Projections predicted the vessel The Black Ruby would be seaworthy in less than a week, but it would take another week to install all of her armaments. There had been some kind of mix-up, one of the project planners had apparently approached Dash informing her that we couldn’t possibly construct the entire hull from black rubies due to their extreme rarity, but they were able to cut them into an incredible ramming spike for her bow. This is what I call a happy accident.
I hadn’t been sleeping as much as I once had, mostly because it was no longer a necessity. But also because I no longer had dreams. When I slept, instead of dreaming I would establish a soul link with my symbiote. So I decided to confront him directly about the situation. My vampiric symbiote was familiar with the phenomenon, but simply described “dreams” as a resonation that provides him with the energies required to perform his functions. It seemed that part of the symbiote involuntarily consumed dream essence and converted it into another form of chi.
Over the following days I attempted to craft my own dreamscapes, but to no avail. Fortunately, Dash was more than happy to share her dreamscape and even provide unique experiences with her innate talent for lucid dreaming.
As The Black Ruby neared completion, so did a few of our side projects. The chi clone and automaton that we had been working on had been causing a little drama among the non-corporeals. Lilith and Luseal had been arguing over who would possess what body and when. Lilith insisted that her spectral form was not a sufficient long-term vessel; While Luseal argued the chi clone was created for her. The amount of essence required to assemble the featureless humanoid was not a trivial quantity, and was a conglomeration of all of the spare energies Dash, Jr., and myself had accumulated over the past few years.
Sharing the form was an option, but the two didn’t get along on the best of days. I decided to halt the further development of the chi clone in favour of investing our future essence into the improvement of the automaton. My hope was that if Luseal could comfortably inhabit the device then she would be more willing to relinquish majority control of the chi clone to Lilith.
The idea didn’t go over so well at first but as I began to condense and grow chi within Dash’s dreamscape I was able to contribute more latent energies to the automaton. And as the automaton grew in chi levels, so did it grow in appeal.
With all the sleeping and additional side projects occupying my time, it was almost time to launch The Black Ruby. There was to be a ceremony to commemorate the event, and officially bestow the vessel with her name. But first, was the inspection.
Before the official inspection from the dwarven counsel, there was to be an informal inspection by myself. Dash attended but unfortunately Luseal and Lilith didn't seem ready to possess their artificial bodies yet.
The Black Ruby was unlike anything I had ever seen. Walls of steel, doors like bank vaults. Capable of running on a skeleton crew of one, she was built more for speed than for transport. The shipwright knew his client in this situation. It had a set of folding sails made from durable lightweight metal sheets. The captain's quarters featured a fireplace and was host to immaculate lighting including an exquisite chandelier. There was a room housing an enormous M-tek engine which could be fueled with combustibles or by magic. And it had a small mess hall and even a sickbay. I was confident the ship would pass the official inspection with flying colours. And to no one’s surprise, it did.
As the launching ceremony approached Dash took Luseal’s amulet and my katana containing Lilith to prepare. The day before the ceremony word came from the goblin settlements of strange behaviour from the orcs in the heart of the tundra.
Finally on the day of the launching ceremony the girls revealed their new avatars. Luseal’s amulet rested in the chest of the automaton vessel, and it was dressed in a long decorative jacket. Her face had been sculpted using chi, and she had realistic facial movements that seemed to react in real time. Lilith possessed the chi clone, and had warped it well beyond its original form; She had wings and a tail and horns, she decided just to embrace the image of our imagined demons and succubi. She was adorned in lightweight armour plating and a few pieces of hanging fabrics. And on her hip sat my katana.
Stolen story; please report.
As we prepared for the fanfare to begin Dash informed that that she had a scheduled boarding. I was confused at first until she tipped her head toward lightning and a growing line of people forming nearby. I fired up my mechanised steed’s hearth, struck the anvil and opened a portal to Sanctuary. Before long, much of the crowd had funnelled into the rift. Just as I thought the last of the immigrants were ready, Dash blew a horn and I swear, signalled someone in a bell tower. More people came to enter Sanctuary and continued to do so throughout the ceremony.
Once the event was underway we boarded the vessel and finally we could launch my ship. They cleared the slipway and flooded the drydock, and as she entered the sea under her own weight, I officially dubbed her; The Black Ruby.
After the ceremony came to an end Lilith handed me my Katana, I was unsure of what would happen once separated from her energy based avatar. I wanted to let her hold onto it for me, but didn’t have a backup weapon so I took it from her. The moment the weapon left her fingers the Chi clone flopped lifelessly to the deck of the ship, returning to its previous featureless form. Lilith asked that I allow her to leave my blade, and realising this was possible; I devised a plan to allow Luseal to remain within her own automaton avatar.
As we began to navigate from the dwarven harbour out to the open sea, the hired shipwright informed me of an additional feature implemented in The Black Ruby. To take advantage of the orc P.S. currently integrated within Lightning. There was a docking station for him to interface with the ship’s engine directly, greatly increasing the ship’s capabilities.
As the voyage began we played with the functionality of Luseal and Lilith’s soul-traps. We were able to improvise a method of storing a spark, while allowing the soul limited freedom. It was kind of stupid that if they went too far away fro me then they would just flop to the ground. But that wasn't completely true; It was the proximity to their respective soul-traps that mattered. So while aboard The Black Ruby or within Sanctuary it was irrelevant, but if Luseal or Lilith required independence then they could simply equip their vessels directly to their avatars. Of course that meant if they both decided to leave at once I would be without my sword or my shield. Or if I had to leave one of their avatars behind while using a soul-trap myself, but that would be less of an issue because their souls would return to me allowing them to inform me of their situation(s).
Our first stop was to be the goblin harbour of the marshlands, we made unbelievable time. We were nearly able to cut the normal time of the trip in half without even pushing the engine. Before we even made landfall we could see the chaotic harbour, booming with traffic. Apparently the mindless orcs had been swarming the border, and a war effort had begun to hold them back. We quickly gathered supplies and decided to sail along the coast up to the narrow divide between the warring continents. Less than two days passed before we arrived at the so-called battlefield. The orcs storming the border were mostly unarmed and unarmored, it seemed more like they were fleeing something.
I knew it must have had something to do with the orc I had found trapped in the ice-like formation within the crater. So I felt obligated to take care of the situation, or at the very least, understand it. We made our way east, away from the commotion before disembarking.
I formed a landing party consisting of Dash and myself. I had a small crew active within the ship but a large reserve in Sanctuary. I brought Luseal and Lilith, but left their avatars behind. I headed inland, northward on Lightning with Dash riding double with me. After awhile she began to get sore and started to ride I (believe the term is “sidesaddle?”) with both legs over one side of the horse.
It seemed the bulk of the orcs had migrated away from the crater. They had moved south, so we rounded their numbers to the north east and made our way to the mysterious crater. Enroute we strayed too close to the smart orcs central territory. We encountered stray tribes of wild orcs, and hunting parties of smart orcs killing them off. It seemed unbelievable at first, but explained the retreat of the lesser brethren of these more capable creatures.