The Rise of the Windigo King

((Bump.))

((Also taking a slight creative liberty. Sorry Z.))

Seeing the expression on Torch's face, Mosstone took a guess. "No can do, huh? Sigh... I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We need a ship first, don't we? How do we go about getting one?" he asked, suspecting that he already knew the answer...

Healing Torch wracked his brain for ideas, but found nothing. Hearing Mosstone acknowledge the stumped look on his face, he realized he had been staring off into space. "Whoops, sorry, I get carried away a little sometimes. About the boat, how many bits do we have on us? I have 300 myself."

"I have pledged all of my bits to Monseiur Land Lobber, so unfortunately, my money is unavailable," Halynn answers apologetically.

-Mane, a whole lot was happening fast!

First, talk of some crazy watery death trap...

Then talk of the old codger introducing himself...

Then talk of buying a ship...

Then more talk of crazy life-preserver spells...

Then more talk about buying a ship...

"WOAH NELLY!" Dr. Death Ray yelled over the group, "Everypony..." He glanced around, then grinned, "Uh... yeah... everypony... just slow down here for a second."

The Doctor reached into his lab coat and pulled out his temporal displacement matrix. "As far as self-preservation... ah... on the high-seas... I just so happen to have this little invention..." He waved it in front of Mosstone's eyes, "That might help us if... if all else fails. To make a long story short... it's a short range teleportation device... It has the capacity to teleport up to 5 beings up to 30 feet... Wouldn't work if we're in the middle of nowhere... but if there's... if there's any land nearby..." Death Ray shrugs, "I could possibly amp up the distance on it too... but no promises there..."

"As far as boats go, I... uh... doubt we have enough money between us all to... to buy a... uh.. ship-shape vessel... It'd probably be more like a floating coffin - if you'll pardon the expression..." The Doctor clears his throat, glancing at the Lantern, "We could... uh... always procure one though... for the...the 'greater good'...Or maybe I could make one, given enough time?"

Then Death Ray pauses, turning to Mosstone with a raised eyebrow. He scratches his head and frowns, "And uh... excuse me for asking... but uh... why exactly are you coming with us?" Dr. D looks around at the others and whispers under his breath, "Who invited him anyway?"

XandZero2 wrote:"As far as boats go, I... uh... doubt we have enough money between us all to... to buy a... uh.. ship-shape vessel... It'd probably be more like a floating coffin - if you'll pardon the expression..." The Doctor clears his throat, glancing at the Lantern, "We could... uh... always procure one though... for the...the 'greater good'...Or maybe I could make one, given enough time?"

"Or we could just ask the captain to get us a boat," Halynn points out, her voice low. "Same result in the end, but it'd be official. That way we don't have to fight a cult AND the authorities. Ce serait plus gênant."

XandZero2 wrote:Then Death Ray pauses, turning to Mosstone with a raised eyebrow. He scratches his head and frowns, "And uh... excuse me for asking... but uh... why exactly are you coming with us?" Dr. D looks around at the others and whispers under his breath, "Who invited him anyway?"

Halynn shrugs. "I must confess, I have no idea. I vaguely remember him standing up to me when... yeah... means he has guts at least."

"I invited me, more or less," Mosstone replied to the question of his belonging. "I need something to do with myself before I start to go dull. Going into the Maw wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it beats a cupcake in my eye."

"What? You didn't think that just because I'm the oldest one here besides the Alicorn means I can't go adventuring? Torch has seen my camouflage spell, and I think he can attest that such a thing might be helpful sooner or later. Either way, I'm coming on this venture."

"As for 'acquiring' a ship, I agree with the Doctor, unless someone's got a bloody fortune on them buying one isn't gonna work out too well. I've got 300 bits too, to answer the question, but I'm guessing that's still way out of the ballpark."

"If the captain can not be convinced what materials shall you need Doctor Ray?" Ragnarok asks.

Torch grinned. "Hey, he's right, I've seen him in action. And if he wants to come, who are we to stop him? Seems like having an extra hoof when we need it could be useful. And we're not 'procuring' a boat, we're gonna make like the Neigh-team and build one. I'm sure we have enough to get at least basic materials, and Doc's a great builder, I'm confident we can do this without resorting to stealing."

Death Ray rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright... Have it your way. So we won't steal a boat..."

-Doesn't mean we can't steal the components...

The Lantern's idea of asking the Captain to commission a boat would probably be the easiest thing to do, but Dr. D felt that the less they had to deal with him, the better off he'd be (him being the Doctor).

