2012-02-23 [Flisky]: Tria rolled her eyes at Bear. The boy wasn't that much shorter than she was. She rocked on her heels, waiting for Jimmie to return.

2012-02-23 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie is going to look through them real quick and try to locate anything that looks like a code before sprinting back up to the others.

2012-02-23 [Avaz]: Jimmie: You check out the ledger, and it's a list of names, conditions, and other information. You make note that the whole journal seems to be written with the same handwriting, except the last three lines, written in a completely different hand, which read:

_{Rebecca Finley, female, aged 18-22, incarcerated for: larceny, treason, attempted sabotage of an Imperial Skyliner, and impersonating an officer Deceased. Cause: Blunt head trauma
Jimmie <Unknown>, male, aged 21-25, incarcerated for: unpaid debts, treasonous actions, and conspiring to perform treason
FoalBerne Muldoon, male, aged 24-32, incarcerated for: treasonous actions, conspiring to perform treason}

Also of note is that the last three lines have all the S's written backwards.

Rifling through the binder and loose sheets, you find many of them are blank. But you uncover two things worth mentioning: one sheet has the numbers "28567" and one sheet which has a scrawled note. It reads:

Gideon,
Toss these three in the cells to rot. Make sure to cover your tracks this time! Add their names in the ledger to make it look legitimate if someone goes snooping. Shouldn't matter much anyway, that whale of a ship will be going down in flames on its own.
And for God's sake, burn this note after you read it!
Signed,
M

2012-02-23 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but he knew when something was important enough to keep. He leaves the blank sheets of paper behind and only takes the sheets with the note and the code on it and he also tosses the ledger into his backpack all the while wondering why Tria's name wasn't on the list and what she was doing there. With those three things secure he races off back to the others. Once he hits the top of the stairs and can see Bear and Tria he starts yelling the code, "28567! 28567!"

2012-02-23 [Earoluim]: Bear turned towards Jimmie as he started yelling the numbers at them, quickly turning around he punched the numbers in. He looked up at Tria for a quick moment, giving her an accusing look as he took a step back.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: Why is Bear looking accusingly at Tria???

2012-02-24 [Lord Josmar]: Because she just stood there and did NOTHING!

2012-02-24 [Avaz]: Bear: You punch in the numbers, and right at the moment you punch in the 7, the green bulb lights up. There's the sound of some steam escaping, then some sort of repeated metallic clanking, like a gear turning against a stop. The clanking stops when there's one final, definitive sound of metal scraping against metal. The doors are still closed, but the green light on the keypad is brightly lit.

By that time, Jimmie has made it back to the group, panting a bit from his sprinting excursion.

2012-02-24 [Lord Josmar]: "Well....did it...work?" Jimmie said as he was bent over with his hands placed on his knees. To help regain his breath he decided to light up another cigarette.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: What are you talking about she just stood there? Jimmie ran off and left then there. Bear only conversed with the kid. Wait, I'm still confused and can't post until I know what the hell is going on!

2012-02-24 [Earoluim]: I gave you an accusing look for being rude and rolling your eyes at me. * shrugs *

2012-02-24 [Earoluim]: Bear took the cigarette from Jimmie's mouth and flick the lit cherry off the top of it before handing it back to him. Walking through the door he turned and looked at the bug, "Not while we are in the building with the little one." He said softly as he scanned the area ahead of him.

2012-02-24 [Avaz]: Here's a recap: The group was gathered in front of the door.
Jimmie remembered seeing the books downstairs.
He jammed to grab them.

WHILE HE RAN AWAY:
Bear talked to Benjamin.

And then Jimmie came running back.

The whole thing took perhaps a minute at the most.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: Yeah, well if you had read, Tria was once again standing in front of the thing Bear just went to. Did he trample her, or just shove her out of the way?

2012-02-24 [Avaz]: And there is no elevator, Earolium.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: And besides, Bear wouldn't have even SEEN her roll her eyes.

2012-02-24 [Avaz]: Okay guys, no need to get riled up. I took Bear's glare to mean that he was upset that during the 30 seconds that Jimmie ran off, Tria didn't do anything.

Of course, there was nothing she could do. I mean, she could have tried to throw some magic at the door, or smash at it with her pan, but chances are she's smart enough to know that both those would be pointless.

As for him seeing her roll her eyes, I think it would be reasonable for Tria to have made a rolling-head movement that may have caught Bear's eye. That is assuming that the two of them were within each other's line of sight.

2012-02-24 [Earoluim]: * shrugs * My apologies, I made an assumption it was an elevator. I will audit my post. Should I roll a notice check or something to notice her rolling of the eyes.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: Uh....the only thing I do when I roll my eyes is the smallest shift to the side. And I'm riled up because this is the second time his character has completely ignored the placement of mine.

2012-02-24 [Avaz]: Earoluim, No, you don't need to roll anything for that. The doors are unlocked but no one has tried opening them yet, so you're all still standing around.

Flisky, I guess I roll my eyes more dramatically. Also, the hallway is wide enough for the both of you to be standing side by side in front of the keypad.


Are we all cool now? :)

2012-02-24 [Earoluim]: * Smiles and nods * Bear reaches out and tries to open the door.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: Yeah, I guess. Tria is now convinced that Bear is a big jerk who has no respect for personal space or not squishing her. But that's cool. Gives her some conflict with people.

