84 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
84 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: 00074
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created: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 21:11:46 -0600
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updated: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 21:11:46 -0600
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public: yes
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syndicated: yes
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---
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### 00074 {#00074}
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Blavin's vouchers enable you to far exceed your modest budget for
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retrofitting the cyberplasm balloonship for space travel.
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Not only were you able to get a portable atmosphere and a starhelm
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from the ever resourceful Wandering Bazaar. But you were also able to
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mount a ballista on a turret in the center of the main deck so you
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can fire large bolts in nearly any direction. And even a mangonel on
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the top deck: a long range trebuchet that takes more time to load,
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aim, and fire; but which does considerably more damage than the
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shorter-range ballista.
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Above the Milk Market, a crew of Alex's agents get the ship ready for
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departure. They have stoked the burners, and the resident sunspoke
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has happily filled the balloons with enough lift for the ship to
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start to pull and strain at its tethers.
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You cut the rope loose, and Vay'Nullar falls away beneath you as the
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ship rises into the sky.
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When the air becomes thinner and the sunspoke begins to sputter
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somewhat, you switch off the burner move the sunspoke into a cold
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locker in the galley to induce hibernation so that it doesn't
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accidentally burn through your limited reserve of oxygen.
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You activate the portable atmosphere, a small block of newtonian
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covered with arcane runes and affixed to the cargo hold. Newtonian is
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an alchemical substance made of pure density. There are entire
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volumes in Nullar's cosmic library devoted to the timelines that met
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an abrupt, violent end upon the discovery of the substance. Luckily,
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the alchemists of Basmentaria in your timeline were able to stabilize
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the element before all of creation collapsed into a singularity. And
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now it is commonplace for runewardens to attune small pieces of the
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stuff to spacefaring ships so that each ship is able to sustain its
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own unique gravity plane. In this way, each ship retains an amount of
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breathable atmosphere relative to its size; and starsailors are able
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to confidently walk along the top (and bottom!) of their craft.
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Next you head to the starhelm.
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Even when it comes to magic, there are certain principles that tend
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to hold true. One such princple---when it comes to starsailing, at
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least---is the conservation of energy. There are lots of different
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kinds of starhelms. But they all consume *something* in order to
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propel your ship across the stars.
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However endless the treasures of the Wandering Bazaar may seem,
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starhelms remain quite rare. You consider yourself lucky to find the
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one that you did. It could have been a costly Forgehelm, requiring
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constant fuel in the form of precious stones and powerful artifacts.
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Or an even more costly Bloodhelm, slowly siphoning away your life
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essence.
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Yes, all things considered you could have done much worse than the
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Emotionhelm that you purchased. All that it requires of you to keep
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the ship on course is that you scream, rant and rave, and bawl and
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cry at it periodically.
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You imagine it ought to be quite therapeutic, actually.
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Portable atmosphere activated, and having fed the starhelm a bit of
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melancholia, the ship finally exits the planet's atmosphere. Your crew
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takes down the balloons once they start to deflate and stores them in
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the cargo hold. And you set sail for Lua, the Red Lady.
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In the distance, you see a pod of gargantuan aetherwaels drifting
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through the void. Nearby, you see a small school of space guppies
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swim by and then quickly scatter as a space gull dives at them and
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tries to scoop up a quick meal.
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You have a couple day's of travel ahead of you, and the very
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non-empty void of space on all sides of you.
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WHAT DO YOU DO?
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