August 2011/12/26(Mon)00:11 No. 375167 ID: 79586b
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>>373667
We do manufacture some glasses out here, I could ask around, see if any of the craftsmen are familiar with such. Cerric oxide... never heard of it, should ask a chemist.

What about impregnating the lenses with gold, assuming some loss in optical clarity perhaps? Gold sharing lead's quality of being 'radiatively resilient' while lacking any possible toxicology problems.

>Diamond Diodes...
Erh, a diode is something like a more advanced thermionic valve is it not? Those fashioned of diamond sound like an exotic 'Old World' treasure, wouldn't a simpler-
>mercury vapor
Ah, a Cleansing Lantern, yes, I could get one of those easily enough. It would not surprise me if Sirius already owns one.

August 2011/12/26(Mon)00:28 No. 375169 ID: 79586b
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>>373498
>>373529
Verhimen coat coloration generally ranges from dusty tans and golden, to an almost greenish hue of black endless shades of gray being most common (especially among those of highlander blood.)

Our eyes are most often shades of brown, green, or blue, with the rare albino pinks and crimsons making up a not insignificant minority of some families. Yellow, or should I say amber, is not unheard of, but generally does indicate some illness, perhaps a lineage disorder, poisoning, or simply heaving drinking and drug us.

Needless to say, it therefor does not hold a healthy association for us, although it 'is' a trait, mentioned once or twice in passing song or rhyme, of Larcen de Scarlette. Although there goes the legend that it's the reflected sheen of his treasures gained.

August 2011/12/26(Mon)18:21 No. 375279 ID: 79586b
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"Sir Weldendon, brother."
Ahh, I do hope this day finds you better than when last we joined company?"
"Hello big brother, come to join us on a fight or flight?"
"Something like that, thought I do hope not simultaneously, Knight Weldendon has briefed you some yes?"
"Some, yes."
"What of it you need to know boy."
"Please, meet an old schoolmate of mine, Larcen, and of course Baldrekgus..."

August 2011/12/26(Mon)18:23 No. 375280 ID: 79586b
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>>374189
Our airship is a smaller freight/passenger model, technically able to be crewed by Kurtail and Sir Weldendon alone. However, after informing my father that I suspected there to be some trouble in reacquiring Sirius he send along four more Verhimen vanguards alongside ten combat-hardened kobolds.

My father doesn't fancy the idea of losing such a valuable asset as a friendly magus, even a frequently drunken one.

August 2011/12/26(Mon)18:35 No. 375282 ID: 79586b
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Sir Welendon lays out the plan he's arranged before me, he accounting for our detour to the 'Peak of Dispute' as Kurtail, Welendon, Larcen, and I separate from the main investigative group while in Sealucid territory and take a fast train to the Peak (as the humans in residence apparently both distrust kobolds and demand a clear airspace.)

After either spending most of a week in fruitless investigation, or having actually aquired the treacherous mechanic and his ill gotten gains, we hop on another train through the kingdom of Rotolamentolo down to the coast and meet up with airship and crew, to lay in wait for 'anything unusual' at the cove.

Upon finishing his short spiel he meets my gaze and asks quite seriously if I have any questions, suggestions, or modifications for his considerations.

>>375167
Yes, that would be one way to describe a diode.
With time and resources we could tell you how to recreate almost any ancient wonder. UV-protective glasses are a minor practical application of this information.

An issue occurs to me. When we capture the mechanic, he is likely to claim that we are attempting to kidnap him and steal his equipment. Were this to happen, safely using public transportation while carrying him would be quite difficult.

Uh, could you ask him to explain the map to us? Or, if you understand it, we don't, so could YOU explain it to us? Which places are which, what scale we're looking at, what the lines and rings mean, etc?

Also it occurs to me that if yellow eyes are part of the legend of Larcen De Scarlette, calling Larcen 'Larcen' in front of everyone is rather unwise. Call him by the name you knew him by in school. You know, his ACTUAL name.

the fitted wood is for making runes upon. by making the symbols on them while it's whole and then splitting it into two, it makes a very quickly accessible rune without being whole all the time so no one can tell it's there.

We started calling him Larcen and he didn't object- I think we'd better stick with that unless he tells you otherwise.

Might be a good thing to bring up in private? I dunno. Oh! We still need to experiment with that wand. If you have some spare time, try pointing it at a rock or something and activating it.

