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Painted Moose rolled 1 20-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-20)
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 Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:37 pm
1 - 5: Fire! A small fire has broken out at the local village. But what is on fire and who might be involved is up to you in your prompt response. Find a way to help keep it under control and get anyone out safely.
Getting back into a working rhythm had been harder after Marcella's birth than it was for the triplets. With them she'd bounced back as fast as possible to pull in as much wealth as she could to support them, among other reasons. Maritza had desperately wanted to prove that she could handle it when she really couldn't and post-birth depression played a heavy role in her mental state. For nearly the first year of her eldest children's lives she hadn't enjoyed motherhood, though she loved them dearly, and with Marcella it was different. Pregnancy hadn't been joyous, though it was a far cry from the hell of her first, and the tender months of holding a newborn were glorious. She'd been happy to take time off to help raise Marcella with her father, so much so that when it came time to renew her contract she'd hesitated.
She could have found work at the docks and focused on repairs while the ships were stationary. Could being the key word, but in the end Maritza had signed back up for deployment. She loved the power that came with keeping a ship of that size afloat, of working long hours so that even when a problem arose no one knew, and of seeing Isaia take after her. Though she didn't work with her son directly she'd passed him enough times to learn about his day or a particular project he was working on. She'd never understood the allure of tradition until one of her children chose to go in the same field as she and now Maritza got it.
Maritza was sipping on some cold soup in the middle of her shift when she felt the ship lurch. The engineer was propped atop a metallic crate, one that was often used as a bench during breaks and lunches, when a loud 'boom!' rattled the area. She turned her head, craning to look over equipment to see further into the ship's belly but without success. There was a cacophony of voices coming from within, and leaving her soup behind, Maritza chose to check it out.
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:50 pm
(1/7) Isaia didn't work in the same department as Maritza which, he had to admit, was a blessing. His mother was one of the more senior figures who still worked hands on on the ships - most had been crippled or aged out of this line of work after a certain age. Maritza was experienced, knowledgeable, and also had the unfortunate ability to somehow forget he was her son in the moment, meaning under her he would be barked at like anyone else. Thankfully, his frame, while thin and spindly like his father, was too big to do many of the jobs his mother did, so he was blessedly assigned to work in a different sector.
Most times, he was an engineer much like his mother, but depending on available manpower he sometimes was tasked with working in the engine room - popularly considered The Worst. The lucky ones were tasked with turning valves or adjusting gauges. Unlucky ones were assigned to shovel coal and wood, or to remove them when the ship had to slow or descend. The unluckiest were those who had to climb into the mechanisms, and smear grease on the pistons and cylinders when required, or pour water onto parts that threatened to overheat.
Isaia didn't know what happened, at first. He was shirtless and shoveling coal, body streaked with sweat, when a tap at his shoulder alerted him it was time for his break. He groaned thankfully and stumbled from the furnace, reaching for his water flask to take a greedy drink - but everything exploded. A burst of heat erupted behind him, sending him sprawling forward onto the metal grating, and only after a number of stunned, ear-ringing seconds did Isaia hear screams behind him. The airship lurched, and with it the firebox flared - his partner fell, arms and shovel first, into the flames, and was kicking and scrambling to try and get out of the furnace. Embers tumbled out, which Isaia had to distractedly kick away from him before his pant leg caught fire.
Distantly, he heard other workers yelling and screaming, shouting codes and alerts he couldn't hear from this distance. Whatever the explosion had been, it DIDN'T start here.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2023 1:39 pm
Even though alarm bells were starting to sound off throughout the lower hull Maritza could barely hear them. She passed one of the other senior crew members who was bellowing orders to keep the ship as stable and aloft as possible. Without even so much as checking in with him, Maritza skirted around the man's makeshift podium and continued her harried run. Her boots made audible 'clanks' with each step though like the alarms they were muffled. The only time she did slow was when she saw a pair of coal loaders who had been coming back from break. They were dawdling, presumably unneverd by the commotion, but when she grabbed the closest one by the arm they turned to her.
"If you aren't going to do anything then move; you're in the way." They were young, around the same age as her oldest three, and she'd be damned if she -
Isaia!
