[STORY] Act II - The Spider Farm

[Drew]

Damian is skeptically looking over the super-fast wagon when the light clopping of hooves causes him to turn and see Cal approaching on his well-groomed, light-colored horse ("Jack", I think it was?). The heavy clopping of hooves causes the elf and half-elf to turn to witness Gallant arriving on his dark, oversized, long-haired, bloodshot-eyed horse. Then the rapid thumping footfalls of many giant arachnid legs causes all three men to turn and look upon Yeunni as she rides up atop the giant spider.

Irena Yar shows up next, pulling a small cart that is absolutely full of all kinds of large things from her smithy. "Gallant!" she calls as she nears. "And his friends! I bring aid!"

When she gets the cart pulled up, you can see that it is full of every large vehicle-mounted siege weapon she could fit into it - a chain gun, several small bomb trebuchets complete with a starting supply of bombs, and even a cannon that has a few cannonballs - plus various large parts that could eventually be assembled into some sort of steam engine. She means well and you appreciate her effort. She doesn't know about the harsh time limit you're under and installing even one of these items onto your wagon would take too long, not to mention it would slow the vehicle down overall, which would defeat its purpose.

Irena stands there with her hands on her hips, smiling with pride and working on catching her breath. "I loaded up everything from the smithy that I thought could help you on your mission," she pants. "This stuff has been there for years. I don't think it will ever sell in a town like this. I really just use it all for decoration. So, please, take what you need."

[Lycanthus]

Damian whistles appreciatively at the items. He also - besides the time limit - is aware that alot of that stuff looks heavy... and that will decrease speed.

He considers the Chain Gun (So long as there is some direction given on how to set it up.

And the bombs - sans trebuchets. Considering that he could use his own stealth skills to plant the bombs... or just throw them if needed.

He conveys as much to Irena. All the while half smiling that Gallant had an admirer.

"Thank you Irena, Will you give me quick directions on how to install that" (pointing to the chain gun) "and how to use it - if I can do so easily once we arrive, then it will be handy indeed.... and can those bombs be planted and delayed fused or thrown with a short fuse? - We are on short supply of time and need to move quickly."


(ooc I'm hoping its easy enough for a guy who builds and takes apart traps etc to "install" and operate)

[Raistlinmc]

"And if we cannot outfit all of that right now, due to time being of the essence, your generosity is still much appreciated," Yuenni says diplomatically from astride her new spider pal.

[Drew]

"Yes, absolutely," Irena says, apparently not catching the significance of the 'time being of the essence' part of Yeunni's statement. "All you need is an a small mallet to drive in the straight nails and a flat-blade brace to drive in the threaded nails," she says, reaching into the cart, "and I have both." She picks up the two carpenter's tools and holds them with pride. "It has a base frame, you see," she says, setting the tools on the ground and gesturing to a folded-up four-legged thing laying in the cart. "The front two legs are meant to grip onto the top of the wagon's lip, whichever side you want to mount it facing, and then the back legs have a little flat anchor area that is meant to be nailed directly to the floor of the wagon. The gun slots right in and is held in place mostly by its own weight and a single hammer lock split pin, which I also have a few of for you guys." She's beaming at this point, clearly thinking she has drastically tipped the scales in your favor. "There are a few hundred rounds left here," she says, gesturing at a rusted old ammo case in one corner of the cart, "but I can make more. All in all, even a beginner working alone could get this put together same-day. But all of us working together? It would only take a couple of hours, a little more if you do it without me so I can start right away on making more ammo for you."

[Lycanthus]

"Can the gun be held and fired... or does it have to be attached to the stand?"

Damian is trying to work out if he can "Rambo" it. lol.... other that or it may need to be just left behind. They don't have the time.


If Yes - then he thanks her, says "The ammo here will just have to do...." and loads the wagon accordingly.
If Not then he continues with -

"In that case - do you have a spare Mallet and Brace that I may borrow? ... We really need to get moving, hopefully I can assemble it once there.... Unless you plan on coming with us to assemble it while I drive the wagon? And then fire it once there?" He sounds a little hopeful. Irena certainly looks like she could handle herself in a fight....and someone who knows how to use the Gun would almost certainly be useful.

[Raistlinmc]

Yuenni frowns at all this, knowing there won't be time.

"Let us save this...this...what is it? A chain gun? Regardless, let us leave this for the next disaster that befalls us all, shall we? We really must depart if we are to have any chance of saving whatever survivors may remain."

[Lycanthus]

There is very faintly an actual whimper from Damian.

He really is like a kid in a toy store... and these toys were sooooo tempting.

He knows Yuenni is right though.... Damn it.... Hold on.. when did she start sounding like she cared.....

He takes his eyes off the gadgets and studies Yuenni for a time. (Enough for it to be uncomfortable for any normal woman.)

Then snaps out of it. Grabs some of the bombs only (say 10-20 whatever he can carry safely in his pack or in the wagon without them going off)... I have no idea how big these things are... i'm guessing its like the old dynamite stick bundles you see in westerns where they either toss them individually, or bunch them for a bigger bang)

"Thanks Irena." And with that he Hops up onto the Drivers position of the wagon, takes up the reins and releases the braking board.

(btw he will ensure he has the detonators or whatever so they do actually go boom)

[Raistlinmc]

Yuenni, astride the massive spider, catches Damian's eyes and studies him right back, surely long enough to make it uncomfortable for any normal man.

And she smiles.

[Drew]

Irena explains that the gun is pretty heavy - about 580lbs. - and would need to be installed into its base for use, though Gallant looks like he might be able to hold and fire the gun without needing the base, what with those bulging muscles of his.

