Chapter 56 "Building the Airship, Sky Pirates?"
The Attack Squad
The three wolves stood amidst the towering trees, their silhouettes cast long and ominous shadows over the fallen victims of their wrath. Storm and Shadowfang, their breaths still ragged from the ferocious battle, cast expectant gazes upon their pack leader. The silence that enveloped them was deafening, broken only by the distant whispers of the forest.
Seconds stretched into what felt like hours, and the tension in the air grew palpable. Bloodthrone, his fur matted with oil and grime from the mechanical spiders, finally broke the silence. His voice carried the weight of their actions and the responsibility of leadership as he spoke, his words resonating through the solemn clearing like a distant howl in the night.
"Let's head back to Nyx," he declared, his eyes filled with determination. "We'll gather the humans and return to the clan. There's no more to be done here."
The consequences of their choices hung in the air, but the pack knew that returning to their alpha was their only path forward. With a nod from Storm and Shadowfang, they turned away from the scene of their vengeance and began their journey back to their city, each step heavy with the knowledge of what they had become.
In perfect synchrony, Storm and Shadowfang replied, "Right away, boss."
A little while later they arrived at the empty base camp.
The attack squad members gathered around a smouldering campfire, their expressions a mix of exhaustion and grim determination. Their encounter with the mechanical spiders had taken a toll on them, both physically and emotionally. They knew what lay ahead, and the prospect of returning to the alpha was not one they relished.
A cold air blew over the coals, Nyx winced as the pain from the gargoyle air raid throbbed through her body. She had been caught off guard by the sudden attack, and the gargoyles' talon-like claws had left deep gashes on her skin. Blood oozed from the wounds, staining her once-pristine fur.
Despite the agony, Nyx remained resilient. She knew that her safety depended on her ability to recover quickly. With a determined grimace, she gritted her teeth and began tending to her injuries, using whatever meagre supplies were at her disposal. The scars from the attack would serve as a reminder of the dangers lurking in this, now, unfamiliar world. Just yesterday she was on the top and no one would dream of messing with her, in a span of less than a day, her outlook on the world was rocked but Nyx was determined to protect her survival, no matter the cost.
Bloodthrone's gaze bore into Nyx's, his eyes reflecting a mix of concern and curiosity. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked, his tone firm yet caring. He knew that whatever had transpired during Nyx's absence had left her wounded, physically and emotionally, and he wanted to understand the events that had unfolded in his absence.
Nyx locked eyes with her pack leader, her voice carrying the weight of her ordeal. "Gargoyles," she replied, the single word enough to convey the harrowing encounter with the winged creatures.
Storm, his fur still matted with oil and dirt from the battle, broke the silence. "We can't keep wandering aimlessly in these woods. We need to head back to the alpha and report what happened."
Shadowfang nodded in agreement, though his eyes revealed the unease he felt. "I'm not looking forward to facing the alpha's disappointment. We were supposed to protect that valley and get the timber off to the front line."
“Don’t forget, we lost Hunter,” Nyx spat a ball of blood from her mouth.
Bloodthrone, the defeated leader of the squad, spoke with a touch of frustration. "Our duty is to the pack, and that includes the alpha. We'll tell the truth, explain the circumstances, and prepare for whatever consequences come our way. I will take whatever is to come."
A notification flashed before Bloodthrone.
System Notification: Leadership skill has leveled. Noble Pack leader feat has been added to the skill. You have faced defeat after defeat but have never wavered in your duty. The effectiveness of leadership skills has doubled.
All four wolves nodded and howled as one in the dawn's light. They all understand the importance of their duty to the pack. Despite their reservations, they knew there was no other choice. With a shared glance, they doused the campfire and began the journey back to their alpha, determined to face whatever judgment awaited them and to do everything in their power to protect their clan.
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Violet
Ok. Let's stop right here... I need a break from all the battles and such. I think it is about time I write down some of my crafting stuff. Well, dear reader of my excellent journal, I have started! Before the battle and all that firepower, my council and I were discussing the process of building an airship.
Little did they know that I had started. I know dear reader, you might be thinking, how could she? The resources and blah, blah, blah. Dam with the resources, if anything I have learned that I need something besides just traps and walls. I want and need information, and if I am going to save more humans like that little girl and her dad, I am going to need to put myself out there.
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Plus, who doesn’t want to be a sky pirate?
It reminded me of a conversation I had with Kevin and Rebecca one day as we walked home from school.
Kevin was holding my hand and we were talking about Mr. Stevens and his upcoming science test, when my then-boyfriend just blurted out, “Yo, guys, have you ever thought about how freakin' awesome it would be to be a pirate?”
Without missing a step, I responded with two equal parts sarcasm and on board with the idea, yes pun intended, “Arrr, matey! You be talkin' 'bout sailin' the high seas, swashbucklin' and findin' buried treasure, aye?”
Rebecca just eye-rolled the two of us and joined in, “Oh, you two, always dreamin' big. But seriously, being a pirate would be the bomb. We'd have our ship, a crew, and those cool pirate hats!”
Thinking back, before the whole dating drama, we were thick as thieves back then.
