Ratty Gnawtail

Alfred regarded the work he and the other workers had achieved once more before replying. He had worked up a considerable sweat from his mad dashing, repairing, and constructing...his throat felt more than a little dry. “I...I think I could do with a drink,” he admitted, “maybe just the one though. You see, my reason for travel is to find a way to control a flaw I was born with. Too much uncontrolled emotion and I will discharge electricity, which is why I have the gloves and boots. But just the one drink will be fine; we have all earnt it I think.” He flexed his gloved fingers in thought and spoke more. “The ship I have found myself with...it is on a quest to find the Tyrant’s Bloom. I guess if any of you know anything that might help with that, it’d be appreciated? Otherwise have any of you seen an Itzenko, pale green...wears a living fur-thing with fangs? One of my other crewmates was trying to find him, but just in case she hasn’t had any luck any leads are still leads. One of my other crewmates is also looking into this, but if anyone knows how to cure ghost hornet stings that make you sleep, that might also be useful? No pressure or anything, I’m sure my friends have it all in hand.” Alfred paused and watched Wattson busily repack his equipment back into his satchel. Cecily sat a little further away, calmly observing everyone. “I am interested in seeing what ship fittings you might have though. Perhaps we can talk business after that nice drink?” He gave a small and genuine smile. OOC: Going for a solitary drink (mostly out of politeness), checking any fragments of news on the Bloom and Ham and Helena's quests (since Alfred isn't aware how the two are getting on), and agreeing to take a look at the upgrades after said drink.

Alright...the two stakes we looted out of the remains of Alfred's home. 😛

Alrighty, if Alfred is going to get some questionable upgrades for the ship, are you all okay with him spending some stakes? I guess a limit of the two free we got when Alfred joined?

Huh, well done that crazy jellyfish/electric slugman! 🤣

Alfred’s eye markings softened at the ketra’s sorrow at the loss of the Middle Cobble and he felt a series of jolts crackle across his neck and back. These people had lost much and the feeling of doom was almost palpable. If one of the stones had fallen, Shudder or not, how long before another could fall? He gazed over to the fallen windmill blades and reflected how funny it was that the people of the Wildsea when faced with the ravages of nature always find a way to adapt and use the very winds, tree waves, beasts, and more to continue surviving and prospering. In a way it gave him hope. He felt another jolt of internal electricity and a thought occurred. Electricity. Reliable power. Yes! He snapped gloved fingers (which naturally had a muffled and less dramatic sound to it) and became very animated, opening up his satchel bag and withdrawing his ceramic battery. “I guess I may have found a use for you...Getrude? Yes, we’ll go with Gertrude.” Before the ektus or ketra could say anything, Alfred was already moving. Already manically studying and measuring the blades, making mental mathematics of the speed the windmill blades could feasibly and safely go to, and dashing back and forth to check how the wind power generated would connect to the still. From what he could tell and from what he gathered from the ketra, the still was primarily powered by wind generation but there was a separate hand crank that the workers could use on less windy days. Alfred rubbed his chin in thought for a moment and stood suddenly very still in contrast to his previous darting about. Whilst he could fit Gertrude to the distiller and run it just on the charged energy, this would not be anywhere enough for a long term solution. The battery would require additional charge. But...how much energy was produced by the windmill blades during a windy day? More than enough for working the distillation process, enough spare to perhaps recharge the battery. That way when it was not windy the battery would do the work, when it was windy the windmill would do the work and recharge the battery on the side, and if there was no wind and no battery charge there was still the option for hand cranking. Alfred was moving again, giving punch code orders to Wattson and Cecily. Wattson was to help with repairs and setting up the layout of the connection for the windmill blade system to Gertrude and then Gertrude to the still. Cecily meanwhile was tasked to help with collecting parts and do more lifting work. Alfred himself busied himself with both directing his companions, getting his own gloves dirty, as well as outlining the plans for how (when the blades were eventually re-attached and the tower repaired) the battery would work and how it would be fed and recharged by the wind generated to the other workers. OOC: Aye, fraid I will be going with that idea and do a Sharps + Rattle and spend the ceramic battery to set up an electrical power source that can run the Still on non-windy days and be charged when the blades are repaired and are able to turn on windier days. I guess if Alfred succeeds enough, maybe he can at least start on repairing the windmill parts as well, but that’s maybe a push. 😛

I'm assuming the power part of the distillery is windmill related and so non-electrical (so no ceramic battery or ancient wires?) :P I also guess Alfred is losing his extra impact from Wattson in lieu of cheekily getting away with Surefire Smith? Which honestly is a fair enough trade.

