Skulls and Starships

Toni's joke earns her a snort from the yellow lashunta. "I guess so, huh? Kinda looks like a... a floating jewel. Maybe if you get a few more in there it'll look like a crown!" She points out, watching the stone float around her sisters head with much enthusiasm. 

When Jeff was informed of their victory, he felt a tingle of personal growth from his 'great' contribution to their recent events.

History: 12
Unsurprisingly, Jeff would still look to Dani expectantly with a wide grin.

When Gin picks up the electric sword, his eyes would go wide. The man would playfully bend back, embellishing an unnecessary dodge of her rapier. He'd still fake a stab and fall to the ground dramatically.

Jeff would peek up, watching the lashunta's next antics. He'd chuckle lowly before picking himself back up and dusting himself off.

Jeff and Dani are both able to identify the tattoos as being a copy of the map to Cyrus Wolf's lost treasure hoard.

Dani is able to recall Captain Wolf from her studies back in the Azlanti Space Empire.  Nearly a century ago, Free Captain Cyrus Wolf, a black-hearted rogue with an even blacker gift for the dark arts, flew in the space around Castrovel and brought fear to hundreds of ship’s captains and crews. His daring daylight raid on Veskarium colonies left a dozen of their military's warships in flames and over a hundred of its citizens carried off as captives for ransom. For that grand audacity, Wolf was offered the Nova Crown by his fellow Free Captains, but it is said that he simply laughed in their faces.

After 3 decades of terrorizing the shipping lanes, Captain Wolf made his biggest haul ever when he surprised a convoy of Vercite treasure ships returning from secret mine holdings It is believed that Wolf divided up his treasure and hid it in several different sites, but the locations of most of them have been lost to time. However, one name has stayed at the forefront of spacefarer legend as the location of his spoils—Mancatcher Cave. To dispose of the most valuable portion of his plunder, Captain Wolf selected an uncharted asteroid somewhere in the Diaspora. There Wolf hid his treasure, reputedly using his sorcerous powers to reach down into the very heart of Hell to summon forth a guardian beast to crush any ships that dared fly to the rock. Before departing, Captain Wolf made a map of the rock and the location of his treasure.

However, less than a year later he was captured by a flotilla of ships commissioned by one of the despots of the Veskarium and the Grand Assembly of Verces. Even under torture, Wolf refused to divulge the location of his ill-gotten treasure, and so he was incinerated by the Veskarium, his execution streamed throughout the Vesk-controlled worlds as a warning to others. Since then many of Captain Wolf’s treasure troves have been located and looted, and copies of his map of Mancatcher Cave have likewise managed to find their way into the hands of fortune seekers. However, unlike at Wolf’s other caches that were looted, those few ships that came to Mancatcher Cave in search of the fabled treasure were never seen again—victims, it was whispered, of the Beast of Mancatcher Cove. In time, the last few copies of Wolf’s map were lost, and the hunt for the greatest hoard of Captain Wolf’s treasure subsided, leaving little more than an old sea dog’s legend.

Dani's eyes light up. "Oooh. Those tattoos're a map to Mancatcher Cave, and Free Captain Wolf's hidden treasure." She conveys the legend with a grin. "If we wanna build our legend, that seems like a good next step--after we fix up our new acquisition. Looks like that history tutor had some value after all," she adds under her breath before continuing, "Speaking of fixing stuff up, Jeff, gimme whatever you use for magic, and Toni, I need your sword for the night. You'll have them back by morning."

As Dani would explain the tattoo's, Jeff would point to her then bring his finger to his nose. He was indicating 'right on the nose'. Meaning she was right, and he actually knew something to be able to confirm it.

Then when Dani would prompt the Jeff for his magic focus, he of course would grin much to widely and innocently. He'd inhale a breath, before exhaling deeply. Because it was her, he'd hold out a hand cautiously as if to indicate he actually wasn't doing this to mess with her. "Don't sick Arc on me." The caster would reach for his belt to unbuckle it, handing it over. Inlaid in the buckle was a large gemstone.

Dani squints at Jeff, but smiles and accepts the gemstone with a laugh. "All right, but just this time." She grins and slips the gem into her pocket. "You'll have it back by morning."

Toni’s eyes go wide at the tale, “I’ve read stories of that captain! Very metal, fight the power kind of dude. WE HAVE to find this treasure and fight that monster!!” She brings a fist into her other palm, ready for another adventure to write songs about.

At the request, Toni thinks for a moment, then unlatches the belt her blade is affixed to, handing the bundle over, “Take good care of her. Morning, yeah?”

Toni goes over to Gin, “Love the new blade, Gin! If we are going on a new adventure soon, we should take time to write some new material on our last adventure, yeah?”

Dani takes the blade and heads for her room, mumbling under her breath, "Why is everyone giving me their belts, where did I say belts in that, nowhere, so why do I have two belts plus the rest of the stuff," with Arc (hopefully) in tow.

Back at the room:

Dani sticks her head outside her door. "Hey Arc! C'mere. I wanna take a look at your rifle."

Arc does indeed follow Dani to her room, adding as they walk, "Perhaps it is a type of mating ritual? I've seen various attempts to consolidate mates with the various species of the galaxy. Perhaps this is similar."

Once back in the room, he pulls out his rifle, and holds it out, cocking his head slightly as he watches what she'll do to it.

