Tempestuous Report - Vicros Bihar and Chief Engineer Gale
Jul 1, 2022 15:17:56 GMT
Velania Kalugina likes this
Post by DANLOWS on Jul 1, 2022 15:17:56 GMT
RP Collab with IanB
Vicros Bihar walks through the rubble in Fort Ettin, making his way back up to the South Battlements that he spent the entire time on during the battle.
As he reaches the top, he sees in his minds eye flashes of clashing steel, arcane lights streaming through the sky, the rain and wind lashing at his face. He hears the pained bellows of poor Copernicus, and the agonised screaming of Jenna as she cradled her dragon in her arms in panic.
He reaches the battlements, and surveys the damage. He begins to breathe heavily, trapped in his own memories, as he begins preparing a spell.
Suddenly, movement to his right has his prepared spell fade away as he spins to face it, half drawing his Yklwa, before realising he knows this face. “It’s not happening now, we are safe!” He tells himself. Outwardly he shows none of this emotion, standing impassive as he recognises Chief Engineer Gale standing at the sabotaged Tempest Ballista that caused so much loss to the Gith before being silenced.
D3R3K flies down from his circling and lands next to Vicros, his ticking, whirring and clicking comforting to him.
“Greetings Chief Engineer, how bad is the damage? Can it be fixed?”
———
The slender air genasi makes a sad face as he looks up from the wrecked war machine. It truly is a marvel of engineering. Dual launch arms working in tandem, a recoil-powered mechanism to automatically load new six-foot long bolts from a magazine and span the launcher. As close to magic as science and mathematics can make it.
"Unfo-fo-fortunately, I think this one may need a lot of repairs. Severing the drawing ropes, and unwinding the pressurized setup of the machine has caused damage all along the body of it. Hairline fractures everywhere. Its not a simple matter of just replacing the ropes." The little man looks crestfallen, whisps of white hair blowing forlorn in the summer breeze.
———
“Can I see if D3R3K here can assist? He’s a bit of an expert with anything mechanical, as you might expect given his construction.”
D3R3K whirs and clicks as he stares over the Tempest. He then looks at Vicros who hears through his link *”ERROR: MACHINE DEFECTIVE. RECOMMEND REPLACING SPRINGS, ARMS, MAIN STRUCTURAL SUPPORTS, TENSIONING ROPES AND TIGHTENING SCREW A”*
Vicros sighs and says to Gale, “The little guy says it’s worse than you thought. The entire main frame has hairline cracks, if you try and put it back under tension the whole things will shatter. Do you think any part of it can be salvaged? Surely the metal can be reforged? How are you going to write this up in your report? Can I make some suggestions for your next version?”
———
Vicros sits down next to Gale and spends the next few hours explaining to Gale his ideas for an improved version of the Tempest.
“Firstly, if you replace the ropes with a rope with a number of metal guide wires threaded through during construction, it should make the ropes much more difficult to cut.
Secondly, have you thought about stacking the firing mechanisms to have multiple firing ropes offset? That would increase the firing rate by a massive amount. And if you have them firing in sequence, if one fails, you can revert to firing them in the manner of the original version. Here, let me show you.” And he begins to sketch out his ideas on a piece of paper.
When Vicros hands Gale the sketch, this is what Gale sees:
“While I’m here, is there anything that would be helpful for you to know about the performance of the Tempest? For your report to General Razorback and Admiral Ironhide?”
———
Gale's eyes take on a spark as he looks over the sketches, "very nice! yes, that could work... interesting, I will have to do some calculations when I am back at the academy..."
An awkward silence ensues as Gale keeps perousing the notes, before realizing he has been asked a question.
"Oh! Well, I will report that the machines have worked well and even exceeded expected operational parameters! I was a bit closer to the action than I would have liked, but it was a thrill to see my machines under live fire conditions. And you and your squad worked marvels with it. Shooting down dragons in mid flight! One after the other! Marvelous! I should think the General Staff and the Admiralty will be very pleased with the results. Losing a few, while painful, is to be expected I fear. As for this one..." he throws a long, pained look at the wreckage, "...I think it is probably not worth the time, effort and cost to dismantle and ship it back to Kul Goran. But if you would like to keep it here at the Fort and tinker with it, I would be happy to write it off as a total loss and leave it to you as... salvage, shall we say?"
