Correct, aside from the alumail uniform all Imperial Arbiters wear, their equipment is standard, albeit high-quality.

Want to make sure of some things before I post on my turn in the circle: Alumen can be used to strengthen and weaken metal, but does it possess actual magnetic properties or can it be used in a maner similar to magnetism/metal bending? When one draws on the alumen in an object, such as their robes or his hammer, does it degrade the item quality permanently or significantly?

Think of a geurgist as a combination of Magneto and Toph ^^

If one of them can do something with metal/earth, so can a geurgist. The only difference is the geurgist needs the alumen fuel in the first place in order to do it.

As far as drawing alumen from an item, it depends on what the alumen is doing. If it is in the object naturally, like how alumen naturally occurs in all earth & metal, then a geurgist couldn't withdraw particularly meaningful amounts readily, and the amount that they could draw wouldn't significantly affect the object's integrity. For example, a geurgist couldn't withdraw enough alumen from a steel sword to render it brittle or degraded, or take enough alumen from a iron gate to rend an opening in the bars.

However, in terms of alumen-wrought weapons and armor like alumail - a geurgist could easily withdraw that extra alumen, rendering it as little more than an impractical bathroom garment, and then use that siphoned caith to fuel more geurgy.

Does that help?

Immensely.... Canthe caith be returned to the alumail? I'm thinking for Larack to siphon the caith from armor to his hammer for storage to whoop the judged, then after all is daid and done, reweave the armor for his size and put the caith back into the alumail.

If not in combat, then to wait until after the fight with the ruined armors, draw them out after combat, reweave the alumail, then put the energy back.

No, unfortunately not. Alumail can be forged, but not simply by infusing the armor with caith. It will take a lot of time for a master craftsman, using master equipment unavailable on an airship. I will leave it up to you to decide if your character is knowledgeable about this (I'd assume he is), but if you guys want the alumail you will have to defeat the Arbiters while they wear it. Or if you want to defeat them more quickly you can render their armor useless and attack them. Or you can use the caith from one set of armor to help win the fight while keeping one set intact, etc.

EDIT: Also, I would say Lasrach can store alumen in his hammer but it would dissipate fairly quickly, say in minutes. Unless he uses a hammer that is an artifice designed to be a caith-well (which would be awesome!)

Double Edit: I do however love the thought you're putting into the encounter! Makes me feel like a real GM :) Any other questions keep asking away!

So Lasrach would want to manipulate the alumen and use their own strength against them and Balder would try to outmaneuver them by possibly taking advantage of the flowing, bulky nature of their robes - though this might not be as big a problem since I'd assume it would be a Japanese style hauberk. Assuming that they have some sort of padded coat or gambeson under their robes to disperse blunt trauma left from hitting the mail, Balder's straightforward attempt might be pretty silly.

I want to know what Latvanen would do (@November), and I wonder how plausible it would be that he or Jory discover the Arbiters and the threat they pose before we enter the room or alert their suspicion. Will we catch them standing at complete attention on either side of the door or like smokin a pipe and chattin about their favorite colors?

Also, I would say Lasrach can store alumen in his hammer but it would dissipate fairly quickly, say in minutes. Unless he uses a hammer that is an artifice designed to be a caith-well (which would be awesome!)

All I need is GM approval to make his hammer that awesome.
Captain: Larach! Where the hell did you get that hammer from?!?
Larach: Well....

The judges wear clothing beneath the robes but nothing more than cloth tunics, breeches, coats, etc - nothing providing significant defense. Assume the robes are tailored more or less to the individual - it may be loose for movement but not so loose that it becomes cumbersome or restrictive.

If you guys stealthily approach the door you can reach it and perhaps observe the Arbiters without them seeing you, but by entering the room you will immediately alert them and they will be prepared to fight, either because of the ships bumping into each other, or some passing sailors alerted them to the attack.

I'm all for the stealth to open, and since our thief hasn't had a chance to be sneaky yet.

I'd like to sneaky it up as well, but if it comes to open combat, the guard's aren't going to be liking Lasrach's hammer.

Edit: Hopefully the crushing damage against chain mesh will be enough without caith!

Oh, and as far as the hammer goes - after this encounter Lasrach can find/build such an artifice, but for this fight let's stay with the equipment already chosen.

Oh, and as far as the hammer goes - after this encounter Lasrach can find/build such an artifice, but for this fight let's stay with the equipment already chosen.

Hmmm even if the armor is ruined in combat, Larach can start to examine the alumail to divine its secrets and upgrade his hammer.

I'll post soon

going on vacation soon, posting will become infrequent, but i'll still be here

@Kimiyosis *twiddling fingers...*

Yeah, we're waiting for Rei to kill fireman right

Yeah, Kimiyosis should have a post up soon, then our side of the mission will get going.

Belowdecks, it sounds like the decision was to attempt some stealth with Marko and failing that let Lasrach open up a feedbag of whoopass.

I'll be getting a post up sometime later tonight or tomorrow. Work got pretty crazy with the summer rush, so weekday posting might be a little more infrequent, but weekend posts will be up quickly.

So... How is everyone? See any good movies lately?

@XSilentWingsXJust saw Enter the Dragon for my first time. Now I'm on a Bruce Lee binge.

@Isengrim@KimiyosisSo... we wanna just keep things moving along? I've been dangling on a wood plank for 6 days now.