Gin giggles in the background seeing Jeff and Toni hand Dani their belts, needing to stop herself from throwing her belt in the pile herself. Her giggling ceases when her sister approaches her regarding writing down some new material. "Ooh!! Right, right. Stories are best told in ballads and songs so people know for a fact it's true!" The lashunta bounces on the soles of her feet, and not a second later, she grabs her sister by the hand and starts bounding towards her sisters captain quarters for some night time writing.

"I hope not," Dani replies to Arc's suggestion with feeling.

Once he hands her the rifle, she takes it over to her work table, pulling out her tools and muttering a stream of mostly nonsensical calculations and words under her breath while she neatly opens up Arc's rifle and starts making adjustments. Drawing on just a little magic, she improves the firing mechanism, adds a couple runes to the inside of the barrel, and overall makes it better before handing it back to the robot. "Theeeere you go! Should shoot better now."

Then she grabs Toni's blade and starts examining the mechanism, rolling her eyes and sheathing her hands in protective energy. "This is some crap energy use. Let's see if we can..." She makes an adjustment, and suddenly the light issued by the magma blade gets several shades brighter and hotter. "Thaaaat's better. Okay Jeff's belt, your turn."

She slides Jeff's gemstone in front of her, and murmurs a soft, arcane word. A web of light springs to life above the gemstone, and Dani examines it closely. "Okay, good start, but that channel is seriously unaligned, and that flaw right there is going to blow up soon. Let's just..." She starts rearranging points of light and redrawing the connections, ending with a far more symmetrical and geometric shaped web before she whispers the same word and it collapses down into the gem.

Finally, she pulls over a half-finished project and pulls down her goggles, getting to work with her tools. "Hey Arc, c'mere and hand me what I say." Sparks fly and she fiddles with electronics, assembling small pieces until she (hopefully) has the finished pieces.

Smith's Tools: 13

If I get help from Arc: 20

Flibbtergibbit.

Dani is able to make the chainsaw earrings with Arcade's assistance. Over the next few days, you are able to recreate the starmap so that you can make your way to the rock where Mancatcher Cave is said to be located. The rock is located in the middle of a particularly dense cluster of asteroids in the Diaspora and navigation is treacherous. After several days of travel and more than a few close calls, you make it to the spot on the map that you believe is the site of the cave. 

Can everyone give me a Perception check as you check the ships' scanners?

The morning after she steals everyone's stuff, Dani makes rounds at breakfast, handing out stuff. Toni gets her saber back with a grin and a, "For stabbing stuff better, Commodore." Jeff is next, the belt buckle set on the table in front of him. "Your focus was a mess of magical channels, but it won't blow up on you now." She smirks, making it difficult to tell if she's serious or not before she heads for Gin, Arc's gun having been returned last night. "Hey, not magic, but I thought you'd like these." She winks and sets a small jewelry box on the table in front of the Lashunta.

Opening it, Gin would find a pair of laser chainsaw earrings maybe the length of her pinky. They were electricity powered and had a button that would probably keep them from cutting off Gin's head.

On the trip to Mancatcher Cave, Dani is in quite the good mood. As they approach, she's watching the scanners while playing with a few pieces of scrap metal at hand.

Perception: 14

WiP

Arcade would go with Dani as she handed out the various gifts. After she was done, Arcade would ask her, "Mistress Dani. Why is it you seek to offer charity to your fellow officers? They are not impoverished or of significant positions of power to threaten you. Is there some other reason for you to act friendly?"

Perception: 9

Jeff's eyes would light up when his belt would be returned with an optimized focus. Reaching for it on the table to examine it, he could tell it was significantly more symmetrical. He'd be lying if he wasn't impressed, not just by the quality of work, but the generosity. Then Dani's words would make it to his ears. Jeff would glance up from securing his buckle. His lip would twitch, pulling into a wide smirk. He'd glance around to the others, particularly checking on Arc before looking back to Dani with a tilted head. "Keep setting me up like that, you're just asking me to test how far I can go before things blow." He'd sit back in his seat, propping his hands behind his head, proudly displaying her work.

When everyone would queue that it was time to get off his ass, he'd hop to. Steering clear of Arc for the moment, he'd wink to Dani before strutting off to find the Lashunta sisters. "Now what type of antics are these two up too, and what kind of upgrades did Dani give them." He'd muse to himself.

Finding one of them, he'd hover over their shoulder for a moment to get an idea of what he's supposed to be doing. Push buttons. Scan things. Hmm. "Let's see what happens if I press one of your buttons." The man would take his chances, reaching around them. "Press!" He'd press a button at the end of their sequence to check the scanners.

Perception: 10

He's apparently NOT looking at any buttons/screens... Respectfully.

Dani smirks at Jeff's reply, but looks pleased at his displaying of her handiwork. She hums low in her throat as she goes to get her breakfast.

At Arc's question, she shrugs in reply. "We're a team, and making your team stronger leads to improved results. They're my friends and I've discovered I like doing nice things for my friends. I was bored and wanted a project. One of those reasons. Maybe all of them. Take your pick." She grins and starts fiddling with the flamethrower on her glove.

Arcade's eyes blink in quick succession as he tries to think about the answers. His binary mind told him to give the probability of reason to the first choice....but his experiences with organics, made him believe it was the second and third choice. It was a 'gut feeling' as it were....this confused him. Still, he kept quiet and silently helped his master with her adjustments on her glove.

Arc and Dani spot the entrance to the cave, however, they also manage to see that the radar is picking up a life signature somewhere on the rocks, which is strange, since you're out in the vacuum of space where seemingly nothing could survive. Right?

Dani frowns and stops in front of a monitor. "We've got a...life sign? Out here. Get the weapons up and running just in case."