She is also willing to loan you her tools so that you can install the gun while you travel if you really need to get going right away, or she could even come with you and help with that task and operate the gun once it's ready as long as Gallant promises to stay right beside her the whole entire time and protect her from harm.

The bombs are thunder bombs. They look kind of like the little round bombs that can fit in one hand that you see pirates throwing around in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, except there is no fuse but instead a small cork. The bombs explode on a sufficient-enough impact; anything harder than a drop from five feet high or less, in order to prevent accidental detonations. There are three little 3-foot trebuchets, easily installed with a hammer and the nails included with each one, and a total of 18 bombs.

Damian loads all of the bombs into the wagon and goes to hop into the driver's seat, but as he does the scroll of Vehicular Badassery falls out of his pack and onto the ground.

[Lycanthus]

ooc do I notice the wayward scroll drop out?

[Lycanthus]

"ACK!"

He scrambles down quickly and picks up the scroll. Then looking around at Yuenni on a spider.... Gallant on a .... To call that a horse would be a kindness...

He wonders.... just what this scroll would actually do for them.....

"Aw shucks... now I need to know" He mutters to himself.... sincerely hoping that it doesn't back fire on them all.

He opens and 'reads' the scroll of Vehicular Badassery (if nothing else he wonders if it will magically install all the goodies from Irena for them)

[Drew]

Damian hops into the wagon's driver's seat and reads the scroll. It's written in a language that he doesn't know, but uses the Common alphabet, so he is able to just sound everything out, reading the scroll aloud even though he doesn't know exactly what he's saying. Upon finishing, the scroll begins to disintegrate into dust, which blows about three feet away before beginning to reform into a small ball of glowing light. Once all of the scroll is gone and only the ball of light remains, it begins to fly around the area, stopping briefly to look at everything and everyone in the general vicinity, flitting around everything it studies like a hummingbird, hovering in one position for a moment before darting to another and another until it has looked at its object of interest from every angle.

After inspecting everything in the area, it flies straight up and then comes back down on the wagon, crashing into it and causing the entire wagon itself to take on that same glow of golden light, illuminating all around Damian who is still in the driver's seat. There is a loud clank as Irena's cart, as well as any items she has removed from the cart, begin to slowly slide toward the wagon. "Hey, my cart," she says with a little concern. "What's happening?" Gallant and Cal's horses and Yeunni's spider start to behave apprehensively as the same invisible force starts to slowly pull them toward the wagon as well.

[HorseyFatback]

Gallant, at the moment before this chaos begins, is busy looking in Irena's direction and contemplating her. But as his horse begins to be pulled by this invisible force he clicks his heels against it's side and rears it, turning and trotting further away in the hopes of moving "out of range".

[Drew]

Gallant has his horse about-face and start trotting away. It covers less and less ground with each trot until it's trotting in place. Jack the horse and the giant spider carve tracklines in the ground as they fight to keep from sliding toward the wagon. Irena pulls and pulls to try and keep her cart from moving any further but to no avail. Meanwhile the wagon continues to glow brighter and brighter, making Damian start to wonder if it is safe to be where he is right now.

[Lycanthus]

"Uhhhh" Damian jumps off the glowing wagon.... and starts looking for somewhere to hide .... just in case.

(like a totally naughty kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar expression on his face)

[HorseyFatback]

"Fine." Gallant pats his warhorse on the side a couple times and makes an attempt at a smooth dismount.

[Raistlinmc]

Yuenni coos at her spider, pats it affectionately and steers it away from the force.

She then calls, "Damian? What did you do, exactly?"

[shadowthebard]

Cal tries to keep his horse calm, while eagerly awaiting the answer to Yuenni's question.

[Drew]

Despite certain things being pulled more and more powerfully toward the glowing wagon with each passing second, Damian feels no such force affecting him at all, and can easily hop down from the wagon and scurry to what he feels is a safer distance. Likewise, Gallant's horse can no longer move away from the wagon at all - only slow its rate of approach toward the wagon - but once Gallant dismounts, he finds that he is able to walk around without difficulty. Cal's horse and Yeunni's spider are now where Gallant's horse was only moments ago - facing away from the wagon and trying their best to move quickly but going nowhere. Irena digs two little lines in the dirt with the heels of her boots as she holds fast to her cart full of stuff and it drags her forward along with it. Anything that she had taken out of the cart and set on the ground has now been sucked into the wagon and has gotten lost in the brightness at the core of its ever-increasing light. Irena hollers for assistance. Her cart has lifted about six inches off the ground and now hovers toward the glowing wagon, which is less of a wagon at this point and more of just a big ball of light that has begun to make a low pulsing noise.

[Lycanthus]

Damian looks absolutely fascinated and terrified at once.

He merely gapes like a fish as he watches the events unfolding before realising that he has been spoken to. So he begins muttering loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The Scroll.. it fell out.... there was like a feeling that came over me.... telling me to read it.... so I did.... "

He waves his hand towards the glowing ball of light.

"Just trust me for once and let it happen.... I don't think it will be permanent... but somehow .... I just *know* that we *need* this to happen for this rescue to be successful"

His voice is almost pleading by the end. Almost as if begging the spell itself to 'be' as he hopes it will be.

***
I feel like that moment in HP where he has drunk the Felix and everyone is like ok so you are going "X" place.. and he is like... nope... I'm going to Hagrids....
Everyone else is like...WTF... but he is supremely confident that is the place to go to get it done. (and was right). (I really need to watch those films again sometime)
Well anyway ... that's Damian atm.