"STEAM LONDON" Game Thread

[Nigel Wetherby]

George glided across the floor, assing through the door of the engine room.
"THEY. KISSED." He said loudly in Patrick's Aetherphones. Patrick had been asleep at the time, snuggled up to a rolled up blueprint for 'The Vendetta device', so George's announcement was rather surprising, causing him to jump a foot into the air, fall back out of his chair, and land on his head.
"Oooh...What now?" He groaned as he nursed a swelling lump on the back of his head.
"That ponce kissed Emma!!" Alarmed george.
Patrick quickly lept to his feet, holding the blue print out into the light of the engine's warm orange glow.
"The time is ripe my Aetheric comrade! Now we must show this rat what happens when ye cross An O'landry and a....Whatever it is yer last name be, I never really asked.."

[Madboy Soli]

“Hang on, I’m coming out.” It was a gamble, but something had to be done. Madboy motioned for the Doctor to stay put. “Don’t shoot. Your going to want to see this.”
   “See what?” Grunted one of the thugs.
   Madboy stepped from behind the door, grinning from ear to ear.
   “Howdy boys. Hows about you take that gun out of the lady’s face?”
   “What are you grinning about?” Asked the leader, swinging his gun around to cover Madboy.
   “I’m grinning about the electo-chemical bomb I’ve strapped to my waist on a dead man trigger.” Madboy held up his arms to show the glowing glass tubes tucked into his belt, attached by a wire to the trigger in his hand. “You shoot me, or make me to jumpy, and I’ll be letting go of this here switch. Then ya’ll, me, and most of this block will fry, burn, and melt, probably in that order.” Madboy eyed the gangers. “So, show down or fold, you limey snakes.”
   The gangers looked at each other, weighing the odds. It certainly looked like an explosive.
   Of course, the gangers didn’t have Vadomas extensive knowledge of the inventory in the back room, and thus the knowledge that the tubes in Madboys belt where nothing more than modified lanterns for light without flame. They also hadn’t had Dr. Goodalls vantage point in the back room when Madboy had pulled wire and a trigger from his pockets and attached them. Most of all they didn't have Madboys exhaustive knowledge of all things explosive, which told him there was absolutely no way to rig those particular tubes to explode.
   The question now was if they where actually a dumb as they looked.

[Z. Goodall]

The doctor stood back when Madboy rushed out with the fake explosives. It's best to stay put in case something doesn't go off right. We'll need one more ace up our sleeves. It asn't looking good. The device could pass as an explosive to a four year old, but these were grown men, and the mix of wires and triggers Madboy put together was very last minute. He would just have to wait and see. But he wasn't hearing anything suspicious and from the voices of the ether, neither were the spirits. So maybe they were just that dumb.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Lewistine."  George sounded ready to skin someone alive and Patrick was rather glad it wasn't him. "If he hadn't had her right hand in his I would have smacked him one. Damn cad."  George ranted on for a bit about how Trip was not good enough for Emma while Patrick looked at the plans in his hands thinking. They would have to step things up a bit but Patrick was very adaptable and had an understanding of aether wave mechanics second only to Emma.  "George can you disrupt an aetheric signal?"

George stopped mid rant. "It is not exactly easy but I can flood a channel if I put enough force behind it."  He had no idea what the monkey was planning but he wanted to find out.

"If what you told me about the teleporter's navigational system is right.  You should be able to alter his target slightly then we won't need to worry about a reason for him to come to us and he will be stuck right in the center of this." He tapped the plans in his hand. "And not a bit of it will be traceable to us."   George was suddenly glad he had deiced to team up with the monkey rather than fight him, he was all the right kinds of devious. They were interrupted in there plotting by a rather distracted looking Emma.  She took one look at Patrick turned bright red, squeaked out an I'm sorry and then stared at a knothole in the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the room.

