: 35cea2
File 12775012829.png - (11.89KB , 723x468 , Going down.png )

Io continues firing bolts at the airship, but they all miss. The airship passes over them and doesn't appear to be turning for another run, apparently satisfied with the damage it has done.

>>198575
The airship is losing air pretty quickly. Io is trying to navigate the airship the best she can, but it's still going to crash into the ocean at least 3 or so miles from Tamaishi.

>>198667
The controls for the autoballista are right next to the steering parts, like a fighter plane. Not that Simon would have been able to help, he's kinda running around and panicking in the storage bay.

>>198718
The hole isn't in a very accessible area.

Set 'er down in the ocean while you still have spare lift, and try to repair the damage without the risk of falling to your death. You've gotta have a little boat aboard or something.

We could also try losing more weight to keep afloat for longer.

You know...Does this pirate ship have any grappling hooks? Y'know, for grappling onto other airships and doing piratey-things like

BOARDING TIME

or such?

next time we land we are repainting this thing.

>>198863
Is there anywhere visible to land? Or anywhere at all if there happens to be a map handy?

Ed Pastry 2010/06/25(Fri)20:54 No. 199067 ID: 35cea2
File 127752449132.png - (15.20KB , 723x468 , fixit.png )

Io lands the airship in the ocean. There is enough gas in the balloon left to keep the thing afloat for a few minutes at most. After that it's probably going to sink.

>>198867
No boats, but there is a crate they haven't tossed overboard yet. Simon is dumped inside and sent out to patch the hole with the thread and tent canvas. The problem is reaching the hole.

>>198898
Io has grappling bolts for her arbalest, but it would be very difficult to use against a fast moving airship. Especially one that is miles away by now.

>>198901
Out on the horizon is the island of Tamaishi. Other than that, there is nothing.

Use the grappling hook and a rope to haul yourself up to the tear.

If that doesn't work, you've got nothing to lose. Pickaxe your way up the side! Punch holes right through the hull and use them for hand and footholds.

>>199067
Use the spade to paddle over to it. I'm sure as fuck glad we bought it.

PS: Don't forget your duct tape.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/25(Fri)21:34 No. 199085 ID: 35cea2
File 127752684980.png - (17.80KB , 723x468 , Repairs.png )

>>199067

Simon gets the equipment from inside the airship and paddles back over to the tear again using the spade. He then fires a grappling hook into the envelope, pulls himself up to the hole, gets tangled up in the cord, and then uses up a roll of duct tape, the tent canvas and all the thread in order to mend the airship. The finished product is pretty messy looking, but it should be able to fly again. The airship still has lost so much gas it won't be able to go as high as it used to, though.

You can buy more gas at Tamaishi, hopefully.

It should be at least relatively safe. If they had the ability to just impound it and kill you when you got there, they wouldn't have bothered with the intercept. Stay on your toes.

>>199085
Proceed to Tamaishi! Stay low on the horizon so you are less obvious as you approach. Hell, if you can, just stay on the water and boat your way to the island.

The fact you can not fly very high only helps this plan.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/26(Sat)16:12 No. 199509 ID: 35cea2
File 127759395163.png - (19.60KB , 800x468 , Tamaishi.png )

Their airship approaches the island of Tamaishi. They can either dock at the airship tower, or land somewhere in the forests in order to stay stealthy.

hang a white flag or something out the window and approach the tower slowly so they don't think you are pirates too.

>>199509
Radio ahead to make sure they know you're not pirates, and just dock at the tower.

Also can we please repaint the blimp?

Ed Pastry 2010/06/26(Sat)21:10 No. 199634 ID: 35cea2
File 127761183587.png - (25.97KB , 723x468 , Tamaishii greeting.png )

After they radio ahead to make sure nobody shoots at them again they dock at the tower. There is an information desk in the building, but the person staffing it is fast asleep. He seems to be covering a bunch of papers with his face.

Kiss your airship goodbye and proceed on down.

>>199634
Gently nudge them to wake them up. Or knock on the desk.

yes if they work here they may be able to tell you where to get more gas.

...Wait, are you going to be able to understand them when they wake up?

Ed Pastry 2010/06/28(Mon)11:45 No. 200367 ID: 35cea2
File 127775072067.png - (17.07KB , 723x468 , lazybored.png )

Simon nudges the sleeping man.

Simon: "Hey buddy, do you know anywhere we can re-gas our airship?"

The man snorts and mumbles a bit, then pulls out a drool-covered pamphlet from under his head.

Io: "Eww."
Karsci: "Oh look, it's got a bunch of coupons on it. There's %10 off at this Nensho-Mai Airship Repair place, how convenient."