>>375167

Cerric oxide is also called Cerrium(IV) Oxide. Cerrium is the 58th element, part of the lanthanide series, also known as the rare earth series of elements. If you identify it to a chemist as the 58th element there will be no question about what you are talking about.

Your ceramic craftsmen are more likely to know cerric oxide as ceria, a white-yellowish powder added to glazes to help stabilize their colors over the long term (UV light can cause fading in certain types of glazes, and the ceria keeps nearly all the UV light from hitting them).

Gold would provide inferior visual spectrum qualities, and would eventually go opaque once it got warm enough, but if you can't find any cerric oxide, then photosensitive glass made with gold ions would be better than no protection at all.

Cerric oxide is really among the best choices.

Incidentally, gold-ion treated glass is useful for photosensitive plates suitable for high quality printing and image reproduction. Expose it to UV light, then use a heat treatment to make the latent image develop.

A diode operates by nature of its chemical composition. I chose diamond because it's easy to find chemically pure examples naturally. For other colors of light emitting diodes you will need a chemist to help you, but a diamond diode you could build yourself so long as you observed safe practices in working with electric current. It is literally as simple as building a suitable power supply and then putting the positive and neutral ends of the circuit on either side of the diamond chip (smaller is better here, actually, given the geometry of how the light is emitted in the first place). If you like, the entire assembly of circuit ends and diamond chip can be encased in a light-condensing glass, that you don't need to do so for the simplest application of this technology as a known UV standard.

I trust you're familiar with quinine. Bitter stuff, but optically a very reliable standard to measure against.

August 2011/12/30(Fri)19:50 No. 376353 ID: 79586b
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"Yes, but while I'm not familiar with the term quinine, spectral imaging plates via gold doping are a known matter among educated circles, as well as the use of mercuric gas 'cleansing lanterns'. Diode creation and other mecha-electrical miscellanea however are hardly my area of expertise I'll warn as the damnable Kirchoff Laws failed me out of Electrik Mechanics when I-

...

"Erhmmm."

August 2011/12/30(Fri)19:59 No. 376354 ID: 79586b
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Sir Weldendon clears his throat politely whilst I shake myself out of the reverie of thought back into the here and now.

"I'm sorry, I was just-"
"I've worked with your family for decades young master. I am... familiar with some of the eccentricities they are taken with. Indeed, if I recall this is your first possible 'command mission', a heady, albeit rather lately applied burden in my opinion. If you would prefer I can-"

August 2011/12/30(Fri)20:17 No. 376361 ID: 79586b
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Baldrekgus scrambles from under the cot and offers his services.
"Should get water bucket?"
"No, no.. really. No. Sir Weldendon, I notice this map is not labeled at all. Also, another issue, we could expect some difficulties in transporting the mechanic if using the public railways? Speaking of which, do we have a picture of him, at least a sketch?"
"Ahh hold on one moment.

August 2011/12/30(Fri)20:25 No. 376362 ID: 79586b
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"Ahh sorry, pilots. If you labeled the map with everything we could want there'd be no room for finden anything, so we just use overlays"

He slaps down and aligns a sheet of waxpaper with some labels, smoothing it out before withdrawing a photograph and some notes from his pocket.

August 2011/12/30(Fri)20:49 No. 376366 ID: 79586b
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"The lines are the most common routes and times, but the circles?
"Emergency Air Response Times from airbases participating in the Airspace Policing Accord. Green within 10 minutes, white within 20, and crimson within 45. Now, as to the picture.
"Hmm, looked vaguely familiar, he's Lagoan?"
"By dress, and by claim he's the disowned nobility of one of the noble families about The Lake, but that may amount to so much hot air."

"Mmmm, and what forces do we have arrayed? I imagine we want to keep the mission at the Peak low profile, hence the division of forces?"

August 2011/12/30(Fri)22:25 No. 376384 ID: 79586b
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"Well, first there's, Viria. She's the type to axe you a question, I rather suspect she was a priestess of Mari until she found she just liked dismembering things more than keeping them together.

Tinnedul is big and quiet, he favors a retooled fairy bow he's aquired as well as well as grenades.

The Iotis brothers use long rifle repeaters, with a healthy does of bayonet. Clever sharpshooters, though it has more to do with their good teamwork than individual skill.

If we really needed to we could press on the services of 'Captain' Rylora, I doubt she would appreciate it as she is not a combatant but she's a good technical and can pilot fair enough.