She hadn't seen him on the upper level, but she hadn't stopped to check...What if he was in the engine room? Maritza gritted her teeth and leapt down from an upper railing onto the lower level, barely pausing to brace her knees before taking off again. If she'd wanted to go after him she would have needed to take a right, but when the second blast erupted it came from her left. The entire ship shuddered and for a moment the engineer was actually lifted off her feet with the sudden drop, only to be slammed back onto the grating.
Motherly worry tugged at her, but Maritza, ever the pragmatist, sought reasoning. Neither one of them would make it if she wasted time going to him and since the explosions weren't coming from his area...
"Maritza!" Hearing her name, she tore off to the left and came across a ghastly scene. Ogdis, the lead for this area, was trying to get her attention over the terrified, pain filled shrieking around them. A massive fire was quickly overtaking the area and she could only watch as a pipe burst near to her right, completely overtaking a young woman. Focus, focus, focus...
"What happened?!"
"Too much pressure..." Ogdis raised his shirt sleeve to try and filter some of the air he was breathing, "There was an issue with the valves. By the time we caught it there was an explosion. It took out a piece of the hull..." Which explained why the fire was so much bigger than it should have been. It didn't matter how many bodies they had to calm it; at this point it was a losing battle.
But it wasn't impossible.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 11:58 pm
(2/7) Isaia was still sitting where he'd fallen, staring numbly at the furnace, when a second explosion rocked the ship. This time, he curled his body up and didn't slide or jolt, but that still didn't quell the surge of adrenaline and horror that filled him. There was a sensation in his gut that he imagined was the ship careening out of the air, but logic told him the vessel was too large to feel it so keenly. So, he pushed himself to his feet, stumbling to the nearing gangway where he could grip railing for support, peering at a shattered gauge. The pressure was way too low; so low that the ship wouldn't be able to keep afloat, not unless whatever break had occurred was fixed.
But in that same vein, that meant the furnaces needed to stay blazing. He grimaced and glanced back towards the shape of his... one coworker - a friendly enough guy he shared drinks with on shore leave often enough.
Nothing in Isaia wanted to stay here and shovel coals into that furnace - he feared another lurch leaving him to a similar fate, but the fact was if he abandoned his post the ship definitely wouldn't keep up any sort of pressure long enough for a patch.
Heaving out a shaking breath he turned back to the furnace and grabbed up his shovel again, blinking sweat out of them as he added another load in, quickly moving between the furnace and the gauge to keep careful track of it.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:53 am
Maritza quickly turned her head to the side as another pipe burst inches from her head. Her hands were wrapped around a valve, the near scalding metal getting too hot to handle even with layers, but with Ogdis' assistance the two senior officers were able redirect the flow. In that moment one of two choices had to be made; either the ship itself could try to stay afloat, through what means she didn't know, or they could prioritize the safety of it's crew. Preventing anymore explosions was key, though that would mean releasing steam and forcing a descent. Getting there while maintaining a gradual, controlled speed however...
For the moment pressure was holding and every gauge she checked in on was decreasing, though at a stable rate. So long as the flight crew picked up on the plan then they should be able to make it. The existing fire, however, was troublesome. A few of the mages from guest quarters had 'offered' to come down to help, though at this point their efforts were a balm at best.
Wounded and burning were building up around her, but Maritza was no healer. She bypassed a crumpled Geian form, unwilling to look at their melted form to see if they lived or not. What would she have been able to do if they did? The best thing she could do now was to make sure the healers aboard survived-
Once again the ship gave a hard lurch and her heart dropped. Were they losing pressure faster than she'd thought? She pushed past others toward The Worst and called out for her son. "Isaia! Where the hell is my son?!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:33 am
(3/7) The craft continued to shudder, and as Isaia worked he abandoned efficiency and instead took to standing paces away, chucking coal from the tip of his shovel into the furnace. A few pieces consistently scattered far from the open maw, but enough got in that he couldn't feel too bad about the waste. His arms and shoulders burned with effort, exhausted already from a long shift, but desperation kept him going. The pressure refused to build properly, but it was still in acceptable parameters; but Isaia wasn't sure it would remain so, if he left.
