An Engineering Plight and a Shipwright's Might

Garret's days were busy and filled with quite a bit of paperwork, but that was not everything the man had a duty to take care of. Some time back, he had finished a work on the ship Shark's Fin. His purpose for being there was to learn about sailing. This was all a part of preparation for a means of supplementing their funds, as it seemed a very lucrative business was based in transportation of goods via sea routes. Furthermore, it seemed the Imuchakk had the ability to recover goods that fell to the bottom of the sea up to a certain depth. The trade certainly interested Garret, but there was a problem. The mobility of the ships were lacking. This forced the ships to wait for favorable winds or move forward at a slow pace. Today, he was going to check up on the engineering team, whom he had charged with solving that problem.

Walking from the courtyard, Garret winded his way through a hedge maze that the engineering team had developed as a game, and the recruits enjoyed losing themselves in occasionally. He knew the routes very well. Approaching the two large doors, Garret threw his hands out and opened them up. It was a fairly heavy set of doors, but they opened fairly easily; another feat of the engineering team, who had redone and redesigned the building and surrounding area they used while not working on projects. They liked stretching their imagination. When he entered, he was greeted by a Kou engineer who had transferred over to Garret's Villa a few weeks back. Garret nodded to the man. "I'm hear to discuss the ship designs."

The engineer, Jin Yuen if he recalled the name properly, lit up at the mention of the subject. His passion for ships was clear to Garret, and the project fell right down his alley as a man who had studied shipwrights in Balbadd. "Yes, sir. The team has been working hard on the research, and we've made a breakthrough through various tests..." The man continued to speak about how extensive the tests were, going into various details. Some of them Garret understood, as he had continued to keep up with Seviticus' new works whenever he finished researching a subject and compiled a new book. Of course, everyone believed Seviticus was dead, so the books couldn't be distributed for others to see. At least, not yet. There were still many terms Garret did not understand, however, but could grasp the general concept. As Jin Yuen walked with Garret and talked with Garret, they approached a workbench that had several model boats.

"Here are the models. First gen models are here, followed by second gen, and so on. We're currently working on eighth gen right now." The ship designs changed drastically from generation to generation. It looked to Garret that an idea was formed, tested, improved upon and then scrapped altogether with the results of failure. He wasn't surprised to see that. Things never worked the way you would envision it on paper. The newest set of ships looked to be coming along nicely.

"So, how is the newest generation of ships looking so far?" Garret was hoping that they weren't running down a dead-end. But the engineer had definitely taught him a thing or two while they were speaking, so he supposed there was hope for the project.

"This one looks like it might do the trick. It took a lot of help from Seviticus, but we'll be able to decide on the results tomorrow when everything has dried up and is ready for use." He went to explain different parts of the ship, using terms Garret hadn't heard when he was on a boat prior. "Most of these are just terms we've made up in order to give them temporary names. I don't know how well they will take, though."

Garret nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow to watch. I want to see how the ships move myself. You're using the pool, yes?" Garret believed that the pool would be the best place for them to test out the effectiveness of their designs, though it didn't get too windy, so he figured it probably took extensive work to determine the effects and whether or not it scaled properly.

Jin Yuen's eyes lit up at the mention. "Yes. Do you mind if we bring some of the older models out, as well?" There was mischief in the man's voice, but Garret dismissed it.

"Sure, I'm sure it will be educational." Having been briefed on the progress so far, Garret believed it was time to leave and get to his other work. "Tell Seviticus I said hello."

The Kou operative bowed to Garret, excited. Garret left the building and the engineers to their machinations.

OOC:

798/500 word count.

The day prior, Garret had scheduled Acius to handle most of the paperwork after noon came by. He needed that freed up schedule time in order to check the progress that the engineers had made. It was finally time, and Garret made his way to the pool. As he walked to the courtyard he saw several members of the engineering team carrying various boat models that they had created over the past few weeks toward the water. There was a stand that was set up for each generation ship. Garret figured it had taken the group all of this morning to get that set up, and they were just now completing the transference of the ships from inside of the building to the poolside that they were viewing right now.

When all of that was complete, one of the engineers picked up a couple of the first generation ships. There was a decent wind, and Garret watched as the boats moved through the water. It wasn't particularly impressive, but the scale was toned down quite a bit. Garret turned to Jin Yeon "This is the first generation ships, right?"