2012-02-24 [Flisky]: Tria took a huge step back as Bear nearly trampled her again and invaded her personal space just so he could be the one to open the door. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look that clearly said how little she thought of him. "Okay, now that everyone has stopped moving, can we keep going?" Her tone was annoyed. She was quickly losing patience with them.

2012-02-24 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie looked at the now unlit cigarette then back at Bear, "Now, Im all good with being friends and all. But don't ever mess with a man and his tobacco. I've seen people get shot for less." he said as he relit the cigarette and mumbled to himself.

2012-02-24 [Earoluim]: "If it was pure tabacco I would not have messed with it." He said as he opened the door.

2012-02-25 [Avaz]: Hey gang, FYI, I found out I have a very busy weekend, so I won't be able to do anything until Monday. But feel free to continue chatting amongst yourselves. Just don't try to go anywhere or do anything else that would require my intervention. :P

2012-02-25 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie scoffed, "Pfft, like you can tell what's in this. I don't smoke no dollar smokes, thank you very much!"

2012-02-25 [Flisky]: Tria's foot started taping a regular cadence on the floor. She blew out a breath and looked at the men. They were being so childish.

2012-02-25 [Earoluim]: BEar gave Jimmir a stern look. "You bought them out of a machine..... Now lets get out of here. Anything useful you can do miss, other than counting with your toes ?" He asked tiltig his head towards her.

2012-02-27 [Flisky]: "We could go with my earlier suggestion of lets keep moving," Tria said with annoyance tinging her tone.

2012-02-27 [Avaz]: Bear opens the door and the group is greeted by a much smaller anteroom. All three walls have more double doors.

To your left (north), there is a set of double doors with a sign reading "To Engine Room, Authorized Personnel Only".

Directly ahead of you there is a double door with a sign above it reading "To Cockpit, Restricted Access". Next to the doors is another keypad.

Finally, to your right (south), there is a set of double doors with a bright green sign reading "Entrance/Exit"

2012-02-28 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie scanned the doors and focused on the one reading cockpit. He knew he wouldn't be able to drive this thing, but wanted to see where they were. After having a bit of time to calm down from his previous freakout while waiting for the door to be opened, he realized that they should still be careful. He drew his gun before checking to see if the door was unlocked.

If the door is unlocked then he is going to kick them open and rush in.

2012-02-28 [Avaz]: The red light on the keypad on the cockpit door is lit. It is locked.

Benji eyes Jimmie's gun with a bit of trepidation.

2012-02-28 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie tries the same passcode that gained them access thus far.

2012-02-28 [Avaz]: You enter the code, and the moment you punch in the last number, the lights alternate. The red light goes off and the green one is now lit. The door is unlocked.

2012-02-28 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie is going to open the door and ready his gun incase he has to shoot someone.

2012-02-28 [Avaz]: Jimmie: The door opens after the requisite puffs of steam and grinding of gears. Before you is a short and narrow hallway that opens up to a larger concave room. All along the wall is several panels of glass. From where you're standing it's impossible to tell what's below you. You can only see what's ahead of you, and right now it's nothing but a whole sky of blue.

Also along this wall is an entire shelf of various equipment, displays, gauges, levers, knobs, and switches. There is a lone chair occupying a space in the center of the console array. The room is empty.

Of particular note is that the center of the console where it looks like a steering wheel may have been, is a bunch of shattered glass and metal. Sparks are flying out at the place where it looks to have been smashed. And indeed, rolling around on the floor is an abandoned lead pipe.

2012-02-29 [Lord Josmar]: "Oh damn." Jimmie said as he eyed the spot where the steering mechanism was supposed to be. "Welp, let's see what I can do." he said as he cracked his knuckles and set himself to trying to find a way to fix their problem...or the steering mechanism.

Mechanics = 65

2012-02-29 [Avaz]: As you get closer to the console, you get a better view outside. You can see that you are actually quite high up, flying over a body of water. Off to your right a short way away is a shoreline.

Now, when you start playing around with the wires and twisted pieces of metal trying to find a way to fix something, the wire in your hand slips and accidentally brushes an open circuit. A burst of sparks shoots out as a result, causing a short. You're not sure if you would have had any better luck if you had any tools to work with or not, but either way your little slip up causes the whole ship to tilt to the right about 20 degrees. Oops!

2012-02-29 [Lord Josmar]: Tilt like listing?

2012-02-29 [Flisky]: Tria managed to keep her feet as she followed into the cockpit. "Can you get us closer to the water?" she asked after ascertaining the situation.

2012-02-29 [Avaz]: Jos: Yes, tilt as in listing. It's still going straight, so it's not turning.

Flisky: You are already currently above water. Unless you meant closer to be lower to the surface of the water.

2012-02-29 [Lord Josmar]: "Oops." Jimmie said as he grabbed a hold of something to keep his footing. "Let's try this again." he said as he put his hand back into the fray.

Mechanics = 11

Thank god.

2012-02-29 [Avaz]: Before I address your second check, everyone give me a PER check please.

2012-02-29 [Lord Josmar]: Per = 8

2012-02-29 [Flisky]: Yeah, closer to the surface. Sorry, didn't word that right.