He had two options - stay here, and risk being crushed unexpectedly, unable to see where the airship was descending and when it would hit the water; or toss as much fuel into the furnace as he could, risking overheating the system and causing MORE explosions. The selfless thing to do was to continue as he was, but that was suicide, and in the moment - Isaia knew that he wasn't that brave, or selfless, a person. One look at the deteriorated shape of his coworker told him that.
So - he began to heap as much coal in as he could, doing mental calculations of just how much would be needed to descend - when the ship lurched. He screamed out in fear, wildly swinging the shovel forward, and by some sheer miracle metal piece buried itself in the coals but stopped his fall, his body brought with it. The wood of the handle creaked ominously, his cheeks and bared arms immediately screamed out from burns from the insane heat of the interior of the furnace's air, but he didn't land in the burning coals- and instead was able to shuffle backwards, the shovel flung half into the flames, forgotten. He didn't dare look down at his arms, telling himself that feeling the pain of it was better - the ones who stopped feeling were the ones who lost their arms- and instead Isaia moved to scramble up the metal ladder towards the heavy exit door, reinforced to protect the airship should a fire get out of control here.
He heaved it open, just in time to hear- "Mom?" He croaked out, throat dried out from the heat. He shook himself, and instead heaved himself through the narrow door, slamming it shut behind him with a grimace. He was still soaked in sweat, bare-chested, forearms a shiny patch of angry red burns, cheeks burnt red but mildly so, when he saw his mom round the corner towards him.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2023 11:26 am
If Maritza had spared one look behind her she would have noticed just how bright the hall behind her had become. While the fire was ‘contained’ for the moment it was far from behind extinguished and with every movement that came from the ship her desire to get out grew stronger. Motherhood had changed her. Without the children she would have stayed, stubbornly clinging onto the shell of a ship or at best chucking younger workers out into the sea just to save their lives. Now, though…Now she had to find Isaia and get him out!
Spirits please protect him. She didn’t believe in any of those things, but the Taleans did so that had to count for him! When she saw the door open the Engineer was fully prepared to throw whoever was exiting to the side, but – “Isaia!” The moment she was close to him she brought her son to her chest and gave him the tightest hug she could manage. The left side of her body was warm from the steam, but when she pulled him back to inspect the boy…His arms….Her eyes lingered there for a moment before she looked up into his eyes. “We need to leave. Now. Can you walk?”
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2023 2:15 pm
(4/7) Adrenaline told Isaia she could definitely walk, so he nodded quickly at her question, even as he stared at her. "What are you doing on this side of the ship?" He asked, as they moved along at a brisk pace, arms still somewhat awkwardly held in front of him. He knew enough to know he didn't want to jostle them against anything, but he also could only feel them stinging. "Do you even know what happened? The engines are--" He sobered up a bit and gave his head a shake to get some of that shock out of it. "No one's left to keep them going, but I threw a lot've fuel before I left-"
His mother, more than anyone, would appreciate the stress that would put on an already failing system.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 11:33 am
"Faulty valves, idiots who aren't monitoring them-" She braced his torso, careful to keep from touching his arms unless absolutely necessary, even when the ship shifted once more. "By the time anyone caught it an explosion took out a chunk of the hull and now it's on fire." If there was only more time or more hands...A thousand ways to save the ship were flashing through Maritza's mind but they didn't have time.
When she heard that he'd tossed more fuel in Maritza didn't hesitate to whip her son around to face her. "You did what?! We're already overheating!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:00 pm
(5/7) The ship lurched and Isaia felt his heart shoot up into his throat. But he gratefully leaned on his mother, glancing down towards her as she explained. It was at this point that he blurted out his own piece of the problem, and to his credit when she pulled him to look at her he met her gaze confidently, brow furrowing. "My gauge didn't say that! I was thinking about the captain having engines to land with." He sniped back, opening his mouth to argue further -
But the ship rocked again, nearly taking them both off their feet. "Let's fight about it on deck, yeah?" Assuming they made it up there.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 11:09 am
Maritza couldn't help the way her lip curled, ready to dig into their argument, anymore than she could help the ship's descent. Instead of getting into another row with her son, she nodded and started hustling upward.
The lower levels didn't have the privilege of portholes, but as they broke out of the underbelly into the common area a vision of horror assaulted her. For the second time in her life Maritza watched as tables that had once seated passengers or crewmen slid from one side of the room to the other. Several panicked citizens were clinging to any crewman they could while some others pointed at the quickly approaching ocean beneath them. It's not helping! Saying we're crashing isn't going to stop it from happening!