The bolds are a fairly evenly mixed lot, two armed with sharptrips and another two with sturdy steel blowpipes. One is actually a freelance worker, a petty 'adventurer' we took on a few months ago after his close encounter with a rabid Otton.

The rest are a handful of Pekendrijus' more promising crossbow trainees under his direct supervision."

"And the locations?"

"I don't know much about this cove aside from it's location on a map... I wasn't aware of that area having a particularly steep shoreline so calling it a 'cove' maybe a misnomer. The peak is divided into heavily controlled interior, an old human fortress guarded with some nasty weaponry, the verhimen terrace city and the shanty strew foothills. Airspace is pretty tightly controlled as the the humans can be a bit paranoid of anything flying up from the south of them but aside from that the only demand that you use the 'special gates' when entering the city proper.

"Scanners to prevent Fae infiltrators, similar to their restriction on kobolds? Hmmmm, what other transportation do they have aside from the trains?"

I would suspect they may have a Helical platform at the summit but am unsure personally. Regardless 'we' almost wouldn't be cleared for it."

Hmmm, I suppose that covers everything I can think of, given the information, my personal feeling is to just approve the knight's plans, unless you see otherwise?

Hmm... I suppose if we have any intelligence as to the resources available to our target, as well as what skills or other assets he might possess, those would be useful. Also maybe a map of the Peak. Is it just a single city-state or is it an entire country type deal? Need to know how much area we'd have to hunt him down in.

Other than that, though, maybe you could ask to borrow one of those blowguns for your kobold manservant, disguise it as a walking stick or something, and get some tranq darts for it, so that you can incapacitate him from range before retrieving him. But other than that, it seems simple enough.

The term "nasty weaponry" is as concerning as it is vague. That is to say, "very". Ask what manner of nastiness is involved there, just in case.

>>376542
In particular, list these possible types of damage:
>Massive holes in personnel and armor out of seemingly 'nowhere' (Snipers or long range armor-piercing sabots/railguns)
>Vehicles exploding from within (HEAT rounds)
>flashes or beams of light creating explosions (High power lasers)
>Big explosions from ground level (Artillery)
>Big explosions otherwise (Rocketry)
>Sudden pain, blindness or other inexplicable impairments mental or physical (directed microwave weaponry)
>Sudden and lasting semi-fatal or paralyzing illness (Toxic gas attack))
Talk about any known communications in or out, talk about usual radius for the 'death zone' in the air and on the ground, and ask if there's anything else we need to avoid doing that might make the humans target us.

>>376679
Don't forget magical armaments. They are already likely have this 'Helical Platform', which sounds like a teleporter.

>>376449
On this note, is there a chance there might be local information brokers or bounty hunter that might be found?
We plan on doing the legal way first, at least to find him and confirm his location, but 'news' from a few 'locals' would be useful.

>>376682
I didn't want to even get into magic, because that's a boatload of spiders I'd rather stay out of.
If you'd like to know why:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_wandering_spider

I may be a spiderbro, but not all spiders are humanbros.

>>376685
Unfortunately, not getting into magic rarely stops the magic from getting into you.

>>376384
All those things we're expressing confusion over? What are they?

"Helical platform" holds most of my interest, personally.

August 2012/01/02(Mon)17:54 No. 377069 ID: 79586b
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"Helical platforms?"
"Ah, erh Helicles... you know, flying machines, big propellers, can land them on sturdy enough buildings."
"Ah, those things, yes, I've read about them and Sirius says he has flown in a few. What about these 'nasty weapons' that sounds concerning to say the least."
His descriptions paint me a picture of guardians clad in ancient armors taking watch from the shaded apertures of old stone and concrete edifices, of steel watchtowers slowly rusting and creaking in the sun except the city is disturbed at which they crackle to life over radio and electrical channels, building up to pour forth a torrid radiance of energy. Hollow eyed men and women with long rifles rivaling autocannons lurking behind high windows or parapets, or suited squads with cleansing lanterns and thermal lances lurking behind iron doors.

August 2012/01/02(Mon)18:28 No. 377073 ID: 79586b
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"Okay then, so causing trouble is not compatible with a long and healthy life, where should we expect to find our troublemaker then? Do we have contacts, something to narrow the search area?"
"Well, the city manages only the bare minimum of the land surrounding it, and the slums are surprisingly safe as most of the really 'heavy' buisness wants to benefit from the potential protection of the locals. If they catch you shooting or causing trouble for something no good reason they fine you and kick you out of town if you're lucky, or you spend a few months in a collar if you aren't."

