Dyelli Beybi

Empire of the Clouds

@Imaria Looks good to me!

Empire of the Clouds

@Tesserach@Pragia12

Both look good to me!

Empire of the Clouds

@Tackytaff

Looks excellent!

Empire of the Clouds

Arkadios Andreaou

"Captain Andreaou," the other soldier introduced himself to the new trooper who had lowwered his weapon, "There is also one Airman here," he said, nodding towards Nikos.

He pauses for a moment then stepped over towards the gang plank, "There are enough people who know this ship to get us into the air. But there is no command structure at the moment. I need volunteers to release the cords holding the ship down. There is a danger that at this point, of the ship taking off.

"So I want someone to find us a rope ladder to drop," he continued, "There must be one here. I don't want any volunteers getting left behind. So who is with me?"

"I'll do it," Zoe jumped in, "You will need to show me what to do though."

"We need to follow the rope and release it from the cleat," Arkadios replied, surprised that she had volunteered, "And if the line starts to move, let go! You can get dragged into the air. People have died."

Empire of the Clouds

-Double post-

Empire of the Clouds

If folks move their characters to the character section I will make a roster zero post.

Empire of the Clouds

@Shadow Daedalus Looks good to me.
Fits well with the friendly relations the Empire is suppose to have with (most) of its neighboring monarchies.

Empire of the Clouds

Zoe Spyrou

James E. Carter
...

“I’m not looking for trouble,” James said, his voice firm but measured. “Just want to know—can I catch a ride on this thing?”

@InfamousGuy101

Zoe could see a variety of ways this situation played out. Many of which were not good. Whomever the newcomer was might not like what Captain Andreaou had to say. Shots would be fired. She considered her options then stepped between them, close enough to the stranger that it would be impossible to miss her if he pulled the trigger, but next to impossible to hit the Captain, "Shall we lower the gun?" she suggested, her voice softly confident. She didn't feel confident, at all! She was terrified, but Zoe was also rather good at hiding that fact, "Unless you are a Revolutionary, we're all friends here. If you are, they might give you a medal for shooting -" she almost said 'me', but corrected at the last moment,"- an aristocrat. But then the Captain would riddle you with bullets and you'd be enjoying your medals from whatever pit of hell is reserved for the Godless."

---

Arkadios Andreaou

---

Christina and Nikos

...

"Oy! Who let you lot on board?" he demands.

@Expendable

"Your gang plank is down. I walked on, Airman," the Captain replied, hand on his pistol. Eyes never leaving the civilian with the shotgun, "The base is evacuating. I had thought we were the only souls aboard."

He hadn't looked away from Carter, but it was clear the next bit was for him, "Lower your gun, Sir. If you aren't a Communalist and your pronunciation of Inburian suggests you might not be, we need to figure out how to get this ship moving before this place is overrun and we all wnd up shot or in prison."

He knew that they needed to get the cords holding the balloon released and the engines working... but there was the matter of buoyancy. He knew vaguely that there was probably ballast holding them down as well. How did you release it? How did you even turn the engines on for that matter? Presumably there was a lever or a button to push to start them?

In the background he could hear someone else calling to come aboard, but he didn't respond. Yet. First they needed the man to lower his gun.

Wild Beasts of the Earth (Gothic Horror)

“We couldn't understand because we were too far... and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, those ages that had gone, leaving hardly a sign... and no memories.”

---

Munich, Saturday 3 November 1923:

The blood trail was fruitless. It led deeper into the cemetery and stopped.

The stakeout was fruitless. Whomever or whatever was stalking the streets of Munich had the sense to keep away from the place of the brutal killing and the people watching for its' approach. Perhaps it had some sense they were there. Perhaps it was simply chance. It was impossible to tell.

The next day dawned, gloomy and overcast and bitterly cold.

Nicola had gone to see the police the night before and the next morning an officer did appear shortly before Temple, "Another dog attack," he concluded, "How terribly tragic."

