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Description

For wildcard bonus quest

Word has reached Emilie that a group of students from her school has gotten stranded on a cliff in the Crown Ridge while on an eagriff training flight. The conditions are right to use her own craft for some high-profile exposure in rescuing them, as a national holiday means it will be some time before an official rescue of that kind can be organised.

Month of Fire, 23rd. Noon

When she heard of the news, Emilie did not think twice on what she was going to do. A series of emergency signal flares was spotted in the mountains by a local living near the foothills. It was confirmed that the signal was from an eagriff flight group, requesting for help. She has no information on how long they have been stranded or what happened to the eagriffs’ themselves, but what struck her were the whispers of no organized rescue would be formed until after Regenfest. Dumbfounded, Emilie believed that saving her fellow students has to be done right away. But how? Well, if the riders were stranded by air, then they should be rescued by air.

Wasting no time, the senior student first made a stop to the geography department to look at maps of the Crown Ridge area. At first glance, the map intimidated her: the mountain range extended nearly 1000 kilometers. But a simple consultation with the mount flying instructors gave a general area to concentrate in. Another glaring detail that concerned Emilie was the fact that there are no flat areas in the mountain range, which really should not have came as a surprise. Then it hit her: she had no flyable machines! The young engineer was in the process of reconstructing her first aircraft into a new design and she is far from done. Even if she was finished, there was no where to land in a mountain and her machine not an airship by definition and design: it cannot hover.

But that did not stop her.

Throughout her college career, at least once she made a stripped down airship. It’s not intact of course, but Emilie always saves her materials. She knows she has collapsible rigged balloons that she made stored in the workshop. And what will she use for the carriage? Her incomplete aircraft. The aircraft was just missing most of its wings but the fuselage was complete enough to sit in without falling through. More importantly, she has installed two personally designed engines instead of one. All that is left is assembling everything together.

24th of Fire, 6:00 AM

Emilie had spent all of the past day and night at the university, fixing up her aircraft for the impromptu mission: hours of modifying and refitting her makeshift airship, concocting alchemy solutions to enhance her aircraft’s lift and performance, literally applying everything she has learned. Running on a few hours of sleep and a few bites of her overnight food stash—canned food and hardtack—, Emilie prepared to take flight. Aware of the chilly morning conditions, she puts on her workshop jumpsuit and a fur hat and goggles she had stowed in her desk since last winter. She expected to struggle pulling her “airship” out of the hanger, but the balloons supported by preliminary alchemy reactions reduced the weight so much, it felt like it could almost float by itself. Once squeezed out of the workshop, she released the balloons from the fuselage, nearly lifting the aircraft at its peak. As soon as she got the engines started, the sun was just beginning to rise, barely piercing the heavy fog that shrouded the ground. Sitting in the tight cockpit, between the two humming propellers, she checks off everything one last time.

Fuel: 3/4. Balloon pump: stable. Compass: check. Maps: check. Pocket watch: check. Food and water: Check. Goggles: off.

She pulls a lever on the balloon pump and slowly begins to ascend. She felt very strange: to be suspended in the air and not move at all. A completely different experiences from her other craft. But that was just half the fun.

“Goggles: On.” Shifting down goggles over her face, she grins as her gloved hand rests on the engines’ throttle. “And full throttle!” And with a gradual push, the engines roared to life, jerking forward as the airship begins to accelerate and continue to rise. The fog around her blew away as she climbs higher. Cold air and mist pelted the exposed parts of her face. A scarf would have been nice, but it’s too late to turn back for anything else; she has already committed herself to the flight. The moment she breached through the low fog, the sun welcomed her to the crisp morning sky. Behind her was Koben’s skyline shrouded under the low clouds and smog. And Crowd Ridge was just ahead of her.

7:00 AM

The sun has fully risen, but it did not matter as the frigid mountain air had battered her face ever since. Emilie was able to stay warm with her fire magic, but the lack of sleep made her conserve her energy unless it is absolutely necessary. Slowing down the throttle, she takes a look at her map to figure out where she is. Thankfully, the eagriff riders fly through paths with significant landmarks for easy navigation. With the information where the emergency flares were spotted, Emilie was able to narrow down a small area to search. However, it was the furthest part of the riders’ route—over 200 kilometers away from the university—and Emilie has no idea how long she will be able to fly, especially when running two engines. She checks the fuel status: well over half full and slightly below ¾. Rather impressive for how long she has flown. She wished she had a speed indicator to know how fast she was flying to get a good idea on when she will reach the area, but as long as she has fuel, there shouldn’t be any problem.

9:00 AM

Three hours of flying at full throttle and the fuel has dipped below half. By now, Emilie has already reached the area where she needed to search. Cutting back the engine, she slows down to look around. But she did not want to fly anymore to save fuel for the return trip. If only they could set off their flares…Of course! Emilie rubbed her gloved hands and focused on her fingers. A ball of fire grew between them. She kept it near her face to warm up a bit before directing it up into the sky. With a snap, the ball popped and crackled. Emilie waits for a signal. And there it was, shooting from behind a ridge.

To be continued

___

Really rough sketch and some text. I am gonna have to revisit this when I have time, but I had a lot of fun thinking about this.
To summarize, Emilie refitted an incomplete aircraft she was working on into an airship and flies it to rescue the students.
Spoilers:since there were 4 students, her junk craft could only carry 2 passengers so she had to make a return trip but had to make more fuel (because her engine is uniquely her design)

Description

For wildcard bonus quest

Word has reached Emilie that a group of students from her school has gotten stranded on a cliff in the Crown Ridge while on an eagriff training flight. The conditions are right to use her own craft for some high-profile exposure in rescuing them, as a national holiday means it will be some time before an official rescue of that kind can be organised.