August 2012/01/02(Mon)18:53 No. 377083 ID: 79586b
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"So, you are saying you have to go father up the mountain to get more dangerous buisness? What about mercenaries, or information brokers?"
"Anyone useful is going to be in the midtown, the slums being too easy for foreign powers to influence, while the fortress is not open to regular entrance. Thus anyone who would be in the market for communication or sensory array components would be there. As for mercenaries, almost everyone is going to be carrying a weapon, however smaller spring-guns, crossbows, or just some simple swordsmanship would be recommended for trying to cause trouble, and get away with it, unless you happen to be very good at explanations or running and hiding.

If you had the purse, patience and keep your ear close to the ground one should be able to acquire just a little bit of most anything our shared peoples could want, aside from possibly servants or faerie goods."

Well then, we could follow Welendon's plan, break off in Sealucid territory with the soldiers heading to the Cove in the airship while Larcen and the Knights accompany me to the Peak?

We could take some of the Verhimen with us to the Peak?

Try to get some sort of diplomatic finagling run through with the locals to try and track down and acquire our target with their help?

...or even hire whatever help or trouble my 76 Silver Tears could purchase on the streets to some end?

Wow, that is a lot of tech they have. It makes me wonder if they have actual manufacturing capabilities instead of just a stockpile.
You might want to ask how we found out about those. Do we have spies there, or did we actually fight them, or did they have some sort of military demonstration at some point?

Looks like we're done with info, time for decision making. While we're currently assuming that nothing changes by the time we arrive at the Peak, it seems to me that >>377113 makes something of a valid point. If these humans have an advantage in technology, they've got to get it and maintain it somehow. The verhimen we're after stole some piece of machinery from your family, yes? It may be that he plans to sell it to the people running the place, so trying to get buddy-buddy with them might be a bad idea. Better, I think, to try to make friends with the black market dealers, see if we can make a friend who might tell us who's selling our piece of equipment and where he might be.

August 2012/01/09(Mon)14:26 No. 378759 ID: 8bae5c
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"Hmm."
"Hmm?"
"Hmmmmm."
"Ahuh..."
"Well then, I approve your plan, we shall send the soldiers northward along the coast with the vessel after we disembark and take the trains."
"Very Good-"
"With the addendum that we contact with the local merchants, if the locals have such sophisticated defenses they surely need regular merchants for upkeep, repairs, replacement parts, ect... indeed, our device may have been acquired for just such a market. Thus we cannot expect much help from the prospective buyers, but the other merchants our target is in competition would find our intrusion much more desirable."

August 2012/01/09(Mon)14:48 No. 378771 ID: 8bae5c
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"Ahh, no honor among thieves as they say?"
"Let us hope not, honor is expensive and we don't have a purse large enough with which to pocket all noses involved."
"Yes needing lots of leather for that, maybe whole herd!"
"Erh, thank you Baldrekgus for your astute confirmation. Now, was that all Sir Weldendon?"
"Yes, I should be going. Must ensure your brother doesn't try piloting us all under a bridge, or heavens forbid, spot a troll and try to strafe it."

August 2012/01/09(Mon)14:55 No. 378773 ID: 8bae5c
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As for me, it being about midday, I think I'll curl up with a nice old text I get the 'nice cabin' to use for the duration of our short trip. Likely the captain uses it otherwise.

Now, let's see, 'Ancient Traces: Drawing Lines Between the Piltdown Digs and Austri-erh... Australian Archeology'.

August 2012/01/09(Mon)15:02 No. 378776 ID: 8bae5c
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Baldrekgus soon enough settles and curls up in blankets at the foot of the bed. It's so still this high up, the only sounds are the creaking of the wood, flutter of canvas, whistling of the breeze at the windows.
>>377113
*yawning*
"Mmm, spies, no... need. Allies... sorta. Probably make the stuff... Old fortresses farther north."

August 2012/01/09(Mon)15:04 No. 378777 ID: 8bae5c
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*pat*pat*pat*pat*Fwip*

>>378777

Suddenly an idea struck you and you sat straight up in bed!

>>378777
"You're terrible at being stealthy. You know that, I assume?"

BRACE FOR IMPACT

August 2012/01/12(Thu)20:40 No. 379577 ID: 818a6a
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"You're terri-"
*kthunk*
"AHHHHDAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA!"
"Ppptthwha?"
"Man your stations, Moon Pirates Attacking! We must protect the Sybarite Shipment!"
Arrgg, get off, this is no time to indulge in your penny picture dramas! Especially not with real weaponry!"

