Force and Fury
ctrlsaltdel
Snowdrops
Suicharte
Xaltwind
Remram
Izurich
CitrusArms
Abstract Proxy
Cu Chulainn
Once the talking was finished and the plans had been set in motion, it was time for them to get to work. Marz and Maura were to head to the ship to try and see what was happening within and get a handle on the other factors of the situation. When he neared Maura’s strange ship, he sighed, it wasn’t quite finished, yet he had enough time now to know what he needed to do for it. He took in the energy of the waves of the ocean and began to charge the multiple different pieces of metal with magnetic energy. Once that energy fully filled the metal, he began to twine multiple spells together. Holding out his hammer, Marz began to move the countless metal pieces into place and have them stick together through the magnetic energy sticking them together. Then he lifted the countless rivets using the same magnetic and kinetic energies he lifted the plates with and now slamming the plates together to the hull of the underwater ship with rivets.
He took the clockwork engine and began to charge it with his magics as well. Intertwining the energies as he began to form the countless gears onto their axles and sprockets. As the engine began to form, the gears began to go together like lovers. The interlock of the gears teeth just like fingers wrapping around each other, binding with each other. As they begin to wind tighter and tighter, a love is formed, just like the engine that has now taken shape. The moment the engine was formed, Marz used the great well of energy called the ocean to fill himself. He used this vast source of energy to exert tremendous force upon the large, multiple ton brick of metal and set it into its housing.
Once the engine was in place, Marz sealed it with the proper metal sheets and set in the axel needed to drive the paddles of the ship. Marz continued his building as he even began to form the platform under it. It had multiple logs, which allowed it to roll with some ease. As the moment the underwater ship was needed to be set off, Marz began to take in the energy of the waves once more and began to launch it into the platform. Forcing it to move as, the platform and the ship began to roll forward and into the water.
Maura observed as Marz worked diligently, surrounded by an army of puppets on standby, ready to provide assistance. The Hegelan, a master of his craft, was deeply engrossed in the rebuilding effort. Maura knew better than to intervene. Instead, she offered a thumbs up, a sign of appreciation, as he completed his task.“Masterful work, as always,” she praised.
Once in the water, Marz began to help Maura into the ship before he entered and closed it up and did one last check of the ship. He began to use kinetic energy across the interior of the ship causing lots of force across the ship, and took note of the few faults in the ship before he nodded and believed it was acceptable as is before they set out.
As they travelled through the water, the ship was quite dark if they did not use magic to navigate. Marz didn’t need much light, with his magics, he increases his own dark vision through chemical alterations of his sight and light manipulation as they travelled. Yet they still needed a bit of light as the fighting above was creating shadows that played weirdly. So much so that Maura spotted some shadows moving in the distance in such a strange way that it looked like the whip of a fishy tail behind some rocks.
If someone didn't know better, they could mistake it for a normal shadow. Even someone who was a little suspicious, they could mistake it for any other marine life. But Maura and Marz aren’t the norm, they both know better. They took this as the Meerami had seen the submarine. A chill ran down their backs as they realized in the dark they hid and watched. However, thankfully, the Meerami haven't struck and seem content with hiding away for now.
Marz began looking around more as he said, ”Seems ey’re expectin’ us”.
“Then let’s give them a warm welcome.” She moved her hand toward the lights, flickering them on and off in a pattern, communicating out into the water before them. “If they know that we know they are there, they know they don't have the element of surprise and will be less likely to ambush us. And if we don’t make any threatening moves, they may stay back and be content with watching us. Don’t want to test this thing against a horde of suspicious dragon-mermaids.”
After a while longer, they were finally near the wreckage, here the lights from the surface were completely dim. So they had to turn off their lights and use the gift to sense. They began to stretch their senses, they could sense the intense kinetic energy roiling throughout the sea, the arcane energy was low, so they had to search through a different way. They began to transform the massive kinetic energy around them into a little bit of magnetic energy and began to send it out like miniature pulses. Eventually, they found the energy connected with another metal object, they had to be near the main hull. From here, they began to sense around, and slowly, but surely they eventually found an opening. From what they could sense, they realized that from the multiple large sheets of metal, one was blown apart and had countless pieces of metal launched outwards.
After navigating the area so as not to damage Maura’s ship, they entered the opening. When they were able to break the surface, Marz was the first to leave as he used arcane energy to light the place up.