Hearing the ektus use a smattering of raka spit, Alfred replied with the patter-clicks of the same tongue in partial answer to the Ketra, digging up an old hunter saying he had learnt from his dealings with those who delved deep into the wild sea: “A true hunter is only proven when staring down the jaws of a beast.” Alfred then indicated his mechanical companions and switched back to low sour, “I did create these two friends of mine, so yes, I am a Rattlehand. Alfred. A passing creator and fixer. This is Wattson who helps me repair and this is Cecily who watches my back.” Wattson gave a short beep as a form of greeting whilst Cecily stood there and observed them with a cold optic stare. He regarded their large and well-equipped tool-belts and gave an approving nod, “You both look the business at any rate. Might my friends and I help you out? Most around here don't seem to want the help of a stranger, which is understandable.” He clicked his tongue in raka to another saying that came to mind, “However, a Shrakkrin may look fearsome but it is the Tailed Fleuri that will bite you.” Alfred shrugged, “Show me what your problem is and I’ll see what I can do.”

Nah, you counter the impending Shadow Realm with a pot of greed (and explain what it does), before pulling out with the heart of the cards the necessary pieces to complete Exodia. 😋

Revelation hit Alfred like how the Slipfang had hit Pieter Mk I. “I...huh...why didn’t I think of that, Wattson?” Wattson gave a slow beep as did Cecily a moment later. Both their eye sockets/lenses seemed to be giving Alfred a look of barely restrained exasperation. “Well that is just rude...” he muttered and turned his attention back to the mothryn. “I...suppose I should not have been surprised. Ideally you would hope all spit dwellers would band together for the good of all...but in reality like the verdant seas it is more survival of the strong and a vicious pinwolf eat pinwolf cycle. Maybe I have been away too long?” He sighed slightly and ignored the small jolt down his back as much as he could. “The work of the builder is rarely noticed or appreciated,” he spoke at last, “we are the ones who turn fragmented dreams into realities, the ones who guard the waking world of what passes for civilisation. We are only noticed when we are no longer there. Your scarf is very nice though. If I were you I’d maybe check that gravity itself is behaving as it should with those pipes, it is possible that the recent Shudder did more upturning than just the physical. But that is just my initial guess. Apologies if you had already considered that as a theory.” He flexed his gloved left hand in contemplation before his face and stared into his gloved palm. “But you are right I think. More fool me perhaps? I think I will have a look at the Lesser Cobble as I should have from the start." He withdrew his hand and let a small smile slide to his face, "I am Alfred by the way.” With that he bid farewell to the mothryn and made his way back to the Lesser Cobble to try there instead. OOC: Alright then, as before (if possible), except Alfred will move back onto the Lesser Cobble and see what he can do to help. 🙂

Nay complaint from me. Helena is the best at hunting and probably the better choice if Kryk T'k has been caught in some kind of all night pub brawl or otherwise has gotten into trouble. 🙂

Alfred rose early and dressed back into his Rattlehand attire, Wattson buzzing about and quickly cleaning and folding Alfred’s more diplomatic clothing before returning them to the clothing case. Alfred wandered the ship, checking that nothing was amiss and pausing briefly near to Duo’s room. His eye markings drifted slightly before he wandered back and with a mug of tea in gloved hand went to the top deck and watched the day break chatting with one of the other underdeck engineers that too had risen early. As the morning grew, Alfred went back below and took a quiet and simple breakfast with the others as they discussed plans and concerns about K and the absent Kryk T'k. Alfred steepled his gloved fingers together and considered his own plans for the morning. Part of him was intrigued by the Brass Cobble and what he might discover and learn from it and its denizens and yet he felt a familiar pull of sympathy for the more densely populated Greater Cobble given the sinking of one of the spits. Maybe their experience of hardship was different than that of Hissk’s Folly but a knot within Alfred’s gut told him that he’d regret not trying to investigate and seeing if he could help, however small said help could be. Each of the crew moving on to do their own thing, Alfred accompanied by Wattson and Cecily descended into the Greater Cobble and began examining any of the machines for water collection and purification as well as any of the crop growing machinery that may have been damaged by the Shudder or otherwise overworked from the population increase. Where necessary he used his quick and persuasive tongue coupled with convincing Brasstongue overtones to get access to any such machines that he decided needed tinkering or repairing. With Wattson buzzing beside him, Cecily to watch his back, and a few bits and pieces of his own salvage (depending on what might be suitable, Alfred can use parts of either his engine piping, ancient wiring, or ceramic battery to get an advantage if possible) Alfred got to work. Action: Exploration of Greater Cobble and try and discover if the spit's water collection/purifier machines and crop growing machinery were damaged from the shudder or otherwise are in need of a tinkering.