Turning to Raggie, Dr. D stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Let's see now... What materials would I need to make a boat? ...Weeeeeell," The Doctor takes a deep breath, "There would be the power cells and coolant systems for the laser defense grid... the ammo and propulsion for the missile racks... napalm for the flamethrowers - since I hear napalm's the only thing that can burn underwater, ya know - lots of spare parts to build the rocket engine... rocket fuel for said engine... lots of stainless steel... oh, and something for water treatment... lots of chains, wire, and more stainless steal for all the extra mechanical bits... Uh... Am I missing anything?" The Doctor paused a moment, growing excited. Then he grins, "Oh yeah. Of course! How could I forget... Oxygen for the air tanks! What boat worth it's salt lick ever went to sea that couldn't also go into space?!"

EDIT: For comedic effect.

"As much as I hate to... how do you say it? 'Rain on your parade', but time is kind of of the essence," Halynn points out. "We should be able to build the boat just fine, but perhaps we can forgo making it spaceworthy until we no longer have a doomsday cult to worry about?"

"The Lantern is enlightened," Mosstone quipped, ignoring the groans at his terrible pun. "Let's walk before we run and build a plain old ship first."

Halynn sighs and shakes her head. "That was punbelievable. You ought to be punished by being sent to the punitentiary."

"Jealous, are we? Tsk Tsk, Green isn't your color, dear. Well okay, maybe it is, but you know what I mean," the green unicorn admonished.

"So, what all is on the shopping list, and who should be getting what? I want to get started."

"Alright..." Dr. Death Ray muttered, puncturing the word out with a long sigh, "Fine..." Slumping his shoulders, he shook his head slowly, "But just you wait... the last Windigo artifact is gonna be on the... the buckin' moon or something... and then I bet you the Darkhorse you'll be wishing I'd made the ship spaceworthy..."

Death Ray sat down and stroked his chin, looking over all the others, "Ya know? The problem with you guys is... well... it's that you just lack vision, vision and... and standards! Yeah! Life's all about standards. Setting a... a bar for others to follow... Leading the way in innovation... while... while keeping the same standards as the greatest of your predecessors..."

"Yes sir, Dr. Death Ray sir!" GREGG chimed in.

"Exactly!" The Doctor nodded. "I mean, if it wasn't for innovators like Discord and Dastardly Dee - I mean, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor... yeah... We'd be no better than a bunch of sheep, simply following a spectral maned alicorn tyrant that cares nothing about her subjects, instead spending all her time growing fat on tea and baked goods while keeping her nation subjugated under a dark age of magical ineptitude and scientific intolerance..."

Dr. Death Ray paused for a moment - then smiled. "So... yeah... Materials... Uh... materials... for a boring... ordinary boat... that can't fly in space... uh... GREGG, help me out here please?"

"Yes sir! Internal databanks indicate that in order to make a ship, the following must be obtained: Materials with which to build some form of casing, mechanics, and power source. Plexiglass, wood, or metal plus water treatment would be a sufficient casing. Rope, or metal plus wiring would be sufficient for mechanics. Oars and a sail, or a motor and propeller/propellers - plus fuel - would be enough to create a power source. With all these materials combined, a worthy nautical vessel could feasibly be constructed."

"Yeah..." The Doctor clopped his hooves together, "So there you have it!" He motioned to his companion, "-What he said."

You kind of got a bit off topic with that last tangent sir...

"Tell me something I don't know GREGG..." Dr. D muttered out the corner of his muzzle, "Tell me something I don't know..."

"Bah, I could be making one with naught but duct tape and soybeans, but a traditional ship would be better pay indeed." Land Lobber gloats. He gives a general hand-wave to his baggy robe-ish/kilt-ish pants. "These be the sails from me previous ship. A might small for anything bigger than a friendship sloop, I liked the irony, but they'll do fer our purposes. I'd want to get some leggings to be replacing them, though, fer storage."

He looks at the good doctor. His urge to lead to the right path pushed at him, tempered with the quiet of not distracting the guards from their own little meeting. "Which be leaving a hull and a pulley. This be a theatric town by the looks o' the tourism, it must be having a operahouse or cinema. A heavy curtain-pulley for a stage, I could fix to work fer a sail. We'll be wanting oars regardless, can nae trust the wind in cursed areas. Most boats have two or three, the marina will have a few to spare. We be needing at least two, four be best."

He looks about. He pillaged other boats, not cities. His knowledge was a bit limited in this regard. He really had no history of this kind of thing, and obvious answers were going to be too blatantly not allowed by his paycheck. "Which be leavin' the tough one. Tha unicorns would need to work with this, we be strong, but not agile enough to be directin' it. I'd say just repurpose three trees an' some of the jetsam on the beach where I be wakin' up earlier taday. I figure, I can down them an plank 'em, the unicorns use yer fancy heads to direct the cuts and ta magic-watertight join the wood. Unless there be a place nearby that sell duct tape, then I can be waterproofing the boat myself."