[Linners]

The brutes were most definitely alarmed, and while not necessarily stupid, did not want to take any chances. Vadoma spit out her gag when her captor slowly removed the gun from her temple, holstering it and dropping her to the floor. She coughed, wiping her mouth and glaring. "We don't want no trouble, surely we don't-" They began to back to the door, and one reached for the handle... only to jerk his hand away, as bars had fallen into place over the door and the windows in a rush of hot steam. Vadoma stood, her hand still on the switch under the counter. "Trouble? Oh, my boys, trouble is a sore, sore understatement. No one ever, ever puts their filthy paws on Voma Faa and lives to tell about it." The thugs seemed to grow panicked, their eyes wide as saucers when they heard her name. "Voma Faa?" "The Witch-Peddler herself..." "Not her... please, Lord, not her." Vadoma raised her chin her eyelids half-lidded and her lips hinting at a smile, raising her hand deliberately and snapping her fingers, once. Serle appeared next to her- not in a cloud of smoke, not wavering into sight like running oil paint, but simply blinked into place next to her. He bowed lowly, his long pale hair dripping and his clothes soaked. "I hope you aren't full, Serle. I have a treat for you." She gestured at the brutes, and Serle followed the gesture, grinning a mouth full of fangs and mismatched inscisors. "Leave the Cheapside rat. The others, you can do what you may." Serle nodded, morphing into a horrific monster, an ameboic thing with a mouth that looked like a wound filled with broken glass. "Oh, my. A swamp guardian? Haven't seen that form in a while," she commented as the thing that was once quite a handsome human oozed over the terrified gang members, leaving the Cheapside bloke covered with something that looked like crude oil and only clean-picked bones and echoing screams left of his comrades.

Frankly, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

[Madboy Soli]

   Well, that was something you didn’t see every day. Madboy pulled the Hellgun from it’s holster and covered the whimpering thug. He moved to set down the fake bomb on a nearby table, also positioning himself so he was also covering the woman and the monster. That thing was sure ugly, but Madboy hadn’t met a living thing yet that didn’t die when he shot a three foot wide hole in it. No reason to take chances.
   “I do thank you kindly ma’m. I must say I never seen a woman a purty as you pull something that ugly out of thin air before.”
   Wasn’t exactly true, there had been that voodoo woman. Not putting a bullet to her when he had the chance was the reason Madboy couldn’t go back to New Orleans. Still, in Madboy’s experience magic type where sensitive, and a little flattery never hurt.    
             Sides, she coulda just told that critter to kill everyone.
   “Mind if I ask why lucky there is still alive? We don’t kill em he’s just gonna run and tell the rest of his gang where we are, and that you helped us. Not that it ain’t appreciated.”
   

[Nigel Wetherby]

 Patrick  raised an eyebrow of interest, quickly tucking the plans away in a false-bottom of his drawer.
He made a beeline to the beet-red engineer and leaned foreward, "What do you mean?" He asked concernedly. He could tell something was amiss with this young woman, she seemed so distraught.

[Stella Gaslight]

It took no less than three tries for Emma to find her voice.  "I didn't meant to abandon you.  Leaving you to do the repairs on your own is a rotten thing for me to do. It's just Trip and I were talking and I think there is a lot we can teach each other.  He has been trying to make an aether generator too but he was going about it all wrong.  Really it was no wonder it exploded.  He was trying to store the energy in its un-refined state. If luck wasn't on his side he would have ended up like George or worse but anyway, I'm sorry for just wandering off and leaving you.  I am not normally that scatterbrained I promise."  She took a breath to help keep the next bit from coming out as a jumble.  "I kissed Trip as I am sure George had told you." She somehow managed to blush even deeper. "I know George doesn't like him and I am not going to ask you to make friends with him but I would like if we could all work tougher. I really don't want you to be mad at me.  Your the best friend I have had in a while."   

[Linners]

Vadoma observely Madboy coolly, and nodded at his thanks. "It was no trouble. Though, I do have to ask that the next time you are in mortal danger, do not bring it into my shop." Vadoma snapped her fingers again, and the monster disappeared once again, leaving no trace except for the thugs' discarded bones. "Oh, allow me to explain myself. True, if we did kill him then I would be safe- but I doubt this gang of theirs would simply ignore four of their number disappearing. I can simply alter this one's memories a bit, make him think his buddies fell into the river after a night of drinking. Besides, he would most likely blab my location to the entire west side, and I do not particularly feel like half the authorities in London on my tail again." Quickly, she whipped out something that looked much like a barometer, and attached the two wires to the still-stunned thug's skull. He barely twitched when she activated the device, and stared ahead vacantly. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear some fabricated memories. She deactivated the security system and ushered the dazed man outside to wander the streets until he came to his senses. She turned to Madboy, one eyebrow arched and her gaze resting on his Hellgun. "Now, I have another question for you. Would you like a job?"