OOC:

Word Count 189/1000

Jin nodded. "Each one was built by a different engineer, all of which were meant to try out different things and determine the best route to take. You'll see as some pull ahead, but the outcome changes depending on which direction the wind blows from. Few of them are able to travel through most wind directions." Even though the speed of the model ships was slow, it still made an interesting watch.

Once they had spent twenty minutes on that generation of boats, it moved on to the next generation. Some of styles from before were gone, and Garret could only assume that, after extensive testing, they had determined that they wouldn't be able to get the desired end result from those models. Some of the models from before were still noticeable, but it looked to Garret that they were improved upon. Their speed didn't seem much better than the ones before, however. Garret pointed this out to Jin Yeon.

"Yes, the speed is definitely a factor we kept in mind, as requested. What we initially wanted to test, however, was the capability of being able to move with any direction of the wind. We spent about four days on each generation after the first. The first day was refining our calculations from the previous generation, with the second day going over our work while developing the newer generation and building the models. The third day was spent finishing the building of the models. The last two days were made making adjustments and testing them extensively in the process." Jin Yeon explained to Garret that some of the Engineers were really stubborn about their ideas, and worked hard to try to prove that their project was the answer to the problem Garret had put before them.


OOC:

Word Count 296+189= 485/1000

Garret smiled. "Competition is a great motivator." It was time for the third generation to be shown off. They had been watching the first two during a little over half an hour, and Garret ordered one of the butler staff to bring chairs so they could sit and watch.  The group had taken seats and Jin sat next to him with Seviticus on the other side.

"This is the good part." Jin muttered under his breath, winking Garret's way. Garret was a bit confused, but imagined that the following would show him some good results from their work. The people moved the boats into the water, and they began to move forward at a similar pace as the first and second generation. Jin spoke up again. "See that boat, over there? It was made with the idea that if the wind was striking that bottom part, they could redirect force over to that part there." Jin was pointing out the complexity behind the ship's concept, but then laughed. "Turns out it didn't work out how it was intended." Garret could definitely see that, as it actually moved quite a bit slower than the other ships.

He was considering the ships for a moment longer when he suddenly heard one of the engineers swear. "Sonova bitch!" Garret turned his head sharply in time to see that as soon as the ship had lagged behind the other, something from the pool had grasped it in its Squid Grip and crushed the boat. Garret heard Jin chuckling beside him and he shook his head. He didn't know how the man had gotten the squid to attack the boat, but he knew that he would have to get rid of it in order to allow the rest of the boats a safe passage so they could actually watch the progress.

As Garret got up and approached the poolside, he heard Jin joking in a fake pirate voice. "Yar matey, the Mighty Kraken has taken yer ship down ta the bottom o' the sea." That certainly explained the man's mischievous looking actions the day before. He had to have gone out to the sea yesterday. Garret pulled out Kuroi Shimo and began the incantation of a spell in order to destroy the creature that had snapped the model ship in half. As he was saying the words of the spell the engineer who had built the ship was speaking, distraught. "Once our research is done, that would have been a piece of history, dude. You just destroyed something that could be considered priceless. For a joke! You ass!"


OOC:

Word Count 434+485= 919/1000

Even as those last words were said, Garret finished casting Pressure Crusher.  The spell completely crushed the squid that was partially beneath the water. What Garret didn't think of, though, was that his spell extended to the rest of the ships as well. The keel and hull of the ships burst under the pressure of his spell, and there was a dead silence amongst the engineers. Garret cleared his throat behind the back of his fist while looking at the reactions of the engineers. Garret became embarrassed at the thoughtlessness of his actions. Garret then used Water Manipulation Technique, creating a vortex that sucked all of the broken wooden ships to the bottom at one point. It was Garret's intention to get the debris out of the water so they could continue on with checking the rest of the generations. There was shock on everyone's face, but Jin broke the silence by laughing. "Yar, looks like our boats were no match fer the veritable vortex of the great ocean!"

Some of the other engineers snorted, and the one from before had his shoulders slumped in defeat. Garret brought the broken equipment to the ground and the rest of the generations began to run. By the end of two and a half hours, they had gone through all of the boats and were greatly excited about the last generation. The last few, Garret noted, were able to pick up a decent speed as compared to the first five. They seemed to know what design they wanted to go with, as well. "Good work. Continue to tweak whatever needs to be taken care of, but it looks to me like that last group should be able to handle the task just fine."