———
Vicros:
“I’m sure that the leadership of Fort Ettin would be most glad to...salvage this, damaged as it is. Maybe we might even be able to reverse engineer it and build even a pale imitation of it. Even one that fires half as often and half as fast would outstrip anything we had here. You truly are a master of your craft, my friend. Do you think I could commission some work from you when you have the time? I understand that you are likely busy and most eager to return to Zot Goran, but at the very least, can I send you some ideas every so often and see what you can come up with? You see, I have this idea of a handheld version of the Tempest, obviously it would have to fire standard crossbow bolts. Oh, I know. You could create an entire line of repeating weapons, you could call them the Storm line! So the original Tempest, a Maelstrom as the stacked version I mentioned earlier, maybe a Squall as a handheld version?”
———
He scratches his head, wispy white hair merrily bobbing along.
"I considered a smaller, handheld version, but i couldnt get the parts to be small and resilient enough to cope with the stress. I would be happy to discuss your ideas and look over anything you send me, there are regular ships going between Port Ffirst and Za'Suul after all, though I understand Port Ffirst has taken quite a beating... Anyway, I am sure regular traffic will resume soon, and among colleagues, I find that vigorous debate and peer review is very stimulating! Feel free to write to me any time you wish."
———
Vicros smiles, claps Gale on the shoulder and says “I shall indeed, my friend. The world need thinkers just as much as it needs doers. And you my friend are that rare combination of the two! You had the idea, and you did not rest on your laurels! No, you went and presented your idea to the people who could fund turning it into a reality, and you got it DONE! Do not forget that! Your creations saved countless lives during the battle, and I am proud to say I was part of it. I’ll see you soon, but for now, there is cleanup work to be done, and I cannot stay here while others do all the work. Keep yourself safe.”
He then stands up, claps Gale on the shoulder again, then looks to D3R3K, nods his head and walk back to the courtyard to help with the cleanup and repairs.
Vicros Bihar walks through the rubble in Fort Ettin, making his way back up to the South Battlements that he spent the entire time on during the battle.
As he reaches the top, he sees in his minds eye flashes of clashing steel, arcane lights streaming through the sky, the rain and wind lashing at his face. He hears the pained bellows of poor Copernicus, and the agonised screaming of Jenna as she cradled her dragon in her arms in panic.
He reaches the battlements, and surveys the damage. He begins to breathe heavily, trapped in his own memories, as he begins preparing a spell.
Suddenly, movement to his right has his prepared spell fade away as he spins to face it, half drawing his Yklwa, before realising he knows this face. “It’s not happening now, we are safe!” He tells himself. Outwardly he shows none of this emotion, standing impassive as he recognises Chief Engineer Gale standing at the sabotaged Tempest Ballista that caused so much loss to the Gith before being silenced.
D3R3K flies down from his circling and lands next to Vicros, his ticking, whirring and clicking comforting to him.
“Greetings Chief Engineer, how bad is the damage? Can it be fixed?”
———
The slender air genasi makes a sad face as he looks up from the wrecked war machine. It truly is a marvel of engineering. Dual launch arms working in tandem, a recoil-powered mechanism to automatically load new six-foot long bolts from a magazine and span the launcher. As close to magic as science and mathematics can make it.
"Unfo-fo-fortunately, I think this one may need a lot of repairs. Severing the drawing ropes, and unwinding the pressurized setup of the machine has caused damage all along the body of it. Hairline fractures everywhere. Its not a simple matter of just replacing the ropes." The little man looks crestfallen, whisps of white hair blowing forlorn in the summer breeze.
———
“Can I see if D3R3K here can assist? He’s a bit of an expert with anything mechanical, as you might expect given his construction.”