Bide your time you still need him...but one sinde comment would not hurt...Ragnarok turns to face Dr Death Ray. "Doctor Ray you do realize that if this were tyranny you would have already been executed for speaking out? But this is not the time to speak of politics there must be at least a few legitimate channels procure materials."

roll:

((Don't post for a minute; I have a lot to say and my phone is being finicky.))

"If we're using wood, then water-proofing will be easy. All we'd have to do is soak it once it's put together; the wood swells and shuts the smaller cracks, and then the bigger ones we seal up with pitch, or tree sap in a pinch."

"Doctor Death Ray should go talk to those changelings. They'd probably help us if approached correctly, and it seems to me that he'd be the more favorable in their eyes."

"Torch and I can get the wood and tree sap; the latter needs to be kept hot, and I hear he's something of an expert at that..." Mosstone shuddered at the thought, but then, if Torch was doing the heating, then he could stay as far back as he cared. "We'll need some buckets, an awl, and a saw. Probably some other miscellaneous tools too. Hopefully there's a hardware store."

"Land Lobber seems to be the boat expert, so he can be the one to build it; Lantern and Rag can help with that too, or they can look for parts, whatever suits you is fine," he finished, getting up to his feet. "So let's not waste any more time arguing politics or religion or money and snap to it!"

Halynn rolls her eyes behind her mask. "Who died and made you leader? Nonetheless, it's a good plan. I should help build the boat; I feel I'd be most useful there, depuis mes morceaux vont du minotaure."

Prench Translation:

"Age before beauty, dear," Mosstone called back over his shoulder at Lantern's comment. Walking out the door (and earnestly hoping that someone had listened to him) he started walking towards the commercial district...

Streetsmarts Check:

"Good a plan as any! Let's head out." Torch followed Mosstone, looking around for any industrial-looking stores.

Assists:

"I don't like him much..." Dr. Death Ray said to nopony in particular, watching Mosstone gallop off. "Talk to the Changelings? Gee... That would be a great idea... If I knew where they lived - and I don't - but if I did, I'm sure the eight-year-old filly would prove invaluable... in the... the construction process..." Dr. D rolled his eyes, his tone one of sarcasm, "Maybe she could do the heavy lifting?"

The Doctor rose onto his hooves, shaking his head. Someponies... What does gramps think? Just because they're Changelings they can be beasts of burden or something? Maybe they could help us with finding parts... but, how am I even supposed to find them in the first place? ... And that guy didn't even say I should help with the construction... Pffft... Typical.

He turned back to the Lantern - and winced, Oh right... Still got to discuss things with her... don't I?

Yes sir Dr. Death Ray sir! The sooner the better.

Ugh...

"Hey... Uh... GL?" Death Ray dusted off his red lab coat, still full of scorch marks and charring from the fight with the Windigo King... and a certain somepony... but that was beyond the point... "You... uh... you got a minute? We didn't quite... finish our... talk... before... and, uh..." Dr. D ran a hoof through his spiky blond mane, "I think the others... well... they can do fine without us for a little while..."

Halynn understands immediately. "Yes, I would suppose that since my best asset is helping to build the boat, I can't be of much help until the materials are gathered. Am I wrong, Monseiur Lobber?" she directs the question toward him, since the two of them were supposed to be helping build the boat.

"No "Monsieur" be needed, I be an otter's dinner away from bein' a barnicle, if ye catch mah meaning. No fancy words here." Land Lobber protests to the Green Lantern. "By the lookin' o things, I'll be needin' ta find two wheels or a pulley afore anything get done on the hull-side, so sort out yer heads, ye be needin' clear eyes if we be doing this right."

"I nae know the town, but meet at the shores just outside the south o' town with the folded-over palm tree, crossed it on the way in from a quick-deep section o' beach. 30 minutes to get our bearings. It'll make a drydock o sorts if'n I be remembering right, an' we can figure out what we still be needin' from there. Til then, help how ye can, even if that just be hiring a pegasus ta clean the air between yahs." Thus saying, Land Lobber turns to follow the most obvious route out of the building without jumping down a story.

"Thank you, Monseiur," Halynn says mischievously, a small grin under her mask.

Then she sobered as she turned to Death Ray. "Okay then, where did you have in mind? Can't really talk here." She gestures to the guards that are still in the room.