Month of Fire, 23rd. Noon

When she heard of the news, Emilie did not think twice on what she was going to do. A series of emergency signal flares was spotted in the mountains by a local living near the foothills. It was confirmed that the signal was from an eagriff flight group, requesting for help. She has no information on how long they have been stranded or what happened to the eagriffs’ themselves, but what struck her were the whispers of no organized rescue would be formed until after Regenfest. Dumbfounded, Emilie believed that saving her fellow students has to be done right away. But how? Well, if the riders were stranded by air, then they should be rescued by air.

Wasting no time, the senior student first made a stop to the geography department to look at maps of the Crown Ridge area. At first glance, the map intimidated her: the mountain range extended nearly 1000 kilometers. But a simple consultation with the mount flying instructors gave a general area to concentrate in. Another glaring detail that concerned Emilie was the fact that there are no flat areas in the mountain range, which really should not have came as a surprise. Then it hit her: she had no flyable machines! The young engineer was in the process of reconstructing her first aircraft into a new design and she is far from done. Even if she was finished, there was no where to land in a mountain and her machine not an airship by definition and design: it cannot hover.

But that did not stop her.

Throughout her college career, at least once she made a stripped down airship. It’s not intact of course, but Emilie always saves her materials. She knows she has collapsible rigged balloons that she made stored in the workshop. And what will she use for the carriage? Her incomplete aircraft. The aircraft was just missing most of its wings but the fuselage was complete enough to sit in without falling through. More importantly, she has installed two personally designed engines instead of one. All that is left is assembling everything together.

24th of Fire, 6:00 AM

Emilie had spent all of the past day and night at the university, fixing up her aircraft for the impromptu mission: hours of modifying and refitting her makeshift airship, concocting alchemy solutions to enhance her aircraft’s lift and performance, literally applying everything she has learned. Running on a few hours of sleep and a few bites of her overnight food stash—canned food and hardtack—, Emilie prepared to take flight. Aware of the chilly morning conditions, she puts on her workshop jumpsuit and a fur hat and goggles she had stowed in her desk since last winter. She expected to struggle pulling her “airship” out of the hanger, but the balloons supported by preliminary alchemy reactions reduced the weight so much, it felt like it could almost float by itself. Once squeezed out of the workshop, she released the balloons from the fuselage, nearly lifting the aircraft at its peak. As soon as she got the engines started, the sun was just beginning to rise, barely piercing the heavy fog that shrouded the ground. Sitting in the tight cockpit, between the two humming propellers, she checks off everything one last time.

Fuel: 3/4. Balloon pump: stable. Compass: check. Maps: check. Pocket watch: check. Food and water: Check. Goggles: off.

She pulls a lever on the balloon pump and slowly begins to ascend. She felt very strange: to be suspended in the air and not move at all. A completely different experiences from her other craft. But that was just half the fun.

“Goggles: On.” Shifting down goggles over her face, she grins as her gloved hand rests on the engines’ throttle. “And full throttle!” And with a gradual push, the engines roared to life, jerking forward as the airship begins to accelerate and continue to rise. The fog around her blew away as she climbs higher. Cold air and mist pelted the exposed parts of her face. A scarf would have been nice, but it’s too late to turn back for anything else; she has already committed herself to the flight. The moment she breached through the low fog, the sun welcomed her to the crisp morning sky. Behind her was Koben’s skyline shrouded under the low clouds and smog. And Crowd Ridge was just ahead of her.

7:00 AM

The sun has fully risen, but it did not matter as the frigid mountain air had battered her face ever since. Emilie was able to stay warm with her fire magic, but the lack of sleep made her conserve her energy unless it is absolutely necessary. Slowing down the throttle, she takes a look at her map to figure out where she is. Thankfully, the eagriff riders fly through paths with significant landmarks for easy navigation. With the information where the emergency flares were spotted, Emilie was able to narrow down a small area to search. However, it was the furthest part of the riders’ route—over 200 kilometers away from the university—and Emilie has no idea how long she will be able to fly, especially when running two engines. She checks the fuel status: well over half full and slightly below ¾. Rather impressive for how long she has flown. She wished she had a speed indicator to know how fast she was flying to get a good idea on when she will reach the area, but as long as she has fuel, there shouldn’t be any problem.

9:00 AM

Three hours of flying at full throttle and the fuel has dipped below half. By now, Emilie has already reached the area where she needed to search. Cutting back the engine, she slows down to look around. But she did not want to fly anymore to save fuel for the return trip. If only they could set off their flares…Of course! Emilie rubbed her gloved hands and focused on her fingers. A ball of fire grew between them. She kept it near her face to warm up a bit before directing it up into the sky. With a snap, the ball popped and crackled. Emilie waits for a signal. And there it was, shooting from behind a ridge.

To be continued

___

Really rough sketch and some text. I am gonna have to revisit this when I have time, but I had a lot of fun thinking about this.
To summarize, Emilie refitted an incomplete aircraft she was working on into an airship and flies it to rescue the students.
Spoilers:since there were 4 students, her junk craft could only carry 2 passengers so she had to make a return trip but had to make more fuel (because her engine is uniquely her design)