[tshiggins]

We held our latest session of Facets not long ago, and we seem to be returning to a fairly regular schedule.

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Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P. (not available this time)

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet. -- played by Samantha H.

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. She recently lost the lower part of her left leg in a fight with a sorcerer from an opposing lodge, and now wears a high-tech prosthetic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly. – Played by Tisa T. (Not available, this time.)

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Jeff T (Not available this time).

Frank Moses -- A former Marine who quit his job as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP). Moses formerly volunteered with 4CSAR and has an interest in Doc Bascher. Frank has spent the past several months living in the Dark Canyon base camp on the 1918 side of the portal. -played by Mike H.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Amanda Gagnier: A professional airship crewmember and native of the Orbital Realm of Jupiter, hired as a guide as the Paradise neared the borders of territory controlled by the Nieuw Haarlem company.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconic and lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. Apparently the sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

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The crew of the airship Paradise decided to spend a day looking around Batavia, to stretch their legs and possibly re-stock some supplies. They’d spent a week returning to the platform town, and didn’t know how much longer they’d remain on the airship.

A.J. and the rest of the Red Rocks Lodge decided they wanted to push as far as they could in the direction they thought would lead them to the gateway to the now-1712 world. The group had checked the calendar before they departed Nieuw Haarlem, and after the week of travel determined that it the date in the material realms had reached January 20.

They’d spent more than four months in the Orbital Realm of Jupiter – more than they’d anticipated – and wanted to get back to Assiah so they could continue the mission they originally set out to do.

However, when the time came to depart, a steady rain had set in and the group decided to delay the departure until the weather cleared. A.J. and Henrietta talked with Amanda about the route.

The veteran airship crewmember said most of the traffic in the area followed the Nieuw Haarlem windstream around the perimeter of the gale from the Portal to the Elemental Plane of Air to reach Batavia, just as they had. From that town, she said, most of them bore left and departed the rapidly-weakening stream.

The airships with cargo and other business generally made their way through a stable gap in the cloud-wall, in the direction of Windhoek, the last settlement that owed allegiance to Nieuw Haarlem. Past Windhoek, Amanda said, a large straight of empty sky lay, through which the airships had to travel for more than 500 miles to reach the settlement of Delft, the first (or last, depending…) that owed allegiance to New Wollaston.

About 700 miles past Delft, the native of the Jupiter realm said, a stable flow of air from the Portal created the steady New Wollaston Windstream, which most ships caught to continue their journey.

A.J. said that, according to the triangulation they’d made with Henrietta’s spells, their destination lay in a “5 o’clock” direction from what he understood to be toward Delft, at least 6,000 miles distant, and 100 miles or so below them.

Amanda said they could start their journey by following the remnants of the Nieuw Haarlem windstream, to reach the settlement of Deventer. While not quite in the direction they needed, she explained, it was mostly right. Moreover, Deventer was the last settlement in that direction, and might know something about the route they needed to take, and it was only a bit more than a day away.

While A.J. and Henrietta had been talking with Amanda, the rest of the group decided to do a little shopping to stock up on some supplies. Doc Bascher wanted a few more bottles of antibiotics – available over the counter – and Frank said he wanted some more Oud Bruin Kola.

In addition, the group discussed securing chemicals for use in making smoke-grenades that actually worked.

After a bit, Frank and Doc Bascher left, and Beatrice tagged along. After they’d done their shopping, the former helicopter mechanic suggested they visit one of the establishments that supplied the cloud-ray hunter airships. Doc Bascher and Frank agreed and, after some queries, soon found one.

As they made their way toward the location, they became aware of a disturbance ahead and, curious, they decided to take a look. Soon, they found themselves down the street from one of the platform’s tallest buildings and, upon the roof, they saw perched the largest eagles they’d ever seen.

At least six feet tall at the perch, the group estimated they had wing-spans in excess of 18 feet, each. Apparently, the town didn’t see large predators such as that very often, and a fair crowd had gathered around to see them.

The trio watched, for awhile (and A.J. joined them after a bit), but then the three made their way to the supply place.

There, they wandered the aisles with interest, checking out the spider-silk parachutes; climbing crampons for boots; ropes of all sorts; a wide selection of tarps and patches; really big knives; barrels for rendered fats and tanks to hold lifting gases. Then, Beatrice spotted a rack of harpoons and moved toward them like a moth to a flame.

She emerged from the aisle into a sizeable open space, and burst into a huge smile. There, up against a wall, Beatrice saw a half-dozen small harpoon cannons – better than any number of ballistas, she thought.

Doc Bascher was almost as delighted, although Frank was little more skeptical about their utility (but was willing to be convinced), and the ladies began an extensive and in-depth discussion with the sales staff about the capabilities of the harpoon guns.

They learned the cannons came from the 1912 United States, where many whalers still used them. The design was actually based on a venerable and reliable model in use for nearly 80 years, they learned, although with a somewhat strengthened barrel to allow the use of smokeless powder cartridges.

The model in the room had proven quite effective against the cloud-rays, and most of the airships mounted a pair on the bow and stern of the gondolas, the sales staff explained. With a few good placements of their shots, they could kill a cloud-ray, and then winch themselves down to it and drop a harvesting crew directly on top of the carcass.

The body floated for several days after the beast died and, with careful planning to remove the meat and fat with minimal disturbance of the gas bladders, a crew might extend that to a week or more, only siphoning off the hydrogen and helium after they’d gotten everything else.

Sold on the utility of the devices, Doc Bascher and Beatrice decided to get three of them – two for the top of the gasbag, with a third in the hold as backup. They also laid in a dozen harpoons for each cannon, as well as black powder and smokeless powder cartridges, and asked for immediate delivery.

(continued...)