His time was up as it were, and Garret dismissed himself from the group, allowing them to handle the cleanup. He would need to filter out the water later tonight, but that was something he put on the back-burner. Acius was probably anxious to get back to his work...


OOC:
Word Count 343+919= 1262/1000
260/300 Magoi/Stamina

Abilities Used:

A long day of work had Garret engaged with little time to spare. Today he hadn't had a chance to join the recruits on their daily workouts and training, and he was exhausted from all of the paperwork and staff meetings that were held.  Before he went to bed, he wanted to relax underneath the night sky and get some fresh air while stretching his legs. Garret absently twirled Kuroi Shimo in his hand as he walked forward. His mind was occupied with their most recent check into their funds and profitability.

With their somewhat recent strike on Sejarl's stronghold, they had managed to lift their numbers up fairly high and delay the moment when the accounts began to enter the red. While Garret wished he could say he didn't spend much, but a lot of his personal funds actually went into the maintenance of the villa as well as the payment of the servant staff. Either way, he did his best to control costs around the place. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The chilly air coursed through his body as he enjoyed the stroll around the villa. The sound of crickets was the only thing that could be heard. His feet led him to the hedge maze in front of the engineering building, and he laughed. A few days back he had the opportunity to watch their work in progress, and now it was as if he couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of the new ships being ready to be made. His subconscious mind must have led him here. He shrugged, and entered the maze. Though he knew the routes by heart, it was relaxing to walk through and appreciate the maze and the work put in to maintain it.

Something suddenly seemed off, but Garret couldn't quite place it. He paused, feeling some sort of tension in the air. He listened hard, and couldn't hear a thing. Then he realized what was bothering him so much; the sound of the crickets had stopped and it was dead silent. He inhaled suddenly.

Just as he inhaled the bushes to his right shuffled and a shadowy figure jumped, flying through the air and beyond the hedge maze. While he didn't get a clear look at the person, Garret had caught a glimpse of rolled up canvas strapped to the figure's back and cursed. That's from the engineer's building! What did they take?! The longer he stood there thinking, however, the more time the person had to make good on their escape. Without giving too much time for thought, Garret immediately began the chase. Grasping Kuroi Shimo, he cast Controlling the Currents. The blue Rukh began gathering around him, bringing to him the water in the area and pushing him upwards while forming into a 5 meter diameter cylinder that was 15 meters long. With the assistance of Water Gill in order to breath within the water he was traveling in, he was able to shoot upward and chase the direction of the figure he had seen flashing by.

Meanwhile, from the above ground personnel houses, Fusao was turning in for the night. He watched as a figure with rolled canvas jumped high into the air and was then followed by Garret in a stream of water. "Hmm. Youngsters, going at it so late at night. This old man is just going to turn in and get a good night's rest." The old man went back to his bed and pretended he saw nothing.

Garret followed the burglar as quickly as he could, making note of the speed at which he was moving. No normal human could move that fast, he knew, and believed that perhaps he was up against another Fanalis. He would have to take the necessary precautions when handling this encounter, though his previous fight with a Fanalis ended with him defeating his opponent fairly well. This opponent continue to run quite fast, engaging The Chase and allowed Garret to only gain the minimal amount of ground between the two as the movement continued. Making excellent use of the buildings, the burglar's cleverness was shown as he caused Garret to slow down and constantly make turns. Had he not done so, Garret would have caught up with him by now.

Garret saw the intruder go to a dead-end. I've caught you now. When he rounded the corner, he did not expect to see the burglar scrambling up the walls. It seemed he was using metal claws to assist in the climb, but what was stranger yet was that he was climbing just as fast as he had been running. Almost as if the movements were natural to him. Garret had no time to be impressed. Charging forward, Garret continued to give chase even as his target made a leap over the wall. Following over and around, Garret could not find the man anywhere on the ground moving away from the villa. The opponent was, indeed, clever. Garret turned around just in time to see that the man had only jumped far enough to grab onto the outer wall so that he could jump back to the other side.

More frustrating yet was that even though Garret had a spell that could end the man's life he was unable to use it for several reasons. Icy Explosion would deal damage to the walls and his buildings, so it was dangerous to use when the opponent was so close to his buildings. There was also the matter of the documents that the man had that Garret needed to take into account. As he didn't know exactly what it was that the man had stolen, Garret couldn't afford a careless spell that would destroy them as he had accidentally destroyed the third generation ships while fighting the squid in the pool of water just a few days back.