Now that traffic was getting thicker getting to the upper levels was more difficult. She did her best to stay close to Isaia, even going so far as to snap at those around them to keep her boy at her side. And when they made it to the next level she wasn't surprised at all to see an emergency hatch had been opened. Parachutes were being given to those that could grab them and others, out of fear, were just leaping to their deaths. Maritza knew they were still too high up to survive it, but fear did bad things to people.
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:07 pm
(6/7) The screeching, fearful part of Isaia's brain had told him that getting out of the underbelly of the ship would mean safety. Less risk of hitting the ground and being crunched up in the metal, locked within the belly of the ship where no one could rescue them. So... when they emerged onto a higher deck to the sight of chaos, he briefly froze, staring at the terrified people around them. Only his mother's steely presence at his side, and the well intoned safety instructions that had been hammered into him after dozens of flights kept his head somewhat solidly on his shoulders.
He'd hoped adding more fuel would give the captain options for deceleration, but the careening images that he could see through the portholes told him otherwise. It was as his mother had said; the system was too overheated, it was as if there was no power to begin with, and the ship had returned to its natural state; pieces of metal that had no place being in the air at all. The airship was falling, fast enough that Isaia feared even jumping with a parachute risked spattering yourself against the side of the ship, and yet...
It was horrifying, to see people jumping through the emergency hatch, and yet a dark part of him frantically counted the numbers as best he could. While the ship made sure to stock enough parachutes for everyone, that number was spotted around the deck by the different hatches - and if one of those hatches was inaccessible, then those parachutes were lost too. Each person who jumped without - meant an extra parachute, should the worst happen. (And that thought would prove to haunt him, later on, but right now it felt practical).
Fear made him want to fjord through the crowd and grab two parachutes, for him and his mother, but logic reminded him that they were crew, and they were supposed to make sure the passengers got out first. Their emergency instructions were to stay by the hatches to make sure no one took more than one parachute; to make sure no one destroyed them in their fear, no one fought over them. "Seniority- Mom, you get out here!" He yelled over the crowd, nudging his mom forward, already craning his neck to look towards where the neck one would be. "I'll check the next door's open."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:14 pm
The motherly part of her brain wanted nothing more than to grab the closest parachute, shove it into his arms and push Isaia out with the passengers. She couldn't stand the idea of her son going down with the ship or worse, trying to get out only to be caught up in debris instead. How many corpses had she seen as an apprentice, trapped in wreckage with no way to get out? When she looked at him now that part of her mind tuned out the chaos around her to see a small boy, reaching up for her when reality aged him and she caught onto his words.
Instead of being pushed away she snatched the closest part of him that she could. "Seniority means that I stay, Isaia. The moment your hatch is clear you jump. Understand?" And then she shoved him back into the crowd.
He was a crewmember, just like anyone else, and now more than ever she saw the folly of allowing him to be conscripted here. Around the heads of others she called out one last time, "Don't make this your grave, Isaia! Do your job and get out! You have to live!" And with her heart in her lungs, Maritza turned away from her son to keep progress moving.
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:29 pm
(7/7) There was a weird moment, where they just looked at each other. His mom was always so cocksure and confident, but for a moment when she looked at him there was a look on her face that stripped away all of it. The presumed veneer of immortality that parents had was gone, and he could see in her face that she had no idea what was going to happen to them. To her.
She grabbed his wrist (which stung but he ignored it in favor of staring at her, fighting past the shouts and screams and crunching of metal around them to hear what she was saying), turning his hand so he could grip her hand back. Cling onto his mother, for just another moment.
He nodded, a bit stupidly, then let himself be shoved back; his nails might have scratched her wrist just a bit as he went, as some subconscious part of him fought to keep her close.
He turned his head back to look at her again, grateful he'd inherited a bit more of his father's height so he could see over the heads around him, but she'd already turned away from him, back to her work.
"You better live too, old lady." He hissed out, mostly to himself. Then, he turned and forcibly shoved himself back into crew-mode, even if it was ill-fitting, like slipping into a uniform that didn't fit quite right.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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