It was apparent to his inspection of the area that the ship experienced an internal explosion that had ripped a hole in the hull, it was likely the cause of the ship crashing in the first place, whatever it was. Fortunately, the resulting entrance was submerged in water because it couldn't be spotted by land or ship. Maybe the Royal Asper Company did not know of it yet, which Marz thought would give them some of the best cover coming in and out when needed.
As Marz looked around, he realized the submarine surfaced into a wide metal lead-lined space with enough gray steel-grates walkways, ladders, and pipes to still make it feel claustrophobic. The area resembled a steam room but was much different to what he was used to seeing within even the most advanced forges or even ships of his people. The space was much bigger than any steam room he had seen on a Clockwork ship, and there were at least four times the pipes branching off in different directions. However, the first convergence point of the pipelines led to... nothing. Five pipes at leg height and four pipes well overhead lead to a space where something big once lay, a slow drip, drip, sounded from the residual water that once flowed through them. Whatever was once here, it had been looted already, and it wasn't the only thing. This plantroom was nothing but adjoining pipework leading to an absence of meaningful machinery.
Marz turned to the ship and Maura, ”Oi, it seems a little ‘ard ‘ere fer ya. Ye wanna stay ‘ere or try yer luck?”.
Maura surveyed the condition of the ship’s interior. "When designing this vessel, rollerchair accessibility clearly wasn’t on their minds," she remarked with a bemused expression. "And that was before the wreck."
Maid Malena came up alongside her. "However, my loyal servant here shouldn’t face such difficulties." The Maid Puppet performed a curtsey toward Marz as a sign of respect. "We can control things from here or help you find another exit if needed," Maura offered, her voice filled with resolve.
As Marz left with the puppet, he chuckled as he said to it, ”Slave driver ‘eh tin man? Let’s see if ya can be useful”. As Marz looked around, a question came to mind as he saw more and more places where pipes were leading to and no machines were there. Who had looted this place? The Royal Asper Company hadn't managed to get inside yet, and the locals hadn't either. The only group who seemed capable of this feat was the Meerami, it was certainly them, right? As they turned the corner, a clue lay pinned to the wall.
It was a calendar open to the current month made of a shiny, plastic-like paper, but what most drew the eye was the calendar picture. A young Hegelan woman knelt on a beach towel holding two steins of what could only be beer. She had short ginger hair and was topless, with only a delicately parted beard to cover each of the nipples. Only one race could appreciate the tasteful beauty of a feminine beard, this was a Hegelan ship. Any Hegelan could go their entire lives without so much as touching a sea vessel, and yet the truth was staring them right in the face.
The Maid pointed at the picture, then pointed at the empty space around them. Where were the other Hegelans? No one had previously discussed or mentioned them. This was a disconcerting fact.
Marz then realized something as he began to look around, another truth had dawned on him. This ship wasn't powered by coal. This was a steam room, so one would expect to see evidence of a coal burner. While it may have been taken away, did the looters also go through the effort to meticulously clean the surfaces of coal dust. This is no easy task, as Marz knew well. So if it wasn't coal, then what had powered the ship?
Marz was about to begin inspecting the pipes for possible residue, until he felt a strange presence. Then he heard it, a faint singing in the distance. They were not alone on this ship. It sounded like it was getting closer, moving with purpose. It was a haunting, eerie melody that felt ominous in nature, and maybe even spoke of potential hostility.
Marz looked around as he saw at that moment an exit that has most of the pipework leading towards it. Marz immediately began to run to the door and was going to follow the pipes. As Marz began to run, the puppet followed fast as they began to clear sonic magic traces coming from behind them. Whatever was producing the sound, it was casting some sort of spell. As they ran, those traces were only growing stronger as the two leave the room and down the corridor. They are being actively hunted and, and they were losing ground even with their magics.
Between the corridors as they ran, Marz was able to follow that corridor and more pipework started to line the walls. This had to be the way to the power source, if it was not in the area they found themselves in. Yet this was not the moment to try and beeline to it. Their pursuer will only follow and will just have a conflict wherever they end up. So they needed to make something happen.
As they ran, Marz began to pull in the energy of the water outside the ship and fill himself with kinetic energy. He used this energy to begin to throw open doors, break pipes and create small barricades. He began to rip up metal plates, and everything else, he needed to get them used to it. Once they turned a corner, Marz pulled in even more energy as he focused it all across the multiple doors and walls down the hallway he would go down and throw open all the doors and pipes. Forcing them all open to look like they had gone down that way before Marz and the puppet slipped into one of the close doors to hide.