D3R3K whirs and clicks as he stares over the Tempest. He then looks at Vicros who hears through his link *”ERROR: MACHINE DEFECTIVE. RECOMMEND REPLACING SPRINGS, ARMS, MAIN STRUCTURAL SUPPORTS, TENSIONING ROPES AND TIGHTENING SCREW A”*
Vicros sighs and says to Gale, “The little guy says it’s worse than you thought. The entire main frame has hairline cracks, if you try and put it back under tension the whole things will shatter. Do you think any part of it can be salvaged? Surely the metal can be reforged? How are you going to write this up in your report? Can I make some suggestions for your next version?”
———
Vicros sits down next to Gale and spends the next few hours explaining to Gale his ideas for an improved version of the Tempest.
“Firstly, if you replace the ropes with a rope with a number of metal guide wires threaded through during construction, it should make the ropes much more difficult to cut.
Secondly, have you thought about stacking the firing mechanisms to have multiple firing ropes offset? That would increase the firing rate by a massive amount. And if you have them firing in sequence, if one fails, you can revert to firing them in the manner of the original version. Here, let me show you.” And he begins to sketch out his ideas on a piece of paper.
When Vicros hands Gale the sketch, this is what Gale sees:
“While I’m here, is there anything that would be helpful for you to know about the performance of the Tempest? For your report to General Razorback and Admiral Ironhide?”
———
Gale's eyes take on a spark as he looks over the sketches, "very nice! yes, that could work... interesting, I will have to do some calculations when I am back at the academy..."
An awkward silence ensues as Gale keeps perousing the notes, before realizing he has been asked a question.
"Oh! Well, I will report that the machines have worked well and even exceeded expected operational parameters! I was a bit closer to the action than I would have liked, but it was a thrill to see my machines under live fire conditions. And you and your squad worked marvels with it. Shooting down dragons in mid flight! One after the other! Marvelous! I should think the General Staff and the Admiralty will be very pleased with the results. Losing a few, while painful, is to be expected I fear. As for this one..." he throws a long, pained look at the wreckage, "...I think it is probably not worth the time, effort and cost to dismantle and ship it back to Kul Goran. But if you would like to keep it here at the Fort and tinker with it, I would be happy to write it off as a total loss and leave it to you as... salvage, shall we say?"
———
Vicros:
“I’m sure that the leadership of Fort Ettin would be most glad to...salvage this, damaged as it is. Maybe we might even be able to reverse engineer it and build even a pale imitation of it. Even one that fires half as often and half as fast would outstrip anything we had here. You truly are a master of your craft, my friend. Do you think I could commission some work from you when you have the time? I understand that you are likely busy and most eager to return to Zot Goran, but at the very least, can I send you some ideas every so often and see what you can come up with? You see, I have this idea of a handheld version of the Tempest, obviously it would have to fire standard crossbow bolts. Oh, I know. You could create an entire line of repeating weapons, you could call them the Storm line! So the original Tempest, a Maelstrom as the stacked version I mentioned earlier, maybe a Squall as a handheld version?”
———
He scratches his head, wispy white hair merrily bobbing along.
"I considered a smaller, handheld version, but i couldnt get the parts to be small and resilient enough to cope with the stress. I would be happy to discuss your ideas and look over anything you send me, there are regular ships going between Port Ffirst and Za'Suul after all, though I understand Port Ffirst has taken quite a beating... Anyway, I am sure regular traffic will resume soon, and among colleagues, I find that vigorous debate and peer review is very stimulating! Feel free to write to me any time you wish."
———
Vicros smiles, claps Gale on the shoulder and says “I shall indeed, my friend. The world need thinkers just as much as it needs doers. And you my friend are that rare combination of the two! You had the idea, and you did not rest on your laurels! No, you went and presented your idea to the people who could fund turning it into a reality, and you got it DONE! Do not forget that! Your creations saved countless lives during the battle, and I am proud to say I was part of it. I’ll see you soon, but for now, there is cleanup work to be done, and I cannot stay here while others do all the work. Keep yourself safe.”
He then stands up, claps Gale on the shoulder again, then looks to D3R3K, nods his head and walk back to the courtyard to help with the cleanup and repairs.