On the same note, he was incredibly limited with the different types of spells he could use to stop the opponent as well. He continued to give chase even as he mulled over the difficult options that were presented to him, and it quickly became a game of jumping from one side to another, over and over, as they moved in a lateral direction. I couldn't simply slam water into the opponent, either. Garret mused over the thought, attempting to determine the best course of action for him.  

The drain of the magoi upon Garret's body was certainly an issue, but if it was a matter of stamina Garret did not believe he would lose. A battle of attrition would only work in his favor. The reason why soon became evident as the chase continued and many guards had noticed the spymaster in hot pursuit of an unknown target. They were attempting to give chase themselves. Sadly their speed was no match for the burglar, and they were unable to catch up. Garret sighed as they were all being led on a goose-chase. Using Controlled Sound in tandem, Garret shouted out to the men below. "FORM A NET AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TERRAIN TO FORCE HER TO THE COURTYARD!"

The word was passed around and the men began to position themselves so as to entrap the would-be intruder. It seemed the burglar had only needed a moment to consider these new developments. He jumped over to the other side of the wall and started to make a run for it. I have you now. He couldn't help but stop to smile as he gradually gained ground on the man. As Garret was about to reach him, the man suddenly stopped and Garret overshot his target. Fearing that the man would make use of his mistake and run off in another direction, causing Garret lost time, Garret turned about quickly.

The target hadn't moved. It seemed as if he was now prepared to fight. Garret had to handle this carefully. He touched down on ground and sent his controlled water down on the ground to reach 25 cm in height and 15m in diameter. Wand in his left hand he approached the burglar. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what it is you're after?" Garret asked, once he was within fifteen meters of the opponent. He was on high alert; the sudden stop that the man had made was not one made easily.

"..." The burglar said nothing.

Sighing, Garret nodded. "Figured as much. So, what about who sent you? How much do you know about us?" He didn't really expect an answer, and was simply stalling the opponent in an attempt to distract them. He hid his right hand behind his back, even as he cloaked it with magoi using his Magoi Manipulation.

"..." The burglar still said nothing.

Garret, in an attempt to obfuscate his actions, sighed again while closing his eyes and nodding in an exaggerated manner. "As I expec..." When he had opened his eyes, his target had disappeared. Moments later, his Borg flared up and Garret looked to his left in time to see the target bounce off of his Borg after attempting to Cats Paw the man. He blinked, surprised at the speed of the opponent. Blinking, as Hasan said, was the wrong move when in a battle. The burglar was on Garret's other side already and initiated a two-part attack Cat Slashes. The first hit his Borg again and bounced off of it, but the second was met by Garret's River Styx Style: Ikken Hissatsu: Deep Sea Harpoon.

Time seemed to pass by the millisecond. His target's eyes widened as soon as the technique began to dart towards him. Using the speed of an expert, the target re-evaluated their own attack when gauged up against Garret's, and immediately began moving. Garret's original target was the man's heart. The slight shift in movement was just fast enough to move that target to the shoulder. The techniques clashed and the second Cat Slashes was completely disregarded as Garret's technique dug into the shoulder of his opponent. It pierced straight through  the cloth and straight through a strap before exiting the other side of the shoulder. That arm was definitely done for.

This all took place in a fraction of a second. A feminine voice cried out in pain; the burglar was a woman! Garret had little time to consider that information, however, as the strap that was broken was what was holding the blueprints of whatever it was that the burglar was after. Garret quickly willed the water out of the way of the landing of the prints in order to keep them safe from damage, and the burglar darted. Again, she showed her cleverness. Garret could have followed her, but he didn't know the extent and depth of the operation she was a part of, and did not want to leave what could be sensitive information just lying on the ground. Garret stopped sustaining his spells and put away Kuroi Shimo after he had picked up the blueprints. Unfurling them, he noted that they were in regards to the new boats they were developing.

Garret looked up to the horizon. The woman had disappeared, as if she had never been there in the first place. Curling the blueprints back up, and he made his way back to the villa contemplating the meeting.

How much did she know? How much did she suspect? An unsettling feeling knotted up within Garret. And more importantly, how did she know where to go? These unanswered questions ate away at Garret, with the nagging thought at the edge of his mind being this; had she led him out to the open just so she could ditch the plans precariously and force Garret to decide on letting her leave?


OOC:

1992/1500 word count
160/300 Magoi/Stamina

Abilities Used: