The Hunt for Tang
Log Info
- Title: The Hunt for Tang
- Emitter: Jinks
- Characters: Jay, Odundik, Kerry-Anne, Tamzin, Heady
- Place: A02: Old Clunk's Junkyard
- Time: Tuesday, October 25, 2022, 10:21 PM, Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 8:39 PM
- Summary: Integrity arrives at Clunk's Junkyard where several of Mama Bula's Kids are already searching. He's invited them to look for a 'head' for Heady. The wargolem doesn't seem as interested in this as the Egalrin. Still, they search. The group uncovers several things. A broken mechanical horse head, a broken shield, a broken orrey, a broken sword, a broken arm. As success eludes them and the hour grows late, they call it quits with the lawyer paying for the 'treasures' of interest that were found so far.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A02: Old Clunk's Junkyard *>-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
If you're around Alexandria long enough, you would hear about Clunk's. Run by one of the oldest functional golems in Alexandria and his crew, some of whom are mechanical and some of whom are meat, Old Clunk's Junkyard resembles a cross between a tumbled-over mechanical morass from a gnomish birthday party and the spilled-over contents of a Kulthian closet, preserved from a bygone era. Scraps of metal, gears, canisters, and parts of every description appear tossed into piles between the metal-and-broken-wood fences.
A few ramshackle buildings jut upwards from the piles, not unlike jagged teeth. Each has a purpose. Some are built closed and some are plain, open-sided cataloguing or welding sheds; if not for the painted murals on their sides, it might be hard to tell them from the junk piles.
To those who know what they're looking for, though, this place is less a junkyard than a treasure trove. Old Clunk finds everything an artificer or artifice-born could want, and has a keen eye for quality. The random piles are actually neatly classified by a complex system. Any artifice-ready part imaginable might just be somewhere in one of them. There's always someone around to help; if the crew is busy, there's always a few war golems around; the area would appear to be a congregation point. There's even an oil barrel and dipping cups around, as if their presence is welcomed.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- Appearing --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Jay A perky male Blue Jay with a discerning eye. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- NPCs of Note --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Odundik A lucht with abberant heritage. Kerry-Anne A one-armed bruiser, the leader of the kids. Tamzin A rail-thin waif urchin. Heady A wargolem with a missing head. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- As the GM --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Jinks A gnomish fellow in fancy garb and jewelry. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Exits -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Jay has been around Alexandria enough to hear about Clunk's. His first inkling was a dispute between the Junk Yard and Ma Rosie's, specifically dueling Noise Complaints, injuctions filed regarding the day activities of the Junk Yard which was keeping the dancers awake, and a retaliatory one claiming that the music frequencies of the bar were activating emergency panic functions in certain war-golems.
It his his first time visiting the yard, and he's not sure where to step, or stand. "Is this safe? Safe? I don't want to get tetanus. That looks like it's going to fall over! Are you sure it meets all safety codes?"
"Where's Clunk? Has anyone seen Heady? I was going to meet him here. He wasn't disassembled, was he?"
"Serrations, Truthplume!" The greeting comes from above, dull thumps on a nearby tin roof of a welding shed working with the words to draw eyes upwards. An oddly-proportioned lucht with tea-and-milk complexion squats down and waves a too-long arm 'hello.' He's wearing a fuzzy woolen coat that almost appears a cloud it's so frayed-- and the sleeves are far too short. A brass lantern squeeks with he lifts it up to light his face. "The crew is scattered about. Everyone in sight..."
One of his three-fingers-and-a-thumb hands lifts and points. "They're insinew for you by the construct rows. Git has studies so it's Annie, Tammie, and Heady...
"Fair warning," Odundik adds, holding the edge of the roof and leaning precariously over it in a demonstration of impressive upper-body strength. "The two semantics are well and truly at 'it' tonight." His eyes roll.
"Understood!" The bluejay salutes the lucht with a wing and turns for the construct rows, dashing towards the area. Running with scissors is bad, running around scissors is worse, and the Old Clunk's likely qualifies with all the sharp protuberances, but the l-eagal egalrin is as adroit around the spears of rusted framework as he is with the intricacies of the court.
Which is to say, one wonders how he avoids being spatch-cocked for broiling but somehow he does. He appears beside the three named urchins. "Hi. Hi. Hi!"
He immediately seeks out Heady, saying, "You're looking good!" Even if he isn't. "What's on the menu?"
Heady does, in fact, look quite good. Even standing there, practically unmoving, it's clear that it's in better shape than it has been in some time; straighter-backed and short the crumbling and overlapping layers of rust and patina.