[Z. Goodall]

"Well, ma'am. That was quite the performance." Goodall came from his hiding spot. Zachariah hadn't seen such a thing since the witch doctor back in Africa. "I was wondering, how did you come across such a peculiar creature?" He wandered towards the space where she brought the creature up. Inside his head, he heard spirits talking to him about a rip, and witchcraft. "Yes, I caught all that, already," he said aloud to one of the voices. "Oh, do pardon me, they like to chatter when paranormal activity occurs." Speaking to Vadoma. "Um, about that job?"

[Linners]

"...Serle? Well, I caught him eating my last clerk. When he fled, he left a pendant of his behind. Not smart on his part. You see, if you steal something of a faery's, they become bound to you to be at your beck and call. That is, until they find what you stole and tear your throat out, if you're lucky." Vadoma looked at the doctor with slight curiousity. "Ah, you're talking to the spirits? Clever little device you've got on your head there." She crossed her arms. "Actually, I was asking the large, intimidating gentleman with the large, intimidating gun..." She trailed off, but shrugged. "If you need a job and don't mind a heavily illegal lifestyle, death threats, and the constant possibility of being turned into a sewer mutant, the offer's open."

[Madboy Soli]

             “Well then, I suppose we’ve got something to talk about. I’m interested in any honest work, and even some that’s legal, thought it sounds like that won’t be an issue. I’m called Madboy Soli and this here is the Hellgun.”
   Madboy pulled a rag from a pocket and started to clean the Hellgun.
   “I can’t say I’ve got much experience with shop keepin, but since your wanting to hire a large intimidatin man with a large intimidatin gun I’m guessin you ain’t wantin me to stand behind the counter or sweep out the back.”
   Madboy held up a cigar with a questioning look and waited for Vadoma to nod before lighting up.
   “So, how about telling me your name, exactly what it is you want done, and wether it’s something me and my new friend Dr. Goodall could work together on.”

[Linners]

Vadoma nodded her head respectfully. "A pleasure." She eyed the Hellgun admiringly, almost as another woman would eye a precious gemstone. Her gaze snapped up to Madboy's face, and she nearly smiled. "Oh, yes, I will need you to 'tend' the shop sometimes, only when the authorities come a-knocking. It would seem rather suspicious for one woman to be tending and- god forbid- owning a mechanic's shop, no? So I'll need a good front." She crossed her arms and nodded, not minding. "My name is Vadoma Faa. You may refer to me as Voma, or, in front of customers, ma'am. What I want done? Ah, see, now there is the part where most of my previous applicants shied away- I have a second shop. In the Underground. As of late, my... reputation has caused a bit of unwanted activity. I need guards. Against both spirits and coporeal looters. I have set up wards, but those are weakening and won't hold up forever. Some of the higher-ups, tribe leaders and gang bosses are sending possessed spirits as spies into my shop- some strong enough to cause trouble. I have a release spell Dr. Goodall could recite to release these spirits. So, you would be working together in a sense. I will also need Dr. Goodall's doubtlessly resourceful knowledge of spirits for other... projects." She rested against the counter, hands on hips. "So that's about the jist of it. You'll be getting good pay and free board in the rooms upstairs. Interested?"

[Nigel Wetherby]

Vendetta suddenly became the last thing on the young engineer's mind. He began to chew  on his lower lip, pondering the situation carefully as she began to explain her position. Patrick had also been partially distracted by her slowly reddening face, now the color of a red, red beet.
"His theory on aetheric generators was really inferior?" He asked with a rising tone of hope in his voice.
Emma nodded unsureley. "I guess you might say that..."
"I knew it! How could a man without a descent engineer's scar or an oil streak about him have even a REMOTE idea of what to do with aether!"

[Z. Goodall]

"Oh, very much so!" Zachariah was getting himself a little over excited about the job. It wasn't much different than what he did day to day: talking to spirits, performing the odd exorcism, but he would be getting paid and he'll be getting board. "With all of that practice and a little extra money, I'll be able to get the missing components to let me cross freely to the other side!" Dr. Goodall could be called a medium no doubt, but not in the spiritual term, he 'made' his gift so to speak and a certain generator is the link that would complete his abilities. He smiled under his helmet at the thoughts running through his head.

