Dionysus What are you looking for in the Bottle District?

Sue A magical animal suitable for use as food.

Dionysus The Bottle District has a lot of "magical ingredients" for ceremonial magic, which includes a market full of dead but magical animals.

• Sue will point at each of them, asking Manny if it looks appetizing.

Dionysus Manny will eventually settle on a blue-skinned tiger carcass as what he wants... But it is quite costly. Either more money than you have, or a service to the owner.

Sue Does the owner want anything from a musical athak?

Dionysus "What can you offer me, sir?"

Sue "Original composition and void-related talents."

• Sue pauses. "Also musical performance."

Dionysus He frowns, "Void is not exactly useful here, as it interferes with most of what goes on. Music, though... Know anything about spellsinging? And yes, I know it's mad of me to ask an athak that."

Sue "I've heard of it, but that's all. Are you a spellsinger?"

Dionysus He shakes his head, "No, I'm a merchant. But I sell to spellsingers. Look, they obsess over their voices. They work them hard, trying to make them do more than they do, you know? Do you know how to write music that exercises the vocal chords?"

• Sue frowns. "Hmm. A calisthenic scale for voice. Interesting. It should be possible."

Dionysus "Get me that & the carcass is yours. I'll hold it til the end of the day."

• Sue finds a place to sit and begins composing. The music is full of weird leaps and tricks of increasing difficulty, from a basic scale, up to the very last movement, which should be just within the limits of possibility for any normal person to sing all at once.

Dionysus Roll composition.

Sue r composition 17

Sue ah

Sue I got 21/21/27

Dionysus Sorry, I got 22

Dionysus Got any applicable karma?

Sue Nope.

Dionysus Well, the song you write, you think, isn't quite up to snuff. Do you try to trade it anyway?

• Sue gets frustrated after about an hour of work. "Bah, there's no way to sing a chord!" He looks over to Manny. "Sorry, Manny, you'll have to choose something less expensive today."

Dionysus Manny buzzes, then you hear You could null his knowledge of music, so that he'll think this song is appropriate.

• Sue smiles. "I'd pass out and be arrested for loitering."

Sue "What if you could hunt and kill one yourself?"

Dionysus Manny cocks his head, then buzzes again. You get the idea he'll just settle for a lesser animal.

• Sue negotiates with Manny and the merchant to find a more modest meal.

Dionysus With your funds, you can afford a set of spelled snail shells that will tide Manny over for a week or two.

Sue How long does it take to get to the airship?

Dionysus About thirty minutes by foot.

• Sue will go there.

Dionysus A third of the crew is working on the ship right now.

Dionysus What do you do out here?

• Sue will find the captain and ask if he's interested in visiting the moons.

Dionysus The captain stares at you a moment, then says, "Not a damned bit, wee inky, not a damned bit."

Sue "I see. Then, can you recommend a good shipwright?"

Dionysus He pauses, then frowns, "Aye, I know a few decent ones, aye. Why?" He sounds very suspicious.

Sue "Well, the ancient void texts don't have anything to say about how to build a space ship hull. Just the void-powered parts. And I doubt I'd be very good at it myself anyway."

Dionysus He shakes his head in amazement, "Y'are in Madziar, with the finest makers of anything in the world, wee inky."

• Sue nods lightly. "Yes, it's a remarkable city. And which of them makes ships?"

Dionysus "Wael, fer ships tae the moons? Try them what live in Starry Night or Mooncrest."

• Sue nods again. "Oh, yes. Thank you, Captain. By the way, we've decided to stay here for the full week, but I believe we'll want to hire your ship again at that time."
• Sue goes to Mooncrest next.

Dionysus He nods, "A;ight, wee inky. Good luck with yer."

Sue What have they got in Mooncrest?

Dionysus You ask around fo ra shipmaker?

Dionysus The place is paved in moonstones, with beautiful buildings with relfective surfaces.

Sue Yes, as well as general information on how people get there, or why they don't.

Dionysus The gist of it is that the empires up there cut off interactions with Shem when the gith pirates go so bad no ships were making it through. The shipmakers here are all very old, out of practice, but they indicate they're practically the only ones left in the world.

Dionysus And they tell you the only other way there is magic or faith, which could be a problem for you

Sue "What about antigravity? Or explosives combined with inertial dampening? Have they been tried?"

Sue Oh, other, right.

Sue "Well ... what if we could sneak past them somehow?"

Dionysus "It's possible, of course, & coming up from this direction would be a surprise to them. But the technology is a bit lost. We can make a vessel that won't burn up & all, but we've no lift, & no way to slow it down properly."

Sue "Can you make one that would withstand being fired from a giant cannon?"

Dionysus He blinks, "Propbably, but where will you get a giant cannon?"

Sue "I know a gnome. If we can use gunpowder for the lift, and void for the brake, inertial dampening, and frictional dampening, what does that leave?"

Dionysus A pause, "Just you on this ship?"

• Sue counts.

Sue "Twelve people all together."

Dionysus "All athaks?"

Dionysus "If not, life support."

Sue "What does that mean?"

Dionysus "Well, non-athaks have to breathe, can't deal with pressure changes, & need food & water."

Sue "Oh, right. So it will have to be air-tight?"

Dionysus "We can handle air tight, but they'll use up the air breathing it. You'll need a way to refresh it, & a way to let them walk around on the black & white moons. Green moon has air."

• Sue frowns. "This is getting more complicated than the oceans were."

Dionysus He nods, "And there's waste disposal."

• Sue looks horrified for a moment. "Maybe I should go by myself."

Dionysus A chuckle, "Perhaps, perhaps. There's not gonna be much use for magic on a void-powered ship, but if you can null inertia, you an null matter. That's waste disposal. You'll need technology to make fresh air, though, & you can just carry food & water. You can work out the math of the extra weight."

• Sue nods. "So how much do you think a twelve-man ship would cost to build?"

Dionysus He pauses to think, "Not counting the void parts & the food & water & air-making machinery?"

Sue "Right."

Dionysus "About [two million dollars]."

• Sue nods. "And how long would it take to do?"

Sue "And for a two-man ship?"

Sue "A two-athak ship, I mean."

Dionysus He thinks, "For twelve people? Two months. For two athaks? I could make a vessel in three weeks."

Sue "Okay. Thank you very much." He goes back to the void church to work out a design for a garbage disposal."