August 2012/01/12(Thu)20:47 No. 379578 ID: 818a6a
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I move to roll Kurtail off when I spy the havoc he's wrought to my manuscript, my magnified annoyance punctuated with an indrawn hiss.

"Ssshit, look at what you've done. This book does not even belong to me!"

August 2012/01/12(Thu)21:04 No. 379579 ID: 818a6a
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"What?"
"Look at what your roughhousing did here!"

Kurtail shifts uncomfortably, ceasing his mock gunnery to consider the bunched and mangled pages for moment before turning back to me.

"You... can iron those out right?"
"That's not the point, this isn't my book, I can't return it like this."
"Who's is it?"
"Sirius, and he got it from..."

I flip to the back of the book in search of a dedication and find a faded library stamp.

"Erh... Ouroboros Anthologies... about 48 years ago... in September."
"I... guess you really wouldn't want to return it?"
"Well not like 'this'!"

>>379579
48 years ago? I wonder if there are other copies? Mayhap we should stop by a book store about it. Unless of course the subject matter of the book is taboo...

He isn't going with you into the city, right? He seems rather young and over-energetic for a job involving discretion.

August, lay off your brother. He's your little brother, he's family, and he's been a squire for this Knight for who knows how long. He came over because he's missed you, don't be a louse and make him regret trying to keep his big brother (though not as big as BIG Brother) in his life. I'm not sure what his equivalent age is, but try to make the effort to be less self-absorbed and think about other people, not just about your books and interests.

August 2012/01/20(Fri)15:47 No. 381246 ID: 818a6a
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>>379582
Not so much taboo, as esoteric, it is the transcription and collation of a few pre-Verhimen texts regarding some archeological finds of even more ancient, theoretically pre-human markings and tablets... this copy could be repaired I suppose, but I doubt there were a plethora of printings.

>>379585
I'm afraid he is. In order to hope to become a knight one must have begin training from one's youth to shape the body and instincts to excel in the most demanding of martial disciplines, his specialty being aeronautics and rocketry.
>>379791
I sigh, and remove him from my shoulder in an attempt to explain my frustration.
"I... don't mean to be a spoilsport, it is just... our family background, our secret histories, they are tied to such books, to their acquisition, their study, their preservation. I mean, even you collect those erh... graphic novels... you still do that, right?"

August 2012/01/20(Fri)16:28 No. 381252 ID: 818a6a
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"Yeah I do... but... August, that was the 'old' family. We, we are are the products of war, founded in conquest and fire."

"*sigh*... Mmmm, I suppose so."

"Uhm, we should probably be getting ready to land soon, I was actually sent down to wake you up. Oh and your friend keeps annoying Miss Rylora."

August 2012/01/20(Fri)16:45 No. 381257 ID: 818a6a
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"You coming?"
"Just a moment. Thank you Baldrekgus. Oh, and while I'm away, I want you to see if you can't acquire a nice sturdy blowpipe, I expect we will need all the firepower we can muster upon my return."
"Oh, yes master."

He leans in close while adjusting my collar and somewhat lowers his voice.

"Has walkystick wiff secretholes and stingingstiff darts."
"Erh, good, good. That is quite clever of you Baldrekgus."
"Mmmmm, yes, is veerrry goodclever."

August 2012/01/20(Fri)17:17 No. 381260 ID: 818a6a
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I give my brother's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as I pass him in the hold and shimmy up the command tube on my way to the cockpit. I am somehow unsurprised to find him sitting on the floor, in the middle of the room, only preserved from a lethal fall by a thin hull of aluminum and impact glass.

"Ahhah ello, come to see de veiw? Ez so nice up ear, de vields, rivers, sky an course, our lovely lady capitan."
"Gawd, get rid of em, e's a navigational hazard."
"I heard we were landing soon?"
"Yeah, if e'll stop with the shenanigans, not a momment's peace wiff e's follies round here."
"Folliez, oh see ow she ez vounding our image so, such barbs.."
"Just ignore him, he will be out of your hair soon enough, won't we?"
"Ahh, fearfuly spoke true, ez sadness heavy to leave sech fair golden forests. Still, mayhaps shall be visiten again?"
*harumph*

Chapter 6 End August 2012/01/20(Fri)17:19 No. 381261 ID: 818a6a
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"Well, we'll see 'bout that..."