Alrighty. I was thinking that Alfred would explore possibly the Greater Cobble. His reasoning is that with the sinking of the Seventh Stone and the damages incurred by the Shudder, the machines and devices used to collect and purify water and grow food might be damaged and also overstretched (especially due to displaced peoples from the lost stone.) Alfred would confirm this and using a mix of Brasstongued verbal blathering get access to these machines/sites and spend the morning attempting to tinker, repair, and improve efficiency (with Wattson increasing impact, Surefire Smith probably wouldn't activate though. A shame. 😛) Which hopefully may make some of the people of Sevenstones a little friendlier to us, maybe obtain some reward/cargo/ship part, as well as be Alfred working towards his drive of providing food and water to Spit communities. Would this be a reasonable use for an exploration task? However, this is what Alfred would do if left to his own devices. If either Duo, Ham, or Helena were to ask him for assistance in something else he would almost certainly change his plans to that. As it stands he doesn't hold the same ties the others do to K and Kryk T'k, nor will he invent or repair any gear (for a specific person) without being asked.

That's a very interesting idea. I'm not sure the specimen copy would work for 'repairing' Ham's gear (unless Morkskittar says otherwise) but I could see it in a narrative sense being more effective in repairing Ham's armour than making metal splints would. There's also a chance Alfred retains the salvage if he rolls a twist if we did go for standard salvage repair. Something Ham's copy ability has made me think though...Alfred's super conductive rod if copied would have the fungal tag possibly in addition to remaining superconductive. I am not a biologist, but I think fungi do produce an electrical current...which will then be potentially amplified through the rod. If this was to later on be combined with the original rod in a semi-organic machine that could be potentially leviathan wrecking... *Maniacal chittering laughter* Anyway, either can be some nice food for thought. 🙂

It was only briefly mentioned, but Helena and Ham's mire was cleared between the creation of the Mawship Pieter and the arrival at Sevenstones. Helena made a good roll for watch and the crew swapped stories with a wandering village clearing Mire (Alfred was already mireless, but i'm not complaining! 😛) Physically, Ham's taken a few knocks to their Tarscale Armour and Helena a few marks on Steel-Step Dance. As mentioned above, Alfred can spend one of his next montages (if we get one or more) treating Ham's armour as a repair gear. Helena I think will need a heal roll if she wants it. I think we might need to contemplate spending stakes soon before we leave Sevenstones as well as if we wanted to flesh out our undercrew a little (looks like one vote for squirrel(s) from Abalon.) But we have plenty of time I think for those.

Alfred began to calm down a little at Helena's words. He raised a gloved finger. "Sevenstones. One of them may have gone but I would be careful in calling the settlement Sixstones around it's people. If anything I am treating it like the seventh spit is currently in our hearts...which actually sounds really bad for our hearts...erm...if you view it in a less metaphorical way." Alfred grew a little thoughtful at this. The loss of the seventh spit possibly happened not so long ago. There was a good chance any population from there has had to integrate upon the other spits which would stretch living space and food and drink far worse than normal. Maybe he should try to do something about it? Something to contemplate and investigate. "Erm yes. I am Alfred. Kryk T'k ran over and temporarily killed my outrider (I was not on it and was on a workshop structure at the time) and after the outrider decided it wanted to be free, be a big mawship, and consume other ships to impress me/us...Ham invited me to join this ship. The floating skull is Wattson and Cecily is my guardian spider cannon who is resting at the moment. I am an inventor and mechanic, or Rattlehand if you will. Your mask is curious, a lot of strong but maybe conflicting emotion upon it?"