>>200367
Great, let's use the coupon. Get the airship repaired and repainted. How about a nice blue color, to make it harder to see? After that let's get a phonebook and find a fuel line repairman. Maybe figure out who would have that vacuum igniter.

Say, what's the sign on the desk read?

Ed Pastry 2010/06/29(Tue)16:06 No. 200926 ID: 35cea2
File 127785281737.png - (28.12KB , 719x507 , Repair place.png )

>>200370
It's just a bunch of advertisements.

They find the airship repair shop just at the base of the tower, so they head on in.

Mechanic: "Konichiwa. Do itsu ta go yoken desu ka?"
Simon: "Uh... yeah. We have this coupon here, and our airship needs repairs and a new paint job."
Mechanic: "Ah oh-kay. What is wrong with it?"
Simon: "There is a hole that I sorta patched up and it's low on gas."
Mechanic: "I see. With your coupon, a paint-job, patching and regassing will cost you, hmm... about 396."

>>200926
My word, that's expensive. If we weren't in enemy territory I'd say we should try to find a job. I guess we do have enough money though.

Hmm, try to haggle him down a bit. Ask how much the paint job is going to cost as part of this deal.

>>200926

Casually ask him if he would be able to fix the fuel line of a rocket. Try to make it sound like a joke, but try to get an answer.

It would be probably a bad idea to hire a mechanic from here to do it, but maybe we can get an idea of how hard would be to do it and how expensive.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/30(Wed)12:44 No. 201434 ID: 35cea2
File 127792708470.png - (3.17KB , 293x233 , Im getting lazy.png )

Slater: "That is quite a sum, Sir."
Simon: "With that money I could have asked you to fix, I dunno, a rocket fuel line or something."
Mechanic: "Hah, I doubt it. I've got a cousin in Weeya-Bhu who works on stuff like that, and she told me it took her a week to fix the fuel systems of single rocket."
Io curses under her breath. Karsci just stares.
Simon: "Interesting, but enough digression. How much will the paint-job cost as a part of this?"
Mechanic: "100. Painting the thing is time consuming, but I can assure you that you will lose much more by flying those colors everywhere you go."
Simon: "That still seems really steep. We've managed to make it this far, maybe we can skip the paintjob."
Mechanic: "Hmpf. How about I lower the total cost to 346 then? Business has been slow and I'm a little desperate, but I cannot go any lower than that."

there we go. may not of lowered much but that's good. next stop Weeya-Bhu.

>>201434
That's a good price. Next we need to find that Vacuum Igniter.

Ed Pastry 2010/06/30(Wed)19:55 No. 201615 ID: 35cea2
File 127795294739.png - (25.20KB , 751x488 , Whereto.png )

They pay the mechanic, who says the airship should be ready in two days. The party heads outside and discusses their next move.

They don't know where to find the VACUUM IGNITER or the layout of the town in general though, so the first thing they need to do is orientate themselves somehow.

>>201615
Surely there's a visitor's center or something with little brocures and maps, right?

>>201616

The visitor's center was manned by the sleeping guy. It didn't have much else aside from coupons and advertisements.

>>201617
Oh I thought that was just an information booth... which is totally different from a visitor's center. Yep.

Hotels usually have maps, right? Or you could just ask some random guy where you can get one.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/01(Thu)16:04 No. 201894 ID: 35cea2
File 127802549756.png - (23.90KB , 723x468 , Hotelmap.png )

After asking a random passerby, they find a hotel. Here Simon picks up large map of the island, which also conveniently contains a smaller map of the town on it.

The list of (useful) services in Tamaishi include:
Airship Mechanic
Hotels
Grocery store
Electronics store
Hardware store
Clothing store
Hobby store
Library
Marina/Dock area
Corporate Headquarters for a mining company, a telecommunications company, a construction company and a shipping company.

hrm... try that hardware store.

>>202115
That does seem like the most likely place for a vacuum igniter to be.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/02(Fri)20:41 No. 202465 ID: 35cea2
File 127812849991.png - (25.75KB , 726x602 , Iginiter what.png )

They head to the hardware store to see if they can find a VACUUM IGNITER. The party splits up and wanders the ailes for a while, but their searches are fruitless.

Io goes up to the customer service desk and asks if the store has a VACUUM IGNITER. The person behind the desk has never heard of such a thing, but after searching the catalog he reveals that the igniter is a special item that must be ordered directly from the factory and isn't placed on the shelves. They can place an order on the item, but it would take a week to arrive and would set them back 2000 dollars.

ask where the factory is. perhaps going there would be faster then waiting.

God DAMN we need some money. Get everyone together and try to work out how you can get 2000 bucks in about a week, maybe two if we want to cut it close.