Kevin not one to be outdone, especially on his topic of choice began to put on an imaginary pirate hat and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Arr, Captain Kevin reporting for duty! I'd have a parrot on my shoulder named Squawkers. He'd say stuff like, "Avast, ye landlubbers!"
Rebecca laughed, “And I'd beat that Vi would be your First Mate,” she winked and continued, “with a peg leg and a fake hook hand, ready to swab the deck and swing from the riggin'. Arrrr!”
Not to be outdone I fired back, grinning, “And I'd wager that you would just be the sneaky cabin boy, eh Becca? You would always up to no good, sneakin' rum and messin' with the maps.”
She smacked me on that butt and answered my return jest with one of her own, “But, hey if that is true, I'd be the one who finds the buried treasure!”
Kevin nudged Rebecca, “Oh, you rogue! But we'd have to watch out for the Royal Navy, chasing us down for our pirate shenanigans. Just like in History class when someone was caught cheating.”
I smiled pulling on his arm and followed it up by pretending to steer a ship, “Aye, mateys, we'd have epic battles with those scallywags! Cannons blazing, waves crashing, and us yellin', "Fire in the hole!"
Becca was now in it to win it with a mockingly serious tone, “But when we're not plundering, we'd sit around the campfire on a deserted island, playin' pirate tunes on our ukuleles, and tellin' tales of our daring escapades. Like Violet trying to cheat on her history test.”
“Hey, I was not, I don’t know what the teacher’s problem was, I just had a thing in my eye.”
They both eye-rolled me at the same time.
Kevin not done with the conversation continued, “And as the stars twinkle above, we'd make promises to be best pirate buddies forever!”
Dramatically falling into Kevin’s arms, “Until the day we each find our own hidden treasure and sail our separate ways, but never forget the adventures we shared.”
Wistful Rebecca sang, “Aye, lads, it's a pirate's life for me!”
Cheering the three of us as one said, “To the seven seas and beyond!” We all raise imaginary tankards and clink them together, pretending to drink rum and laughing as they continue to dream about their pirate adventures.
Memories like this…
I miss my old life at times.
I hope Mom is okay.
Taking a deep breath, and practicing my mindfulness skills from visiting my school counsellor. Where was I before I went down memory lane?
Right.
Now using my basic engineering skills, I try to find the most intuitive way to build a zeppelin-type of airship, helium is a bit safer than hydrogen, so obtaining it in amounts that will lift your airship will be... Insanely hard even with magic.
The basic design is a zeppelin about the size of a small ship.
I know what you are thinking, or I am going out on a limb and going to tell you what I am thinking, a zeppelin why? I remember a joke my mom told me once, “Why did the guitarist bring a ladder to the Led Zeppelin Concert?”
“Why,” I grumbled.
“Because he wanted to get to the Stairway to heaven.”
Besides awesome middle school dance songs, the Zeppelin idea was going to be, thankfully, the best I might be able to do. Flying ships weren’t an easy idea. The process of refining helium isn’t impossible for me without a helium-rich gas field which I doubt I will find conveniently around. But, if the council freaked out this much about building an actual ship, helium is out of reach for them.
Hydrogen is way easier to obtain, at the end of the day it's just electrolysis, but hydrogen goes boom if you don't know what you are doing. On the other hand, my awesome skill from the Huntress clicks a red flag in my brain from my science textbook, helium is a deadly poison if you inhale too much of it.
The next problem is containing it in whatever container you put it in. Like hydrogen, helium is small. It's so small it escapes between atoms of other elements. So that's why all helium-filled balloons stop flying just after a few days. Add weight under a such balloon and it will lose its flight ability even sooner.
Also, the buoyancy system is very high risk. First- that works for submarines because water surrounds them. Once you drop the water from the airship it's gone. You can argue that water can be created with magic- but creating amounts of water that will make a difference should consume monstrous amounts of mana. That will be problematic for the crew, especially during battle or in the aftermath when people on the ship will be drained. You will have a ship at insane altitude- possibly over the proper air density level with a fainted crew... Nah... Oh.
In case of a piercing balloon in the field, my crew will have to refill it with helium which will be insanely hard, not only to fix but to refill as even the smallest hole will be fatal for such an airship.
I can hear a voice in the back of my head telling me, “Why the hassle? Why overdoing? Just use the Hot air system that will kill two birds with one stone.”
I get that voice. I can understand it. By using fire runes, I can heat as much air as I need in our world fuel consumption for heating air was a problem that made me use hydrogen for zeppelins in the first place. I don’t have that problem. I have the runes for this. A hole in such a balloon is often not a problem at all, I would just increase the flame to feed more hot air. With a hot air system, I just regulate air temperature to reach a certain altitude. Need to moor the ship? Just vent out some hot air I go down. Higher? You need more hot air.
Also, how do runes work? On/off system or do you need to feed them with mana during their work? If they need mana, then go for a big ass hot air balloon.
So, that is what I am going to do. The fun thing that I am doing differently, is I am mixing up my skills. I am creating my workshop crewed with my automation, remember the clockwork puppets from when I fell through the floor in the temple.
This is going to be fun.