2012-02-29 [Flisky]: Per = 3

2012-03-02 [Earoluim]: Bear headed down the hall, smilling up over his shoulder at Benji as came to the cockpit, watching Benji as he worked for a moment. He started to avert his gaze, looking around ad scrutiizing the room. He bent over and absent mindidly picked up the pipe and haded it to Benji. "After we make it out of here I will show you the way fo the sword if you owuld like little one." He said softly, still scrutinizing the room.

2012-03-02 [Earoluim]: Per 5

2012-03-02 [Avaz]: Bear: Benji takes the pipe, inspects it a bit, and decides to hold on to it. "Uhm.. Mother always told me I shouldn't be playing with knives or other sharp things. She never let me help her in the kitchen, either. I don't know if playing with swords is such a good idea, Mr. Bear." As Bear is scrutinizing the room, he finds there's not much to scrutinize. Whoever was in here apparently cleared the place out. Any toolboxes or life vests that should be standard are completely missing.

Everyone: As soon as Jimmie fumbled his first attempt at fixing the equipment and the ship was rocked to the side, all of you heard voices shouting. More than one voice, to be sure, and it came from outside. It sounded like the voices were startled as if the ground beneath their feet suddenly gave out and they weren't expecting it.

Jimmie: Seeing your original fault, you twist the wire in a couple places, and jam it into one of the circuit connections. The ship levels again. You try a couple other fixes to jury-rig the equipment, and much to your satisfaction, you see that you now have regained some directional control on the vehicle. It's not completely fixed, though. However, there's not much more you can do for it without replacement parts, specialized tools, and lots of time. Unfortunately, you don't have any of those.

2012-03-02 [Earoluim]: Bear smiled and nodded his head. "Aye it is not. But I shall teach you the proper manners for using it, and, knowing when to use it." He said smiling at him gently, "For now just use that pipe as your training sword." he shortly added. He looked over at Jimmi for a moment. "Can you land this Steam Craft?" He asked Jimmy cooly, looking back down the hall for a moment before looking back over his shoulder at him.


Did you mean to cut off half sentence there ? 

2012-03-02 [Avaz]: Oh, oops. Thanks for catching that. I did not mean to cut off mid sentence. I will edit.

2012-03-02 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie didn't answer Bear's question right away as his attention was focused on the voices. He was straining to look out of the cockpit window to try and see who it was. "I might be able to. Not sure. Anyone else hear them voices a moment ago?"

2012-03-02 [Avaz]: Unfortunately, the cockpit window doesn't give a clear enough view to get any sort of look. The voices sounded like it came from the starboard side and maybe a little further back, but there's no way of pinpointing it.

2012-03-02 [Lord Josmar]: I'll wait a bit to give them a chance to respond before Jimmie gives his idea.

2012-03-03 [Flisky]: Tria threw up her hands in disgust and turned to go back out of the cockpit. Since Jimmie never answered her question she completely ignored his and started to listen for any voices that may still be sounding.

2012-03-03 [Lord Josmar]: I figured since after she asked, Jimmie threw a spark and the ship listed 20 degrees, that she would have taken that as an answer.

2012-03-03 [Avaz]: Makes sense to me. ^^

2012-03-03 [Flisky]: Men. Why does everything have to be nonverbal with you? :P

2012-03-03 [Avaz]: Anything more than a grunt and a point takes too much effort to express. :P

That said, if Tria wants to keep her same reaction, that's fine.

2012-03-03 [Flisky]: Lazy answers. :/ But, yeah, still keeping that reaction.

2012-03-03 [Avaz]: Tria: You step back out of the cockpit and into the anteroom to listen for any other voices. Give me another PER check.

2012-03-03 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie saw Tria leave before shaking his head, "Damn spell flingers." He looked around again to make sure there wasn't anything in the area that could help him before he looked over at Bear. "Hey, do ya think you could look in the engine room for me. See if there's anythin' in there I could use?"

2012-03-03 [Flisky]: Per: 4

2012-03-04 [Avaz]: Tria: From the anteroom, you strain to listen. Your efforts are rewarded when you hear more of the same voices coming from beyond the exit doors. You can't make out what they're saying, but they definitely sound hurried or excited.

2012-03-04 [Flisky]: Sticking her head back into the cockpit, Tria looked at Jimmie. "I found your voices," she said before going to the exit door.

2012-03-04 [Lord Josmar]: Well...check 'em out?" Jimmie said as if it should have been done right away.

2012-03-04 [Flisky]: "Uh, not by myself," Tria said, as if this should have been obvious.

2012-03-04 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie sighed, "I can't go anywhere. In case this thing goes all slippy again."

2012-03-04 [Earoluim]: "I will go with her and then we can chack out the Enginen room together." He said as he set Benji and his bookbag down."Are you ready for your first lesson little one?" He asked Benji with a smile on his face.

2012-03-04 [Avaz]: Bear: Benji looked relieved to be finally put down on the ground. But then he suddenly started looking...worried? Nervous? "Uhmmm, I guess so, Mr. Bear." He held his pipe with two hands and stood in an awkward stance. "Wh-what am I supposed to do?"

Jos: For what it's worth, Jimmie's pretty confident that his jury-rigging of the steering is sufficient enough that if he were to make a couple small adjustments, he could keep the vessel flying straight by itself, if he wanted. (No check necessary.)

