The sheer variety of ships, crews, and options on offer was astounding. There were ships that looked as though they would be just as at home on the water as in the air, like the Black Wraith we had borrowed on our way through the elven lands. Those were the expected types, of course, but there were so many other designs that they boggled the mind.
While the others looked through the catalogue, I looked over to the owner. “Cid, how long did you say you’d been working here?”
“Oh, a few years, now. But not all these ships are my personal work. There’s others, who work as part of the Ironworks, of course, some gnomes. Clever buggers, but sometimes they seem more likely to make things explode than making something practical. They’re actually away on an expedition to Mechanus, right now. Whole realm of clockwork creatures, where even parts of the realm itself are clockwork? Natural place to get some new inspiration, and ready-made parts.”
I nodded. “That makes more sense, then. What you have on offer here is astounding. This many ships? They would take one craftsman a lifetime, even with your factory.”
“You have an eye for quality, girl. Reminds me of someone I knew back home. You have a talent for finding yourself in trouble, as well?”
“Unfortunately, trouble seems to find its way to me, more often than not, yes.”
“Hmm. So, something armored, then, and armed. Any preferences on weapon types? And what of the crew? Any ideas on the type of crew you’d like?”
“Well, I can’t speak to the rest, but I would prefer constructs or projections for my crew. Undead are fine, as well. I’ve had history with slavers, and would not like to switch sides. As for weapons, my class restricts me from using fire for anything that doesn’t involve the bare necessities of cooking, so no gouts of flame or anything like that. I follow the goddess of ice and winter, Auril, if it helps.”
“Well, that narrows things down quite a bit. Hmm, interesting. Here, let me show you something you’ll like. Haven’t added it to the catalogue yet, since it was only just finished.”
“Oh? What great timing.”
“Well, I’m not exactly the religious type, coming from another world and all, but I have gnomes working for me, as I said, and one of them had a vision a ways back, around the time those prophecies were announced to everyone, saying that a Garland ship would be playing a role.”
“Yes, the revelation that gods were real, and played a real role in this world was pretty surprising to me, too. As was the fact that prophecies could actually be something other than a person who got high off vapors. So, what is this ship?”
Cid held up a cube, like the others, but this one was made of blue ice, like the dagger I’d carried since I left the tundra. I’d had the dagger enchanted, even though my powers outpaced its damage ability long ago, and kept it, for sentimental and ceremonial purposes. When Cid brought up the silent image of the ship, I knew that this was the one for me.
The keel reminded me of the look of a warship in my old world. Sleek sides with a curved prow, but instead of steel, the ship’s hull was made of blue ice. Above deck, there was an area at the bow and stern that were open wooden deck, connected by walkways at either side. In the center, sloped plates of blue ice encased the rest of the deck, with another deck on top.
I remembered something like this, a famous ship battle from the Civil War. The… Monitor? No, that was the other one, that only had the little disk above the water. The one I was thinking about was the Virginia? Or the Merrimack. Or were those the same? It had been so long since I’d thought of them.
Turning my thoughts back to the ship, I saw that the starboard side had great double-door-sized hatches, likely for loading cargo and supplies, while there was a person-sized hatch on the port side. Wooden stairs mounted the sloped walls in several places, allowing easy access to the top deck, which was barely wide enough for a ballista, of which there was one each, with a strange box attached to them, fore and aft. I also saw a hatch like you’d see in a submarine, near each ballista, allowing access to the deck without needing to walk around the outside.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
In addition to the two ballistae, I could see gunports in the icy walls of the main deck. Eight in all, there were three running the length of the ship on either side, as well as one fore and aft. Four more gunports appeared along the hull, two on either side, a testament to the fact that this beauty was designed for fighting in the air, and not just the sea.
“I see the ballistae, but what of the guns? I haven’t seen cannons since I came to this world.”
“Oh, you know about cannons, do ye? Well, that’ll speed things up a bit. Each port there has a cannon behind it, and you can open and close them as needed. These guns use magic to fire, so no needing to worry about running out of powder, though that also means that they won’t be any use to you if something restricts magic in the area, like a beholder. The cannons launch what I like to call an oversized magic missile.”
“So, it has the tracking abilities of the spell?”
“Aye, you tell them what you want hit, and it’ll hit, but all the things that block magic missiles will block those shots cold. Each hit, according to the ‘Voice of the World’ you lot have here, does 5d12 points of Force damage, with a range of three hundred feet. Has a ‘caster level’ of 20, if you’re dealing with enemies that resist magic. The magic recharges in 1d4 rounds. Just remember that the gunners have to be able to see a target to shoot it.
“They also have a second mode, which you can use on those types. Conjures a solid round, and ignores that resistance. Trade-off is that it only works up to a hundred and fifty feet, shares the recharge time of the main round, and does only 3d10 bludgeoning damage. Also restricts the field of fire to how far you can angle the cannon without hitting the side of the gunport. But at least you won’t need to worry about powder and ammunition, like I said. Still won’t help you if a beholder’s about, mind.”
