MTG Salvation

"Now that's an idea worthy of stealing and putting a patent on! I guarantee in three years flat we'll have half of the Epicrin army chomping at the bit to sever one of their hands for a single use projectile! Welcome aboard friend, feel free to take a look around."

A thoughtful pause.

"I suppose steam can't make a crank turn to pull it back on a wire?

Also, when do I actually get trained to use this stuff?"

A sly smile crossed Ford's face.

"Well training here is really more informal than most would expect, if the goal of our little group was to replicate what has already been done we'd pay Greel children two gold a day to work in the steam filled sweatshops on the top floor. Trial and error is really the only way to improve one's standing as a forger of a new era. If you want to observe others practicing steamwork I recommenced the top floor, most the steam is released up there."

Sam's jaw drops for a moment. Apparently she had misunderstood what this guild actually was.

Still, she glances towards the door and nods. "Well, I suppose I need to go up there then and figure out what I'm doing."

"Okay!" Said Peter, "Let me show you the hot spots - but I must warn you, most of the spots up there are awfully warm!"

After a few seconds of silence, Peter pointed out "On account of the steam. ... Lets just get going."

Peter walked to the wall opposite the door they had entered through and pushed on it gently. With a wushing noise, it slid to the right and revealed a narrow staircase leading up.

"This is the quickest way up from here."

Sam counters the heated pun with a cold stare. This may cause a burn of its own.

Then she nod and follows, glancing upwards. "Anything in particular I should be on the lookout for?'

"Just Knowledge! Oh, and explosions. Those don't happen often. But when they do, oh boy!"

Peter looked mildly excited at the prospect of explosions.

Shortly, Sam arrived at the top floor of the Forge, a moist affair with a very high roof, several catwalks over 30 feet above the floor, and pipes and boilers everywhere. The Boilers are largely at the bottom of the area, placed over the respective forges, but there were others strewn about in the higher reaches where catwalkers could access them. Water from the river was hauled in in tremendous buckets and pulled up to the second story via a sophisticated pulley system, then deposited in each boiler by sweaty laborers.

Sam looks over this whole thing for a few moments. Especially the buckets. Oh definitely the buckets. And then she glances over at Peter.

"So... Uh... Why are you drawing in the water by hand, anyways?"

"Well, sometimes you just need some good old fashioned hard work!"

There's a thoughtful look from the woman's face.

"Couldn't you... Use that steam... To power a pump... to pull water from the river? Which would be faster?"

Peter looked slightly dumbfounded, then a little upset, then he smiled.

"Well that proves it! You're a PREFECT fit for us!"

He reached for Sam's hand.

There's an utterly confused woman who reaches for the hand, with her metallic one, and shakes it. It will probably be painful.

It was painful. Peter regretted it, but saw it through.

"So, now that you're a guild member and all, I suppose you'll want your sigil and room, and other such niceties. You won't find those here, we own a property in the artisans quarter for the housing. Oh I guess you will find the sigils here, they're pretty simple wrought iron pins. We can find one for you downstairs."

Sam brushes some dust off her pants before nodding.

"The sigil is probably important, yes. Is there anything I need to know? Guild duties I have? Things I should be doing? Places I can go to learn and not blow things up because I put a... Spanner... Or... Something in the wrong place?"

"Guild duties? Why, test out your inventions to make sure they work! Test out MY inventions! Can't very well be Machinists if we don't create and use Machines. As for the second part, ....... No."

Golan and Gamble entered the Tomorrow Forge. Golan found it to be comfortably warm. They approached a nearby Armorer, who was hard at work. The Armorer was 6 Feet tall, muscly, bore a very dirty Apron with a large Machinist Sigil drawn on the front and heavy pants. He had a tattoo of a beautiful elven woman on his right bicep.

"Excuse m-" *CLANG!* Golan was interrupted by the Armorer banging on a sheet of metal with a hammer. I suppose that was to be expected.

"EXCUSE ME!" said Golan.

Gamble - "Ooo, nice tattoo..."

Sam raises an eyebrow again. But she's beginning to get this whole idea of 'yeah, do your own thing'.

"Okay, last question. If I horribly mangle something or someone by sticking a... Hammer... Thing someplace it doesn't belong, the guild foots the bill, right?"

I assume Nais thing is a running conversation with Mouse so will let him mod the answer in his next post

**The armorer signed and stopped, turning to Golan.**

Armorer - Talk fast, I have to have these automatons fully built and armored before Doggett gets back to the city and we're behind schedule already.

Gamble - "Well, we were just wondering about a suit of armor. You heard about that Deathcloth thing right? We figured armor like that had to have been custom-made somewhere, or at least required some custom parts."

**Now that they were actively out and pursuing this thing, Gamble seemed to have forgotten that Bounty Hunting was not supposed to be within his purview.**

Armorer - Deathcloth? No idea what you are talking about.

Gamble - "Oh, erm."

**The man pulled the crumbled bounty out of his pocket.**

Gamble - "No, sorry; Deathcloak. He's the one who killed the peacekeeper in the Drunken Ass."

Golan - "His Armor would have been custom fitted and orange tinted."

Peter - "Don't worry about it! ... Too much. Well, I mean, worry about it. But you won't pay for it, no. Well, you won't pay THEM for it. The Guild will pay the injured party, and then you'll just have to make it up to the Guild, however that works out. Which, in some cases requires you stop being part of the Guild. But I'm sure YOU won't kill anyone! Not right away, at any rate..."

Gamble - "It had some sort of blade mechanism in the gauntlet, and apparently the side of the helmet had been through some sort of accident. By all accounts it looked half-burned."

Armorer - The blade thing sounds like a hydroblade, which is a commonly taught Apprentice level device. He coulda bought that off any machinist with more than rudimentary hydraulics skill. As for orange metal never worked with it myself. Tend to me more bout function and ornamentation around here. You might want to check the commercial forge, where the blind smith works. He's more likely to have made the armor than anyone here.