The will-o'-wisp 'head' is uncharged, neon-blue and flickering gently as it turns to regard Integrity, but the armor is a deep, dark bronze with a stunning yellow adornment on the breastplate in the shape of a bleeding eye. It makes hardly any noise as a segmented hand is lifted in greeting. It still doesn't speak.
"Not so loud, coo-birdie," Tamzin complains with a half-smile at the egalrin. "They can all 'ear yer from the Temples over the river..."
The two human women have formed a comglomerate of sorts, with the waif's smaller frame obscured beneath Kerry-Anne's cloak where she hugs both arms around the Eldanar's flesh-and-blood limb. The brawler-woman with the strong jaw and hawkish nose is keeping her gaze turned out, scanning the people as they come and go.
"Hey," she all but grunts at Jay.
"Okay, okay." The bluejay says at a more normal volume. He tilts his head from side to side, examining the war-golem, captivated by Heady's improved finish. His avian inspection completed, he 'Heys' at Kerry-Anne.
"Getting extra parts, allegedly?" Integrity asks, "anything I should look for? Will any head work, or would any head work but you want certain features?"
"I don't think he cares," Kerry-Anne answers with an uncharacteristicly soft tone. She takes a break from scanning the piles, huts, and people milling between them to look from the wargolem and down to Jay. "Heady tends to just stick close to whoever's with him; he never really... takes initiative."
"... don't rabbit and pork about 'im like 'e's not 'ere." Tamzin scolds, her voice hushed and intense as she pinches the other young woman and scowls up at her. Kerry-Anne flinches and breathes an 'ow..!' even as the waif adds, "Right sorry, right, 'eady..?"
The flickering ghostform of Heady's 'head' turns from Jay, to Kerry-anne, to Tamzin, and back to Jay. Metal plates hiss and clatter quietly as the plated pauldrons rise and fall in a shrug.
"Oh. Hm. Hmm." Integrity says, examining the near piles of junk for dangerous things. He doesn't know Heady that well, so he can't evaluate the accuracy of the speculation. He's also burdened with some additional insight from the Black Crystals; Heady may not have wanted or adapted well to his transition, and now subsequent rebirth, but it isn't something the bluejay should openly discuss.
"Well! I've known a few other war golems, and one has a head a bit like mine that doesn't move at all, and makes all sorts of expressions, allegedly."
He lifts up a metal tin, glancing under it, tilting his head to stare at the golem. "There's bound to be something around here. We could find something to match you, or the big eye on your chest."
"Or ask Clunk to find something, he's bound to want to sell some of his junk."
Heady watches Jay for a moment, the semi-sphere rotating curiously as the egalrin inspects the tin. It turns, then, and examines the closest pile of junk stacked atop old crates pushed together (probably filled with yet-more junk). It lifts a gauntlet over the detritus and a tinkling sound emits from its general-personage.
Further deliberation takes place and it pushes some objects aside, digging into a tangle scrap metal and loosing a dirt-encrusted plate. It digs at it for a moment and the clumps crumble and fall away so the stone beneath can glow. A simple flameless torch that it mutely extends out to Jay.
Kerry-Anne grunts and frowns and Tamzin makes a sad noise.
"'e ain't 'ave a lookin' for treasure, 'eady. 'e wants yor 'elp ter find a case for that glow-ball over yor shoulders..."
Jay takes the torch regardless. He looks at Tamzin with a shrug, "Well, let's look around anyhow. Were you looking for specific things before I arrived?"
He starts his search. Unsurprisingly, it's a hunt and peck method. He hops over to a pile here, pulls a few things, digs in, looks around then scoots over to another pile and repeats. Occasionally he listens, as if he's after rats. Who knows, they might have a good idea where to look.
"You might something useful for yourselves too. A weapon or a locket or a headband." The bluejay pulls a mechanical contraption from a pile, "Or a timed intermittent wiper system. All sorts of things here."
"We just got yor note about the chuffin' head, right?" Tamzin admits with a glance up at Kerry-Anne's face. "It sounded sweet. Mama fought it sounded sweet, right, too." The Eldanar tries to pull away to join the search but smaller Acanian keeps tight hold of her arm, offering a muttered 'cold' to keep her close.
"We..." Kerry-Anne tries to move again but ends up dragging the waif half a step. The ground crunches and scraps under her patch boots. The bigger woman sighs and gives up. "We all got a little too focused on our jobs and ourselves-- our own problems. We were doing a bad job looking out for each other." The brawler's armor clatters quietly as she drags her arm up and away from the waif's grip, wrapping it around her shoulders and planting a gentle peck on her forehead. "Mama's right: we needed to do a better job."