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma was glad for the change in subject.   If she never had to talk about kissing in public again it would be too soon. "Trip isn't that horribly bad.  He has a good grasp on the basics but I think he is trying to jump from small lab work to full scale without the huge amount of testing in between.   He reminds me so much of myself when I was starting out.  I used to think I was so smart I could skip steps and still get the results I needed.  That is a dangerous path to be on."  Emma rubbed her right arm feeling the scars under the thin cotton sleeve. "If you don't mind I think we should ask him to help us patch The Bohème's skin.  The more hands we have on that the quicker we will be ready to take on the Kush." The idea of entering in to pirate country with a visible weakness made chills down Emma's spine.  George was quiet and she wanted wanted to say something to him too but he made her feel even more awkward and embarrassed.  She could wait until they were alone later.

[Madboy Soli]

Madboy lit up his cigar and breathed deep before replying. He was running out of money, friendly bars, and ammo fairly quickly in this town. Might be time to try and settle in for a bit. And this was far and away the best job offer he’d gotten so far. If nothing else the Hellgun’s barrel had gotten nicked in the fight and he needed a decent machine shop to repair it.
   “Sounds like a bargain, at least till we see how it works out. How about showing us the place, maybe telling us who we need to put a bullet to first.”
   Madboy pulled a bottle from one of his many pockets.
   “Rye Whiskey. It’ll peel the armor off a tank and put a fire in your belly. Good for making deals.” Madboy took a long pull and held the bottle out to Vadoma.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick thought long and hard about it, weighing every option and begging himself to come up with something that didn't involve that little girl-robber. Sadly, such a possibility was not available and he was forced to spit out words that tasted like bile on his tounge. "Alright...he can help..." It was obvious that he reviled saying such a thing, and that it was indeed, the hardest thing for him to say since she had met him.
"Thank you." Said Emma with a bit of a slowly warmed smile, which cracked Patrick's frustrated exterior. He blushed a bit at her smiling, which caused him to smile a bit.
"God, I've lost him..." Thought George, rolling his eyes. Vendetta slowly vanished from the young man's mind.

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma was happy that Patrick could put his dislike of Trip aside on her behalf.  It showed he cared better than any flowery speech or grand gestures could.  She was lucky to have such a good friend.  They stopped at her cabin and grabbed the two harnesses Emma had made and the quick rigging Lakshmi and Ben had whipped up along with some protective gear and some spare tools because Emma had no clue what supplies Trip would have.  Emma knocked on his door. "Trip, Come on out." She said with a smile in a sing song voice. "I hope you have a good head for heights because I could use some help patching up the holes Black left behind."  It was obvious she had already taken his silence for a yes.

[Linners]

"Good. Glad to know not every man on this earth is a complete and utter coward." She accepted the bottle and took a swig, wiping her mouth and eyeing it approvingly. "We have a deal," she said decisively, nodding and handing the bottle back to Madboy and crossing her arms. "Now, you and your friend there follow me. Closely. I don't want you boys to get lost." She motioned for them to follow, and she led them into the back rooms, and down into a musty cellar. Lighting a match, she sought a certain place that was missing a brick, reaching her hand in and opening a doorway- a doorway that led to the labryinth that protected the shop where her real business was conducted.

[Nigel Wetherby]

"Let's hope he dosent wind up like Billy..." Said Patrick, resisting a devilish grin.
"What happened to him?" Asked both Trip and Emma at the same time, Trip seeming more nervous than Emma. "Well," Patrick began with a sickly morbid tone of voice. "His cable snapped. He went plummeting 12 feet before a sky kraken snapped 'im right up! CRUNCH! Oooh but that wasn't tha end for him, no siree. He wasn't that lucky...Tha kraken only got his legs, his screams filled tha open sky and attracted Sky mites...Never seen a sky mite have ye? Frightful little buggers they are, Big sharp teeth, glowing little beady eyes, and four buglike wings and stingers like big sharp rapiers! They chewed him up an' left naught but bone and the echoes of his dying shrieks of indomitable pain!"
Trip's eyes had become withe with terror.
"But...I'm sure that nothin'll happen to ya...so long as ya arent bleedin' Or smell like raw meat."

[T.Taylor the Third]

"right" said trip thinking "he's just pulling you leg, trying to embarrass Me in front of Emma, George must have been talking to him. making him jealous"
"Well," he said "I guess we'll just have to watch that no one falls wont we, eh?  we wouldn't wont our chief engineer to get hurt, nor Emma the only pretty face aboard now would we?"
"Oh I wouldn't say I had the only pretty face up here," said Emma as she winked at the two young men.
"well now, I know trip has a rather feminane grace about him but i wouldn't call him pretty" jibbed patrick. Trip Grinned at that "hey hey, look who's talking"
Trip thought he might like patrick after all, that was his type of humor, and patrick claimed to be a weapon master himself so they should, in theory, get along grandly.