2012-03-04 [Lord Josmar]: Shush Avaz! Now Jimmie has to do stuff! Lol.

2012-03-04 [Avaz]: ^_^

2012-03-04 [Earoluim]: Bear smiled and shook his head. "I want you to make your self smaller, bend your knees a little more. And when we encounter an enemy, I want you to never stop moving. And aim small, like the hands, wrist, knees and feet. Let me worry about everything else for the moment alright?" He said smiling, showing Benji how to stand and hold his pipe.

2012-03-04 [Flisky]: Tria let out a sigh as Bear started giving the kid a lesson in fighting. She went over to the door to open it.

2012-03-04 [Earoluim]: Bear glanced over at Tria and then slowly turned back to Benji."And remember above all esle, be patient. You will not always be able to strike first or where you want even. Wait for that right moment to strike, bide your time and energy, and then explode towards your target, and then away. Patience is your greatest weapon little one, and a great character builder." He said with a slight grin, ruffling his hair slightly.

2012-03-04 [Lord Josmar]: As Tria goes to open the door and Bear gives fighting lessons to Benji, Jimmie is going to see if he cant work up some kind of steering mechanism. "Hey, sorry to interrupt your lessons there Bear, but can I get one of the police sticks from ya?" he said as he continued looking for a way to attach it to what he already had. "One of our prisoner outfits too."

2012-03-05 [Earoluim]: Bear smiled and nodded, lifting and tossing him the bag and a Baton as he turned and started to walk towards Tria.

2012-03-05 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie takes the baton and pulls out a shirt. His plan is to fasten the police baton to something and use it like a steering mechanism to aid in his attempts to move the ship

Roll?

2012-03-05 [Avaz]: Jimmie: No roll required. You had enough scrap parts lying around. You tear some strips off of the shirt and use it as wrap-ties to secure the baton to the steering, you succeed.

Tria and Bear: Tria turns the handle of the door, and is greeted by a gust of cold, fresh air. For the first time since waking up, the sound of the wind rushing by is louder than the din of the ship's engines. Beyond the door is a wide platform with a railing that stretches to the back of the ship as far as you can see.

More importantly, there are three men who look wide-eyed at you as you open the door. Two of them are off the side of the ship, standing in one of the life floats*, while the third one is trying to hurriedly untie the emergency vessel to make a quick escape. One of the men sitting inside the float yelps out loud at seeing Tria, Bear, and Benji.

A quick glance down the rest of the railing reveals that there are a number of other empty life floats.


*The life float looks something like this: It has an undeployed parachute attached to it so that you can float to the ground. Each one seats 4 people.

(Map will be up tomorrow)

2012-03-05 [Lord Josmar]: Gasp! I shoulda came with!

2012-03-05 [Earoluim]: Bear saw the men and flashed forward towards the guy with trying to release the pull rope. Fluidly and quickly drawing his saber, he slashes the rope above the knot to release the boat.


I take it that more than one rope knot holds it up?

2012-03-05 [Lord Josmar]: NOOO! You're helping them!

2012-03-05 [Flisky]: Tria watched in shock as Bear helped the men. She was certain these were the people who had probably nabbed her. Backing away from the door, she looked through the open cockpit. "Uh...a little help!" she said to Jimmie.

2012-03-05 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie turned and, with a little hesitation, left the console and went with Tria out the door they had opened. "What's going on?" He asked as he walked towards the door.

2012-03-05 [Avaz]: Bear: You rush forward and slash at the pull rope - He had already untied the four or five other ropes that held the craft to the ship - the last rope that the man was trying to hastily untie himself. As soon as you cut the rope, the life float began to fall away from the railing. The one man still standing on the railing clumsily jumped, nearly falling over the side in his surprise. One of the two men inside the raft was quick enough to catch him and pull him inside. They begin floating away as one of them laughs boastfully, 'Thanks, suckers!" He points a flintlock pistol in the party's direction and fires once, but the bullet harmlessly bounces off the wall.

Jimmie: You leave the console and, thankfully, your jury-rigging was solid enough that the craft continued its course when you let go of the steering mechanism. As you head outdoors, you catch a glimpse of a man tripping over himself jumping over the railing, as he joins two other men in a life float, all floating away.

2012-03-05 [Lord Josmar]: "Just gonna stand there and let them get away?" Jimmie said as he started untieing the securing ropes of one of the life rafts. "Help me untie these so we can get off this damned thing and maybe put a few holes in those bastards."

2012-03-05 [Flisky]: "Stupid!" Tria screamed at Bear as she rushed forward, taking out her knife and sawing at the ropes. He was obviously not the smartest guy around, and now Tria had another reason to not like him.

2012-03-06 [Earoluim]: Bear moved and helped him with the ropes and hopped into the life boat. "Well it is not like you exactly did anything to stop them yourself, you could have apprehended the other after I supprised him." He said as he turned and looked towards the other life boat.

2012-03-06 [Flisky]: Tria resisted the urge to hit him. "You FREED THEIR BOAT!" she screamed at him as she hacked another rope. "What was I supposed to do?!"

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: "Come on and get in Tria." Jimmie said, seriously questioning this Bear guy's motives. "I can get the last rope." he said as he wiped his switchblade out and sawed through the last rope.