Yeah, ask the location of the factory. It will probably be faster and cheaper to buy the Vacuum Igniter from there directly. Or maybe we can even try to steal it.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/03(Sat)21:05 No. 202892 ID: 35cea2
File 127821632038.png - (31.24KB , 723x627 , Tamaishi Island Map.png )

Io asks the clerk where the factory is, which he states is located in Kojo, on Tamaishi island. Io pulls out a map to locate the place.

Io: "Wha-, that's only like a two day walk! Why would it take a week for them to deliver here?"
Clerk: "Namakemono Shipping Corporation is notorious for its speed and efficiency. More accurately, its lack thereof."

Okay, we've got two days to kill. If we walked there now it would take two days to get there then two days to get back. If we wait for the airship to finish being repaired we can get there and back a lot faster.

What places are within a day's walking distance? Also let's check to see if there are any odd jobs available around town. Make some quick money.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/04(Sun)22:55 No. 203479 ID: 35cea2
File 127830930997.png - (18.52KB , 609x431 , Ads.png )

Ichi-mune and the edge of Dragon Fields are both just a bit longer than a day's travel. Teki Castle can be reached in about a day and a half if they cut through the Machibuse Woods and ignore the main roads.

The party asks around town to see if they can find work to occupy them until their airship is repaired. In general the town doesnt seem to be needing much temporary labor. If they just tried finding all the random cleaning and such jobs, they can expect to make at most 100 dollars a day.

However, there are some very interesting advertisements hanging from the various corporate office buildings in the city. It appears the construction company requires the expertise of some skilled spies, the mining company needs a few detectives and the telecommunications company needs some gung-ho mercenaries.

Let's take the detective job.

indeed, if it's one thing we have gotten good at it's problem solving.

>gung-ho mercenaries.
That's us!

>>203479
I'm going to have to go with gung-ho mercs for this one. ADVENTURE HOOO!

Note: Mercenary work may involve murder. Io, Simon and co. have shied away from that in the past...

Thirding Detectiving.

Fourthing gumshoe.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/05(Mon)21:34 No. 203924 ID: 35cea2
File 127839085870.png - (46.13KB , 1904x570 , Conference.png )

Agreeing that maybe detective work may best suit their abilities, the party enters the mining company's headquarters office. After spending about an hour in reception and getting lost in the hallways, the finally find the person they need to talk to in a conference room.

Potential Employer: "Ah, konichiwa! You must be the detectives we're looking for. Please, have a seat."
They comply. The chairs are pretty uncomfortable and smell like cheap coffee and cigarette butts.
Potential Employer: "So, are you from the guilds or the secret police or what?"
Slater: "We're... independents, Sir."
Potential Employer: "Okay, good. Right now we have an issue that we simply don't trust the UTB's police forces enough to handle."
Simon: "I know exactly what you mean."
Potential Employer: "We are willing to pay you three grand total for the successful resolution of this case. But first, I am going to need to ask you: Can you all keep a secret?"

It depends on what the secret is, but probably.

But of course!

Ed Pastry 2010/07/08(Thu)08:01 No. 204938 ID: 35cea2
File 127860126746.png - (23.54KB , 844x570 , Gumshoes.png )

Potential Employer: "Well, a few weeks ago one of our most profitable iron mines on Ijin-Shima faced a series of crippling malfunctions. If word got out about these problems, the UTB would have shut us down for safety violations. The chance those things would have happened on their own is very slim since our equipment is always well maintained. We suspect our major competitor, Raibaru Extractions, is behind all this. We hired an agent to keep a close eye on them, but he has failed to report back to us. We need you to find out the fate of our agent and complete his mission for him. The pay is 3000 dollars for accomplishing both of these tasks."
Slater: "This case seems rather dangerous, Sir, considering how your previous sleuth disappeared while trying to achieve the same objective."
Potential Employer: "Are you saying you aren't being paid enough?"
Slater: "No Sir, I am just s-"
Simon: "YES THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE SAYING HOW MUCH CAN WE GET?"
Potential Employer: "Hmph, fine. 4000 dollars is as high as we can go though. So, what do you say?"

>>204938
4000 is excellent, take it. Now ask for directions to the mine and to his competitor, and we'll start by going to the mine and talking to the foreman there about what exactly went wrong.

>>204938
Let's do it.

Ed Pastry 2010/07/09(Fri)22:44 No. 205695 ID: 35cea2
File 127874066574.png - (95.07KB , 800x957 , Location.png )

Simon: "Sounds good to me? Where's your mine and competitor located?"
Current Employer: "Our mine is located in the middle of the jungles of Ijin-Shima, and our competitor is only about a day's walk from there. I can get you all tickets for a flight there there, if you need them."

They party needs to purchase food before they leave; Simon and Io have 0 rations each and Karsci has 2. In addition, they can take some time to purchase other items in Tamaishi.

>>205695
Okay, let's shop around a little bit.