Latter that day, as they hung from swing suspended above the envelope work on patching the holes left by black, trip struck up a friendly conversation with Patrick
"So Patrick I here Your a weapon enthusiast, Did you ever get to see my ElectriCannons and Sonic Discharge Beam on the Bloody flower?"
"no" patrick said a little coldly he was still a little upset about that kiss "what are they?"
 "ooh Well the Electricanons are based on Tesla's Lightning geneartors except instead of shooting random lightning at things that come to close it shoots focused  electrical beams at what ever i want causing them to bust in to flame, My Sonic beam is essentially giant magnets vibrating a thin sheet of metal and containing the vibrations in a specail holding chamber i designed when it reaches a certain level  you can fire and an enormous, focused, sound wave is emitted blasting any thing in its way apart and it can deafen you if your not careful. "
Patricks love of weapons got the better of him "relay. I love to see your plans ,do you have them? "
Yes and in fact I'll do better than that I have an electrigun in my cabin , is essentially just a smaller electricannon. I also have some other plans for new weapons in my cabin, Maybe we can go over them some time and see if we cant improve them, what do ya say?"
other than dismantaling and improving engines  there was nothing patrick loved more than to work on weapon designs " we...yes, certainly I would really enjoy that"  he said.   

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma loved hanging over the side if the ship. It was probibly the closest she would ever get to flight. There were days she dearly wished she had been born with wings or could walk on air like George.  She watched the high peaks and deep valleys pass by in complete contentment. "It must be wonderful to float above the world like this all the time."

"It is." Said George making Emma jerk in her harness with surprise.  She had expected him to stay quiet for awhile longer. "But you know I would give it up in a moment to be hanging there beside you."  There was sadness and longing in his voice

"We will get you back before the year is out, just you wait."  Emma smiled thinking of the plans she had left in Patrick's safekeeping.  Once they got safely back to London she would rebuild number 12 and bring George home.   George wished he could share her certainty but he had this horrible felling that he was never coming back.   He put those thoughts aside and put on a happy face for Emma.  He didn't want to make her sad when she was obviously enjoying herself. 

Emma scooted in close to Trip and Patrick having run out of wire to patch the mesh armor under the fabric skin. She ended up getting pulled  in to a debate on sound based weaponry.  Patrick was quite good with his hands and was manging to pepper Trip with questions about his Sonic beam and patch the ship at the same time.  Emma was impressed her own seams in the fabric skin were no where near as neat and tidy. 

[Nigel Wetherby]

 "Sound wave manipulation is all well and good should ye be handlin personelle and infantry, but what about artillery and heavy armor units? War automitons, Aether ships, juggernaut boats? What've ye got then?" He asked, in an attempt to one-up the young man. 
"What ye've got is about 6 pounds of useless tech, ye need a multi-tasker! A miniature aether oscilliation engine, now THATS a weapon! Ye take electric impulses from the air via a miniature static-electricity generator, and ye run it through an aetherium prism! It comes out as an unadulterated energy blast akin ta ball lightnin' Only it can plow through carbon steel like a bullet through tissue paper!"
Trip raised an eyebrow and replied, "But aethercraft in any form is highly unstable!" He exlaimed a bit irritatedly.
"Only if ye are daft enough ta use a flawed, uncut bit of unrefined Aetherium!" Snapped Patrick sharply.
"You'd fry yourself to a crisp!" Snarled Trip.
"Not if ye are actually smart enough to affix it to the proper position!!" Barked Patrick, who's stitches remained surprisingly neat, his experience in working while violently irate was terribly evident.

[T.Taylor the Third]

"you know I didnt say the risk of using the weapon wasnt worth the positive outcome possible, any form of lightning weapon intrsts me, and since you obveusly know more than i about Æthercraft and I know more about electricity why dont we teach each other? eh"
said trip
Patrick thought about it, trips flattering word s had calmed him down some and he did know trip knew more about electricity than he himself did,"We Might be able ta work togethar, If you keep yourself in line and don't pull anything on me."

"Well of course"