2012-03-06 [Flisky]: Tria sheathed her knife and climbed in, shooting Bear a nasty look. She focused on calling on her air affinity. They might need them here.

2012-03-06 [Earoluim]: Did we just abandon the kid on the boat ?

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: We haven't let go yet. Just make a quick post saying you grabbed him or edit your earlier post to say so.

2012-03-06 [Earoluim]: Bear reached over the railing and carefully hoisted Benji into the life boat with them. "I did that so I could try and trap the one of them here with us, I am sorry I did not stand there with you and gape at them my dear." He said back at her accusing look. "Shall we forget that and deal with the matter at had? Hmm ?" He added as he turned aroud ad looked for the other life boat.

2012-03-06 [Flisky]: Tria lost her concentration as she rounded on Bear. "I was too busy being trampled on for the third time! Now can you shut it so I can focus?" Tria equipped her Gust spell in her left glove.

2012-03-06 [Earoluim]: "Concetrate and talk or focus on your spell. Do not blame me for your inability to act upon the moment." He said sheathing his saber, crossing his arms across his chest as he waited for her to cast the spell.

2012-03-06 [Avaz]: I'm confused. Where and when did Tria get trampled again? I'm not seeing it. There's enough room in the life float for all four of you, so.. *shrug* I think I'm missing something?

Also, what are you trying to do with the Gust: attack the guys floating away, or push off the ship to catch up to them, or something else? Whatever the answer, give me two checks, one for Elemental Harmony and one for the duration of the spell (1d2).

Lastly... through the commotion of the past several moments, Benji took Bear's help and climbed into the float. He tried to stay as small as possible, looking guilty and scared, hoping none of this was his fault.

2012-03-06 [Flisky]: She had just opened the door (I hadn't had time to react) And Bear rushed through. And technically she hasn't been trampled yet, she's just really angry.

She's just readying the spell do when Jimmie gets in they can have a push start. Not actually casting anything yet.

2012-03-06 [Avaz]: I see.

She wouldn't have been able to cast it yet anyway. :P There's the process to go through. Minor action to equip, move to prepare, and then next "round" it would go off with a standard action, and last for as long as it does.

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie is already in.

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: Wait, nvm. I thought I had him get inside with his last post.

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: "You could just shiskabob'd that man." Jimmie yelled over the wind as his knife sliced through the last strand of the rope. "I know these are the gear-grinding assholes that locked us up in here." he accented his words by firing at the other people's life raft.

2012-03-06 [Flisky]: Anyway...

Elemental Harmony: 16%

Duration: 2 (rolled 3 on a d4)

2012-03-06 [Avaz]: Jos: Let's just say he got inside. *DM handwave* :)

Everyone: Everyone has climbed onboard and all the ropes have been cut. Benji, Jimmie and Bear are still holding on to the railing, however, while Tria is adjusting some knobs and levers on her Magic Box. After about ten seconds, she gives the okay for the men to let go. The life float stars falling away but Tria raises her hand to the side of the ship and lets loose with a sudden burst of air from the glove in her hand. The group is now falling quickly behind the three men, though the other guys still have an advantage of distance.

That distance is fast closing as the men have now deployed their parachute to slow their fall, while the four of you are still freefalling with an undeployed parachute. If you deploy your parachute now, you can take your chances having an aerial fight until the both groups land, or you can continue your freefall - which is headed straight into their deployed parachute.

2012-03-06 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie shot at them. Should I roll something?

2012-03-06 [Avaz]: Nah. They were too far away for him to hit by then.

2012-03-07 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie waited till they got a bit closer to the other life boat before pulling the chute cord to slow their fall. He also moved to the edge of the raft so he can get some clear shots on them.

2012-03-08 [Avaz]: For what it's worth, combat is about to start. You have about 5 in-game seconds to prepare before you're within fighting distance to each other. Of course, OOC chatter and discussion/tactics does not take IG time.

2012-03-09 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie was ready for the bullets to start flying when he had a sudden thought. "Bear, do you think you could cut the ropes attached to their chute?" his plan was to cause their safety boat to drop them into the water.

2012-03-09 [Flisky]: Tria prepared her spell again, keeping her knife in her apron and ready to attempt to snarl their parachute.

2012-03-09 [Avaz]: Jimmie:Gimme an INT check.

2012-03-09 [Lord Josmar]: INT = 2

2012-03-09 [Avaz]: Jimmie:As the words are coming out of your mouth, you realize the error of your logic. Having Bear cut the ropes would require getting in close, putting the whole group at risk. While you shooting their parachute while you still have the height advantage would make more sense and fulfill the same goal.

2012-03-10 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie let the thought sink in as they approached the enemy raft. "On second thought, let's just shoot the hell outta their chute." He said as he leaned over the edge a bit and started firing into the baddy's chute.

2012-03-10 [Flisky]: Tria didn't have a gun, but then she didn't need one. She waited until they were close enough and cast her Gust spell right at the top of the enemies chute.

EH: 28%
Duration: 1 round

2012-03-10 [Avaz]: Jimmie: Go ahead and roll firearms. The combined attacks from him and Tria will essentially be a surprise round, and then we'll determine sequence.