“Anything that will work on them? Not that I’m going to seek them out, but a girl likes to have options when rude creatures come knocking on her door.”
“Hah! You’d fit right in with the Warrior of Light, if you ever met. But yes, that’s why the ballistae are there. Garland specialty, these are, Repeating Ballistae. Not as quick as a repeating crossbow, sure, but it cuts the time between shots by 75%! Each one is enchanted to get better accuracy out of them, too.
“Like with the cannons, you can shoot two types of loads. First uses real ammunition, loaded in the boxes you see there, and works like a normal ballista. I’m sure you can figure out that part. Second type is a magic load. Recharge time like the cannons, but these babies shoot lightning bolts, instead of magic missiles. 10d6 electricity damage, and caster level of 20, according to the Voice of the World. Just be careful, like you’d do with the spell, since they don’t care about friend or foe.”
He paused, and said, sadly, “Most heavily armed ship I’ve ever designed, since I left my home. But while it is powerful, it won’t be wiping cities off the map, or anything like that.”
“No, but it is enough to open a hole in a city wall. It is not a superweapon, but it can make a big difference, if used well, even I can see that. And it will allow people to take on foes that would normally be well beyond their strength.”
“Heh. True enough, lass.” He shook his head, chasing away his current thoughts, and said, “Now, about the crew. Had to get tricky with this part. Constructs were the obvious way to go, since the ship is a literal icebox, and they’re more pleasant to be around than undead. But Constructs, well, they’re stupid, mindless things. Good for a fight, but not much else, right?”
“That’s my experience, save for the creatures known as Warforged, who are supposed to be ‘living’ constructs. Though the ones I met were all rather single-minded. Of course, I’ve known people like that, too.”
“Haven’t we all? But anyways, one of our artificers managed to get us to the Elemental Plane of Ice. That’s how we got the materials for all this, you know. Anyway, on that plane, they have a unique version of Warforged that they call Iceforged. Since we’d just come from the Plane of Elemental Earth, we were able to trade some dirt-cheap materials for high prices.”
He just shrugged when I raised an eyebrow at the pun, and kept on with a smile. “Anyway, we traded for a bunch of them for this project, and a couple others. Crew of fifteen, plus three officers. Technically, they’re contract workers, with an indefinite contract to the ship, since the materials we gave up were worth a small country on that plane. They’re trained fighters, and can run the ship easily enough. And, best of all, being in the cold of the ship will help heal them, just by standing there.”
I whistled softly. “What classes do they have?”
“Fourteen fighters, one artificer among the crew. Artificer is responsible for keeping the engine and systems maintained. Officers are a Swashbuckler for the Captain, Cleric for the Commander, and Warlock for the Lieutenant. All have appropriate gear, and are level 20 or above.”
“What god does the cleric follow?”
“Funny enough, or not, considering where we got them, he’s a cleric of Auril. Didn’t think too much about it, until you mentioned that was who you followed. Seems awfully coincidental that we finished this up, crew and all, just a week ago. Don’t suppose this has to do with the prophecy?”
I chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about all of it, but I do have golden hair and live in an icy place, so, maybe? But enough about that. What other features does the ship have? You mentioned an engine, yes?”
“Right, well, there’s a coldfire engine. Nasty stuff if it spills, but damn useful to keeping a machine running. If it weren’t so dangerous to anyone who wasn’t resistant to the cold, I’d probably use it in more of my work. It’ll set you going sixty percent faster than a warhorse, just on its own. But, if you see that antenna there, in the middle of the deck, where a mast would normally be? Hit that with lightning and you can double the speed, for five minutes, anyways. Also keeps the ship from being slowed by the weather.
“The ship can set down on land or water, no problem. A protective field surrounds the ship. Doesn’t add to the defense, but it does keep things nice and livable inside the ship or on deck, even if you’re in the Plane of Fire. Ship and crew alike won’t get hurt by planar effects. Also rigged it with a planar helm, so you can get on and off those planes.
“Sacrificed a lot of cargo space to make things happen, so there’s only room for about fifty tons of normal cargo. But you do have five nondimensional trunks that’ll extend that a by another ten tons. One is in the Captain’s quarters, another is in the Owner’s suite, two are in the hold, and the last is secured to the top deck, so that people can easily bring up more bolts for the ballistae.
“Now, for defenses, you’ll find that the ice walls are not only quite thick, but they’re enchanted, as well, for greater durability. A few other defensive improvements, as well, like some spells to make it harder to target. Still a big beastie and about as hard to hit as a barn, but every bit helps, yeah?”
“Well, Cid, I don’t know about the others, but I’m definitely going to take this ship!”