Heady stills amongst a knee-deep pile of barding and what appears to be a clockwork horse or two. It's holding a battered steel equine snout; the snout is missing a plate and loose bits tumble down. Heady just regards the cuddling women for some time.
Integrity nods, watching the interaction between the two women. He answers Kerry-Anne, "It happens."
He examines Heady's find, "Oh, I know a golem that has a face like that too. Do you want a horse-head? People would make 'why the long face?' jokes all the time." Another thought strikes, "you might have to move indirectly too."
He digs around some, "let me see if I can find enough pieces to make something."
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 8:34 PM
The reanimated wargolem doesn't seem to quite be on the same page as Jay; more interested in digging up curios seemingly at random. The 'horse head' is discarded with a clatter when no one comes to collect. It returns to rifling after crouching down, stooping forward and going pauldron-deep into the piles.
There's a basso rumble as the mute construct tries to pull something loose and a few stray bits tumble down from the top, too. The 'golem heaves again but doesn't manage to pull loose its prize until the third attempt. Junk showers around as it produces a segmented copper arm. Snakelike, every section is hinged instead of having an elbow joint, and it ends in hook-clawed digits.
It takes some doing to get out of the junkslide it created but Heady manages to cross back over to Kerry-Anne and Tamzin in time. It holds out the arm to the Eldanar.
"That's nice, Heady, but--"
"Give it 'ere," interrupts the waif. She reaches out from behind the cloak to take the strange limb. It flops like a stiff chain in her grasp. "Cor blimey guv! That's wonderful. Way better than a borin' stick for an arm..." she's entranced.
Kerry-Anne doesn't quite seem to share her enthusiasm.
"Oh that is nice! It's like a snake, and an arm, and the sections have pretty neat scales." Jay swoops around behind Tamzin and appraises the limb. He's impressed. He's also completely wrong in his estimation. "You could make a wicked whip handle with that."
"Or get it animated somehow, are there gears inside it?" He leans, he peers.
Integrity peers into another pile of junk and wreckage. "Is this the Artificer bug? It's like a treasure hunt, allegedly, without the monsters. Who knows what we'll find."
He keeps searching, mostly for a head for Heady, but anything interesting will do.
"This... is fine." Kerry-Anne lifts the sculpted darkwood arm, the carved runes flaring a soft violet as she wills it into motion with some effort. "It was a gift from Mama. Git and Dunny worked together to get it to me in the ward while I was recovering. They got to feel like they were helping."
The Eldanari woman seems less-than-enthused to talk about the prosthetic, functional or not. The segmented metallic option certainly has greater flair but that might not be the desired goal what with how she lowers the existing arm and pulls the cloak back over it.
Tamzin leans into her and sighs, kissing the bigger woman's upper arm through a hole in her shirt. "Yor an idjit sometimes..."
Heady searches, too, and eventually walks over to Jay and offers a twisted metal boss that's long-since fallen of its shield. It's decorate with a falcon courant and has an empty setting at the eye for a jewel.
"Oh. Oh!" The egalrin's feathers fluff as he takes the boss. He turns it over, examining the decoration, then the inside. "Falcons are great leaders. This is beautiful. It could be built out into a great buckler. I don't have a buckler. Thanks!"
It's shiny and has a bird on it, he's captivated. "Thanks!"
He points to his pile, "I think I found something too. It's under a few things, if someone could help lift up this beam." He demonstrates by trying and failing to shift the pile. At least it's obvious which part he's trying to move. With some assistance he retrieves an object.
It's a large wooden box inlaid with stars. One side is nearly completely smashed, and a corner and two edges are damaged. A few thin metal armatures trail from it as he sets it on the ground. "It opens, I think it's some kind of puzzle."
Integrity fiddles with the device, managing to open the sides despite the damage. Inside is an set of curved metal bars, and spheres. Some are brass, some are coloured glass. Each armature folds up, and unfolding it the device somewhat resembles a spider with too many legs with an object on the end of them. A couple 'limbs' are bent and won't properly extend.
"I think there used to be a handle here." He tips it, looking under the base, "There's some gearing." He reaches in, turning a shaft by finger friction.
The 'limbs' start to rotate, a different progression for each, and a couple perform a retrograde movement. "I think... it's an Orrey, or a representation of the Planes."
"Now that's a shiny toy," Tamzin remarks behind an 'oooh.' "Bet kids that 'ad that sort of fin' never went 'ungry, init?" She glances up and down the row before adding in a hushed tone: "I 'ave a sack yer can drop that in and no geezer would be the bloody wiser."