2012-03-10 [Lord Josmar]: Firearms: 53

2012-03-10 [Avaz]: Jimmie: It's pretty hard to determine trajectory when you have two moving objects falling from the sky, so when you fired your sidearm at their parachute, your aim was a bit off.

Tria: Your timing is excellent. You begin casting as your life float is approaching theirs. Right when you're within range of their parachute, your spell goes off, making their parachute implode. You hear them yell as they begin to plummet toward the surface of the water.

Benji looks at Tria wide-eyed with endless awe and amazement. He mouths the word, "Wow."

2012-03-10 [Avaz]: Also, I didn't explicitly state this before, but the parachutes do have pull strings to help direct your path down.

2012-03-10 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie's frustration at missing was sort lived as Tria's spell succeeded. "Good job Toots." he said as he watched the other basket fall.

2012-03-10 [Flisky]: Tria stared at her hands in shock for a moment, as if she couldn't believe that had worked. She smiled up at Jimmie. "Thanks!" She didn't even care that he had called her toots.

2012-03-11 [Avaz]: And you guys are totally getting extra XP for using your abilities in ways I wouldn't have thought of. :D

2012-03-11 [Lord Josmar]: Lolz, that's what I am here for.

Jimmie watched them and waited for them to hit the water. As much as he wanted them to die on impact he hoped at least one of them would survive for questioning.

2012-03-13 [Avaz]: I want to wait for Bear to throw a reply in here at some point before going any further.

2012-03-16 [Avaz]: Hm, as of this moment, he hasn't been on in 11 days. What's the statute of limitations before we either start to get worried and/or consider dropping/replacement?

2012-03-16 [Lord Josmar]: Um...idk. One more day before we move on. I'd say a month before we drop him.

2012-03-16 [Avaz]: Sounds reasonable to me. Flisky?

2012-03-16 [Flisky]: I agree.

2012-03-25 [Avaz]: Seems we've lost a couple comments here, looks like.

2012-03-25 [Flisky]: Oh dear....

2012-03-25 [Lord Josmar]: I know that the that one died and two suffered grave injuries and they were swimming away as we were closing in on them to land close. Tria was getting ready to try and laso them and tie them up.

2012-03-26 [Avaz]: Oh yes. Okay, let's pick it up from there.
----

The parachute of the other men didn't have enough time to catch the air to reinflate on its own, so their craft crashed into the water, causing considerable damage. One of the men died instantly on impact, and the other two suffered several gashes to their faces and bodies.

Sensing their danger, they abandoned their dead friend and began swimming furiously for shore...even as the heroes' life float was aimed to land next to them. Both swimmers had suffered some wounds to their heads that, combined with the water dilution, made it seem like the bleeding was quite profuse. It probably was.

2012-03-26 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie is going to steer their raft so that it will hopefully land near the swimmers. He made a mental note to return to the bad guy's raft and search the dead one...just incase.

2012-03-26 [Flisky]: Tria unlooped the rope from herself, tying it in a lasso type configuration. She waited for Jimmie to land, knowing she would need his help.

2012-03-26 [Earoluim]: (ok sorry, my screen broke and my phone was shut off on top of work, my apologies to everyone, but I am back on my phone now. *bows my head*)

2012-03-26 [Avaz]: Okay. For Earolium's benefit, here's a summary of the last several days of posts while you were gone. After the thugs got away on the life float, your group took another one and went chasing after them. Jimmie tried shooting their parachute, but he missed. Tria successfully used a Gust spell on their parachute, which made them lose control and crash into the ocean. One guy died immediately, and the other two took heavy damage and are now trying to swim to the shore. Meanwhile, you guys are moments away from landing your float next to them so Tria can lasso them and catch them for questioning.

Benji has been trying to stay out of the way this whole time.

2012-03-26 [Earoluim]: (so I would be it guessing to say that in my case that I am a melee fighter I just stood thewre over him)

2012-03-27 [Avaz]: Yeah, probably.

2012-03-27 [Earoluim]: (heavy breath) Alright then.

2012-03-30 [Avaz]: For the record, Bear can take one action before everyone hits the water. Would he like to do anything, or should I continue with the results?

2012-03-30 [Earoluim]: How close are we to the ground?

2012-03-31 [Avaz]: At the moment, you guys will hit the water in less than about 5 seconds. So that's something like 150 feet above water and quickly shrinking.

2012-04-03 [Earoluim]: I will prepare for movemnt once we are 10 ft up

2012-04-03 [Avaz]: You all keep falling and you are now 10 feet above the water. You will hit the water in about 1 second.

2012-04-03 [Earoluim]: Do I need a perception check to see where the targets thugs are?

2012-04-04 [Avaz]: Not at all. You can all clearly see the two of them struggling to swim to shore as fast as they can while still bleeding from their face.

2012-04-04 [Earoluim]: Then I will hop from the basket and move into the water no more than knee deep and draw my saber.

2012-04-04 [Avaz]: That's unfortunately not possible. You are hundreds of feet from the shore, and the water is very deep here. You can draw your saber, but you'll be swimming.

2012-04-05 [Earoluim]: ...... Then I will wait with the tide and stand.

2012-04-06 [Avaz]: Your group's life float finally lands in the water and you are about 5 feet from one of the swimmers, who is actively and frantically trying to swim to shore. There are floatation devices on the float itself, so it doesn't sink all the way into the water - only about waist deep. But regardless, the bottom area is not completely closed, so all of you are now drenched from the waist down.