In the dark, quiet room, the sound of the singing was haunting. It sounded both eerie and now, soothing. The sound both grated against the ear and calmed the mind. This feeling made Marz feel incredibly uneasy. As he sat there in the dark, he wanted to turn on a light. He couldn’t tell if whatever was following them was near or far. The presence seemed almost impossible to tell where it was. Yet the moment the song sounded almost blaring, it then began to become quieter, and then, the singing stopped. It was in the moment of pure horror, that Marz began to hear a faint slithering grow closer. Then, the singing began to start again, as it began to come through the cracks in the door. Marz began to feel sleepy as the song reverberated from all areas at once. In this state, the hiding place had locked him in with the voice. Yet he couldn’t think of fighting it, rather he thought about trying to outlast it, and maybe whatever was producing it would leave thinking they were not here.
Marz began to take his hair and began to cut come of it off. Then he used the oils and chemicals within his hair to make it more hardened before he stuck 2 wads of hair into his ears. From there he began to use his ear wax and chemically produced more to try and create some seal against the sound. Yet it was only a stop-gap as the sound reverberated through his chest, in his lungs, in his mouth, and his nose. Anywhere where air could exist, it reverberated within him, and he could feel the sleepiness set in.
Through this singing, Marz began to feel how the energy bounced off of the walls, how it shook the metal, and how it reverberated under his body. He could sense all around him as he tried to figure out what to do next, yet it was useless. He felt his body slowly grow limp, it was until the skittering of some creature that interrupted the song. Malena positioned herself in front of Marz and went limp, and gave of the appearance of being inactive and incapacitated.
Leaving Marz and the puppet in an empty room, it was euphoric, the silence and the near unconscious state. It however was interrupted as an intense rush of adrenaline and magnetic magic rushed into Marz that awoke him. Marz almost launched himself to his feet as he heaved and looked around for a moment. He took a breath in and sighed, taking from around his neck a necklace with a gorgeous red gem on it. The gem glowed with a whitish magic for a moment before dimming. Marz nodded to himself as he looked to the puppet and said, ”Pretty close there, eh? Let’s see wha’ they’re keepin’”.
As Marz and the puppet traveled further into the ship, they realized it was far larger than they even first thought. As from traveling from the front of the ship to just the center area stretched their sensing between each other to the very limits they could perform. As with Marz, he is unable to pick out Maura’s ship anymore since she went into low-power hiding. Yet, the search was worth it, as Marz was able to witness a contraption so magnificent that any lesser man would consider it the work of the gods.
Marz and the puppet found where the pipes lead as many of them went into a room. Once they entered the room, they found it was a small room, maybe no more than 3 meters wide walls and multiple spots where desks were. The only thing left in the room seems to be a single door which hid a ladder. Marz was skeptical that this would lead them to their destination, yet they needed to know. After climbing down the ladder, they entered a somewhat small yet spacious area. At first, they thought the area had nothing within, the room had nothing attached to the ceiling except some wires to hold off the grated catwalk that led to the center of the room. There were no energy signatures able to be sensed at first, as it felt like this place was more empty than normal.
Marz had a strange feeling about the room, there had to be more, as he began to look around. When he entered, he was confirmed this was not some great big machine to act as the ‘heart’ of the ship. Yet, he hoped to have found something like that. He hoped there would be some great large spherical device that would hold a large fire within, or even something more impressive. Yet as he inspected the room, he couldn’t sense much of anything. It was not until he neared the center of the cat walk, he could finally sense the faintest energy within the room, and it was terrifying. Under his feet he could sense the faint signature of one of the most intense energies a man can produce, atomic energy. The Maid continued to look speechless as it examined the surroundings.
Marz then began to inspect the room again. It was a small mostly sealed off room no more than 6 meters length wise and 10 meters across. The room stood assumedly 5 meters high, yet as Marz looked down and cast a light magic, he could see he was wrong.
Underneath the catwalk were 8 strange cylindrical devices that were 10 meters tall and 2 meters wide. Those 8 cylinders were split into 4 as they were on either side of the catwalk. The cylinders were set around this device that held them and seemed to have countless wires, pumps, metal plates, and tubes that lead between them. Marz began to inspect them as he noticed that there were railings made of thin metal that restricted his walking yet allowed him to walk onto the large cylinders. As he stepped onto them, he began to inspect the devices further.
As he knelt down, he began to look into where the cylinders were, countless pipes and wires that filled the bottom area that led to the rest of the ship. From this one point, it was powering the entire ship. This massive, nearly 400-meter long ship was powered by this small room. The heart of the ship.