He was not in the least bit interested in the clues that Masako had uncovered to suggest the attacker was human. This was, as far as he was concerned, the work of dogs and nothing would dissuade him from this course. There simply was not the time to deal with the case and the dogs were too convenient an excuse.

Temple did not look encouraged by the response, eyeing the man as he left the scene before turning back to the others, "So the body has not been moved?" he queried as he lit a cigarette, taking a long drag before adding, "Tragic... though perhaps we can prevent any more deaths. Does anyone have the expertise to spot if there are any patterns in the reported victims? The Watch has some contacts with the police and you should not encounter any problems with accessing their case files. If we can find a pattern perhaps we can get an inkling as to where, and when, the next attack is likely to be and any outying murders that do not fit the pattern could also tell us something."

Empire of the Clouds

Theme Music

Chapter One: Escape from Inbur

Inbur was in flames.

Gunfire echoed through the dark streets, seemingly from every direction, the harsh crack of rifles and the dull boom of distant explosions. Arkadios ran. Flames lit the streets from hundreds of fires, throwing eerie shapes into the smoke-clogged sky. Arkadios ran. In truth he didn't quite know where he was running to, but there had to be some route out. Perhaps the path along the Old North Road was still controlled by loyal soldiers? Though there was every chance he'd be stopped at a checkpoint only to discover the men in the Inburian uniform were in fact rebels.

He took a turn in the direction of the road anyway, shoving past a band of civilians who seemed to be trying to evacuate what they could from a burning house, colliding with a young woman trying to push past the other way. She looked up at him with frightened dark eyes, "Help me," she whispered.

Arkadios almost pushed past her, what could he do? But the way she looked at him reminded him too much of his own daughter, Elodie, or the woman she might become in a few years. And he could see the rich cut of her clothing. A noble, he guessed. It was no safer for her in the city than it was for him. Perhaps there was something he could do? Perhaps give her a fighting chance? He nodded, "Stick with me." he said.

And as he ran on through the dark streets, she did. They reached a military base where a soldier was standing guard. Nobody had ordered him to leave he assumed. He approached the trooper, not waiting for a salute, "Captain Andreaou, East Morktree Regiment of Foot," he introduced himself, "Soldier, stand down and join the evacuation."

He looked skywards and paused. He hadn't seen it in the smoke before. A massive dirigible was tethered to the ground nearby, it's imposing bulk rising above the nearby barrack huts. The girl looked at the ship, then across at Arkadios before voicing what he had been thinking, "Do you think that Airship has fuel?"

Or a crew... but that wasn't worth thinking about now, "Let's hope so," he set off at a brisk walk towards the ship. A gangplank was down, leading up into the Bridge gondola. The woman followed, stepping into the gondola as Arkadios flicked the light switch and was rewarded to find lights flickering on across the gondola, "We have battery at least."

He glanced about, there was no sign of life, though there was a clipboard. He picked it up. Cargo deliveries, "Where are the crew?" the woman asked, crossing the bridge to open the doorway into the dark interior of the ship, "Hello?" she called. There was no answer.

Arkadios flicked through the manifest, "Looks like they were converting this airliner into a bomber. But they didn't get further than installing machineguns... I think... if I'm reading this right we should have fuel but I don't know how to fly the bloody thing," he paused, looking up over the clipboard, "What's your name lass? You look a little familiar... have we met?"

"Oh... I wouldn't think so," she gave an apologetic smile, "Though perhaps? Zoe... Miss Zoe Spyrou," she introduced herself.

"Well Miss Spyrou, I think I need to go out there and see if there's anyone vaguely competent to fly this as it could, potentially be our ticket out of here."

The girl's eyes lit up, "Do you think so?"

Arkadios nodded, "If we can get it in the air... and it's more complicated than just cutting the cords and turning the engines on. There are a whole lot of buoyancy controls I know nothing about... not that that first bit is simple either!"

"Should I go and look?" Zoe suggested.

"No I..." Arkadios trailed off. He thought he heard footsteps outside. Casually he unbuttoned his pistol holster, placing a hand on the gun, "Stay back from the gangway," he told her...