The one thug closest to you was able to wipe away blood-water from his eyes long enough to notice that you're right there, and he lets out a startled yell and tries to swim faster. His thug buddy who is a short distance away, hears his yell and also speeds up.

What do you do?

2012-04-06 [Earoluim]: Bear looks between the two thugs for a moment and turns to Jimmie, "Can you take care of the other one please?" he asks as he sheaths his saber and steps up onto the ledge of their capsule. He quickly dives into the water after the closer thug chasing him to the shore line.

2012-04-06 [Lord Josmar]: As much as Jimmie wanted to shoot and kill the other guy, he was hoping that Tria could laso him. "Can you get the furthest one?" he asked.Missing: </b>

2012-04-12 [Avaz]: We're waiting on Tria's reply, I believe, right?

2012-04-12 [Lord Josmar]: FLISKY!

2012-04-20 [Avaz]: *poke*

2012-04-20 [Earoluim]: ....

2012-04-21 [Lord Josmar]: We are still waiting on Flisky.

2012-04-21 [Flisky]: Sorry. I died. :/

Tria waits patiently until they are in the water and tosses the rope in an attempt to lasso the nearest thug.

2012-04-21 [Earoluim]: Bear swam a bit faster trying to catch up to the thug closest to the shore.

2012-04-22 [Avaz]: The nearest thug is practically a sitting duck for Tria's lasso, and she is able to catch him in her rope. Up ahead a short way, Bear is making great strides to catch up to the second swimmer.

Bear, give me an END check to see how long it'll take to catch the guy.

2012-04-22 [Earoluim]: END Check: 5

2012-04-22 [Lord Josmar]: When Tria lassos the baddie, Jimmie is going to help her reel him in by grabbing onto the rope and pulling with her.

2012-04-23 [Avaz]: _{Earolium seems to be having great luck on the dice. He has so far not flubbed a single roll. Or maybe it's something else, hmm...}

Bear: With a great surge of effort, you swim forward and manage to catch up to the thug. Desperately, he begins splashing water in your face to try to make you slow down or somehow stop following him.

Tria and Jimmie: When the guy got lassoed, he tried to wriggle out, and almost got it, but with your combined effort, you were able to better restrain him and pull him back. The sudden jerking motion of being pulled back makes him start to choke when water gets unexpectedly into his mouth.

Benji nervously calls out to anyone who can hear him, "Hey, should I start swimming to the shore?"

2012-04-23 [Earoluim]: (That is one of the reasons that no one will let me use my dice anymore, I have been using them for 10 years)

Bear grabs his arms and gives him a hard shove back towards the ....floating capsule..?

2012-04-23 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie kept pulling the man back to bring him into the boat.

2012-04-24 [Avaz]: Both men are now back in the life raft, one of them is lassoed and the other is being restrained by Bear. They both kick and punch wildly, but there's no force behind the blows. They do no damage to anyone, even though a number of them connect.

I'll have a map up sometime tomorrow, if I can.

2012-04-24 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie took up the appearance of refined self-control as he lit up another cigarette. "Alright. You little twerps are gonna tell us why the hell you lucked us up and tried to kill us by crashing a zeppelin thing."

2012-04-24 [Earoluim]: (what is the zeppelin doing by the way and can we get back to it?)

2012-04-24 [Avaz]: With Jimmie rigging up the steering so it stays flying, the zeppelin is still sailing into the sunset and there's no way of really getting back at this point. It might have crashed on its own or something if he hadn't done that, but even still it doesn't have anyone alive to feed coal into the engines, so it will crash eventually. But no one knows when or where that will be.

Jimmie: The thug looked disgustedly at Jimmie and spit out a mouthful of saltwater that he had stored in his mouth, dousing your cigarette and spitting in your face at the same time. "We ain't talkin' ta nobody."

2012-04-24 [Avaz]: New map up.

2012-04-24 [Flisky]: Tria pulls the knife out of her apron and stares the lassoed man down for a second. "Okay," she says with a shrug and looks over a Jimmie. "Hold him down so I can cut his throat." This is said with a casual tone as she fiddles with the knife.

2012-04-25 [Avaz]: Need Jimmie's reaction before I do anything.

2012-04-25 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie was more upset about his cigarette being put out then he was about the salt water on his face. "Do you know what kind of cigarette that was! It was the ritzy kind!" he backhands the guy. He quickly lights up another one, before he reached down and grabbed ahold of the guy, "Do it slowly." he said to Tria.Missing: </b>

2012-04-25 [Avaz]: "Uff!" he glares angrily at Jimmie after getting slapped. But he looks again at Tria's knife and his eyes widen knowing that you aren't playing around. "Hey hey hey, I got a wife and kids, dun do it, eh?" As he's talking, he's trying to get out of Jimmie's hold.
Jimmie, this guy is pretty beefy and he's struggling to get out, give me a STR check.

Meanwhile, what is Bear doing?