It's Kerry-Anne's turn to pinch, producing a squeel as the waif arches her back to flinch away in surprise. "Mama told us to behave here," she reminds. Then she considers the contraption and tilts her head. "It might look nice in your home, Integrity, if you like that sort of thing."
Heady eases the beam down to one side and crunches off, going to look into the next pile for some manner of interesting gewgaw.
"I should buy it." Jay confirms to Tamzin, "It would need some repair, there are bent and missing pieces. I don't think it's a toy, it seems like it would need specialized knowledge to make it and configure it to match whatever it's supposed to match."
He forces it to rotate a little more.
"There might be a few pieces more somewhere in that pile but I think it would be easier to make new ones." He carefully folds it back up as much as possible. It doesn't quite close properly, "I think I am going to need a bag for it regardless."
With a little shrug, he examines another collection of junk.
Heady has found a sword grip and pommel stick out from its nearest heap-- this one almost as tall as the wargolem. The cross- and rain-guard are worked to look like gears and levers. It braces and draws and nearly stumbles when the assembly comes away without a blade attached. There's a clack-clack-clack as it knocks the peen block against its gauntlet-palm, perhaps hoping to knock the edge out into view. Nothing happens, of course.
Tamzin whisles and underhand-tosses Jay a sturdy canvas sack. "Apparently we're payin' for fings now. So don't go tryin' ter pull a fast one. Cor blimey, coo-birdie." She puts on a poor attempt as a stern grimace and waggles a finger.
"We can go back whenever you like," Kerry-Anne sighs, half-teasing. "I'm sure Git has finished his studies and is worrying about Heady." She glances at Jay. "They've been practically nailed together since..." she tilts her head to one side.
The wargolem hears its name and looks back from playing with the bladeless sword.
Jay catches the bag and nods as he crouches down and pulls it around the Orrey. "I would too."
"That's an elaborate blade Heady. Nemori works at Robert's forge, and he does artifice things. They might want to fix that up as a challenge."
Which, depending on they take the challenge, means it would either be free or very expensive. "We could pick that up."
He looks at Kerry-Anne, then Tamzin, "If we can't find Heady a head, do you want to find one thing each instead, or take something back for Git? It's not exactly building a nest but I am having fun looking through the stacks for just the right thing."
"I don't need fings, right. Never 'ad them." Tamzin tells Jay with more than a bit of smug creeping into her voice. She clearly takes some pride in her making it this far as a street urchin.
"But you want your jacket back," Kerry-Anne observes, happy to remind the other woman of her pilfered prized possession.
"... I want me jacket back." Tamzin grunts and crosses her arms, turning her lip when she looks down at the super-fuzzy woolen hand-me-down.
Heady sidles up alongside Jay and crouches down, holding out the broken sword. Apparently, the wargolem seeks to take the egalrin up on his offer.
The egalrin takes the broken sword, dipping his head towards the war-golem. "I'll get it for you."
"I don't think we're going to find your jacket in here Tamzin."
Those aren't encouraging words, "I'll keep an eye out, an egalrin eye. I overfly lots of places, I might see it." These are encouraging words.
He hops up to standing, chirping, "Well we didn't find a head, but we got Heady a sword! That's some progress, right? Should we go looking for Dunny?"
A lucht could be anywhere in this mess.
Tamzin points back towards the yard entrance. Odundik is still perched atop the shed with his brass lantern keeping an eye on things. He notices the attention quickly and stands up, waving back. "He's stayin' where we can spot him. No bloke goes alone until we cop the imposter."
The barber's daughter lifts her arm so Tamzin can pull away before tugging her cloak around and settling it back into place. Kerry-Anne cants her head and Dunny hops down, loping across the rows with a stride that's far too fast for a lucht.
"Tell us how much it costs and we'll pay you back for the repairs," Kerry-Anne advises Jay. "We can find a time to get together later; Mama Bula would like a chance to see the other things you and Git recovered."
Heady stands next to Jay, holding its arms out flat in an offer to carry the load.
Odundik bounds to a stop that's nearly a tumble when he trips on his own too-long arm. "There's a gobber-lady running business in an alley you can see from up there," he leers and laughs. "... osculating with all kinds."
"Well, we should skip the oscillation." Integrity advises, putting the collection into Heady's hands. The broken Orrey, the broken sword, the broken shield boss, the broken arm. Technically, broken could preface everything collected so far and undiscovered in the stacks of gear. "There, let's go settle up. Do you want the arm Tamzin? Maybe I should get it for Aehrick, then he can have four of them."
He clacks his beak, "Come along, you can hear what it all costs from Old Clunk."
Jay caws, "Cluuuuunk! I want to pay! Pay! Where are you?"