2012-04-25 [Lord Josmar]: Str: 5

2012-04-26 [Avaz]: Jimmie: The goon breaks free of your grasp long enough to bring his elbow up to your chin in a quick attack, doing 2 damage. He then lunges for the boy cowered in the corner. He lifts him, spins him around and in one fluid motion, a knife appears at Benji's throat. The thug is standing behind him, using the kid as a human shield. To Tria he says, "You ain't gonna be workin' in da kitchens tonight, dollface." He pauses long enough to spit a mouthful of blood, "Trow dat cutter over da side."

If Benji's pants weren't already soaked through from the ocean water, they would have been now. He looks utterly terrified and turns a ghastly shade of pale.

2012-04-26 [Flisky]: "Pfft. What do I care if you have the boy?" Tria sheathed her knife and pulled her gloves on tighter. "I'm not the one you need to worry about." She prepared her Gust spell again, ready to knock the man over.

2012-04-27 [Earoluim]: (well I thought I posted but it does not look like it went through. Trying again.)

Bear's Rapier screamed from it's scabbard as the thug lifted Benji up. The blade pointig at the apple on the throat of the thug. "I suggest you put him down slowly, think about it." He said as he turned the point against the skin, pointing the blade upward. His scabbard presses against the shoulder of the other thug that he had dropped into the lifeboat. "Gentleman, I will only be nice this once. So, please, humour me. Let him go, unharmed" He sad, adding a certain impending sternness to the last part of his statement.

2012-04-27 [Avaz]: Wait, just so I'm clear. Bear was dealing with the second thug, the one that he swam after and caught and dragged back to the lifeboat... but then he promptly stopped paying attention to him and focused on the other one?

If that's what happened, that's cool. Things are about to get very interesting. >:D

2012-05-02 [Avaz]: Has everyone lost interest? It's okay if you have, I just don't want to be kept on a string.

2012-05-02 [Flisky]: No. I was waiting for his answer, but it seems not to be coming. :/

2012-05-02 [Lord Josmar]: Same here. Cant really post till we figure out exactly what is going on.

2012-05-02 [Earoluim]: I answered by editing my post...... I made a mistake, so I corrected it.

2012-05-02 [Avaz]: I had no idea you edited it. You should have said something. Edits don't show up as notifications, so we had no idea anything changed. :)

2012-05-02 [Earoluim]: wait how is that, I get editted comment notifications all the time....

2012-05-10 [Avaz]: I almost forgot this was here. :P Okay, here we go.

As soon as Bear draws his sword on the guy holding Benji, the other one (the one Bear originally dragged into the life boat) swats the scabbard at his shoulder away and punches Bear in the back of the head with a cheap shot. He connects, but does 0 damage. All the water drenching everything must have made it hard for him to do any actual damage. After that, he leaps back into the water and tries to swim away again.

2012-05-10 [Lord Josmar]: Jimmie had had enough of this, "Screw this, we only need one." with that he aimed at the fleeing man and fired.

D100 roll = 33

2012-05-10 [Avaz]: Jimmie hits. What's the damage?

2012-05-11 [Lord Josmar]: 2d6+1 roll = 9

2012-05-11 [Avaz]: Jimmie: The shot clips him in the shoulder. He cries out in pain, but his cry is cut off abruptly as his head slips below the surface of the water. He emerges a short distance away, though he seems to be swimming with only one arm. The shot didn't do much damage, but then again, he is in nearly dead to begin with. If his bleeding doesn't kill him by the time he gets to the shore, exhaustion just might.

And now combat has officially begun.

2012-05-11 [Flisky]: Tria didn't think twice at letting loose the spell she had been preparing, aiming it at the thug still in the boat.

EH: 66 (not even close....)

2012-05-11 [Avaz]: I imagine the bobbing of the boat in the water may have thrown your balance off a bit, making you miss wildly. Are you going to move?

If that's your turn, Bear's up, then Benji and the thugs last.

2012-05-11 [Flisky]: Nah. They can go. Tria will be repreparing her spell.

2012-05-12 [Earoluim]: Bear made a grab for Benji as the boat was tossed about by Tria's spell.

2012-05-12 [Avaz]: Bear: Tria's spell was not responsible for the boat rocking. That would be because it's in the ocean. It's called fluff text. Anyway, Benji is still being firmly held behind the thug with your sword pointed at his throat. Bear would have to drop that stance in order to make a grab for him.

Just to make sure I understand correctly and assuming you still do that, the thug would have no trouble going through with his threat and slashing Benji's throat - that would be an instant death.

2012-05-15 [Earoluim]: ok, I was not considering it was just fluff text. Hmmmm, rethinking. Just so I get this right, my blade is against his throat and his is against Benji's.

2012-05-15 [Avaz]: Yes that's right. Imagine it is something like this

But the face of the thug is bloody and Bear is standing in front of him with his sword tip is against the thug's throat.

2012-05-16 [Earoluim]: hmm, how to get out of a stalemate..... how wide is the boat?

2012-05-16 [Lord Josmar]: There are a number of effective but rather unorthodox methods we could use here.

We could kick the person in the front and topple them over the edge of the boat where the person should be more interested in resurfacing then slitting throats.

You could also take the man's arm off if your sword is a slashing chopping sort of blade and as long as you have a good enough roll. The down side is that you have to be very precise or you could hurt the boy.

But, if you don't care about hurting the child then really there isn't any option that you can't use.

Also, if Jimmy gets a chance then he might be able to pop a cap in that fool's dome!