Lewis held the Key up with his thumb and index finger, showing it off to the group. Sunlight reflected off the smooth surface - a shining beacon in a world of darkness.

"This," said Lewis, "is currently one of the most important objects in the world."

The group was silent. It was clear they wanted an explanation, but their sheer curiosity outweighed their desire to speak out.

"This is the key to Altus. This is how we get in."

"Altus?" piped Michael. "What on earth is that?"

"Isn't Altus that city everybody was going nuts for a few years back?" said Luke. "The mythical city in the mountains?"

"Yes, that's essentially the gist of it," continued Lewis, placing the Key back into his pocket. "But this city isn't just the subject of myths and legends. Altus is real, and it's what we're after."

"Oh, dear Lord." said Tech, exasperated. "You're a nut job! Altus isn't real. They tried everything to find it a few years ago, and nobody even came close to it. You can't be serious!"

"Now hold on," Lewis started, moving his hands in a persuading motion. "I know it sounds ludicrous. But just listen to me for a few minutes here. Who here has heard of Dr. Carver Gallagher?"

"He was the one who started the Altus craze," Michael replied, sounding as if he had talked about the subject before. "Dr. Gallagher led the whole operation on the Libennian side, but got in a little over his head. He was killed by Norvannians, as you probably already know, because his death triggered this whole damn war."

"Precisely," said Lewis. "And... well, I knew Gallagher. I was his assistant for a very long time. I was in the crash that killed him."

Awestruck expressions spread throughout the group. "That's not possible!" argued Michael. "Nobody survived that crash!"

"I'm quite glad you think that, actually, because I'm not too fond of people knowing I'm still alive," said Lewis. "I knew that if people were aware I were still running around, the Norvannians would find out eventually, and frankly, I'd like to stay alive."

"How can you prove it?" Petrus disputed.

"Well... I can't, really." said Lewis. "I know it must be difficult for you all to believe me, but you must! I knew Dr. Gallagher for years, and worked with him very closely. We travelled everywhere, making frequent expeditions to the Katsu mountains in search of Altus. Gallagher was quite confident Altus existed out here, somewhere, and I'm just as certain. I've seen evidence with my own eyes. And together, we found the Key."

"What I ask of all of you is quite simple. Gallagher believed that Altus housed a sort of incredibly advanced technology, a source of power that would render the owner of that power unstoppable. We all know this war is at a stalemate, with hundreds perishing needlessly every day. If the Norvannians continue their onslaught, it won't be long until Libennia succumbs. Our time is limited. But if we could find Altus, and use this technology against our foe... this war might yet be ours.

"Finding Altus won't be easy. It will require much sacrifice and will endanger each of us before we even leave this city! I have the entire journey planned out, fear not, but I need help. Each and every one of you have something to offer to this expedition, starting from our very first operation."

"Before we begin this quest to save this glorious land, I need to know one more thing. I need to know you will profess your undying devotion to this adventure. I need to know you will not abandon me. I need to know you will listen to whatever I say, no matter how daft it may seem. If you can't cooperate, then please leave now - I'm sorry for all this trouble. If you can... then prepare for the most incredible few weeks of your life."

"Who's with me?"

((dialogue dialogue dialogue errrghh. sorry if things seem a bit rushed but i'm trying to condense things and get going. feel free to have your characters ask questions :] ))

Luke took a moment to take in Lewis' speech. He took a deep breath and looked to the sky for a moment, collecting his thoughts.
'We' could win this war.I'm not from this country, but the war is useless.It's petty, just like every war.He remember his childhood and the brief skirmishes between his country and the Norvannians.Killed everyone in our whole area....atleast all the low born population.The upperclass was rid of almost everything they had, and the lower class who survived did labor for years. Luke was a strong willed man, no one who knew the fellow would disagree, but he was never know to be the kindest, or the most caring.

This plan of Lewis' was hairbrained, dangerous, riddled with doubts, and going to be taken on by a bunch of crazy people.
Crazy.
The other thing people who knew Luke would call him.

"I'm in," He said, looking at their leader."Luke Eosphorus. Former citizen of Ferrevus, wanted criminal of Norvani.I think my skills as a...finder of valuable things will be good service on this adventure." He paused and, looked around.
" I don't even know if this place is real or if what we will find there will fix the problems with this war. I want to see the war end as badly as anyone, but I'm out here looking for the next big heist. But........what is bigger than the heist that ends of the war with the Twin Empire? Huh? Count me in. We may or may not save the world, but I'm damn fine with giving it my all. Through thick and thin, you got ol' Luke on your side."

"this guys a nutbag, but so was Billy Bones, and that didn't stop his information from being the truth. Altus. Adventure. That's good enough for me Matt thought.

"I'm in" He bellowed to catch Lewis's attention. "And I've got a state-of-the-art airship we can use for transport, but i need a little help with a problem of mine first."

Cecile was frozen there for a bit, for her mind had to replay what Lewis had said to take it all in. They were supposed to follow this man, who claimed to be the assistant of a famous dead professor, to an unknown city that couldn't be even real! But on the other side, it had adventure, it had danger, and it had sacrifice.

She didn't care about her life, for she had nothing to live for. Her life had been always boring and she always wanted the excitement, even if it endangered her own life. And she had already come this far, will she go back now? No way.

Speaking up, she said, "I am Cecile Lartesian. I, too, was one of Ferrevus' civilians before I had to move into Libennia when I was young. This whole thing is mad, but I've come this far for madness. I am very skilled with the art of combat, the art of swords and I have a good history knowledge. I believe I could be helpful, and I swear devotedness to this mission. Like everyone, I want the war to end. I want to see the peace, or die for the sake of trying."

Felix looked at everyone who volunteered "wow" he thought "we're all a bunch of misfits and we barely know each other. But we all trust this man Lewis with our lives"
He spoke up "Felix Vicars, 27, mechanical arm, also wanted by the Norvani, I've practically just got here and we're all in danger and we're going on with this trip to an unknown city, discovered by a dead scientist and his assistant where death could happen at any time and we all trust his man Lewis with our lives, even though we only just met him, He's formed a ragtag team of misfits and he wants to take us across the world in hopes of finding altus where there is supposedly advanced technology which can help us stop the Norvani, and we're all here for our own reasons and because we found lewis's flyer telling us about this.
"What are you trying to say?" said Lewis
"I'm trying to say you've got one heck of a team and I'm most definitely in on this trip" Felix stepped in front of the group next to Lewis "I believe that lewis i right, I think altus is real and Cecile, luke and matt think the same, but if you don't believe in altus or in Luke you should leave, but in actual fact where is it you can go? tho police want us all so our best bet is to go with Lewis and the rest of us who's with me?"

So that was it. Altus.

Sheryl had heard of the city, of course. Back in Espisaea, the rumors flew through the air, dropping jaws and exciting even the grumpiest soldiers. A key to a hidden city full of advanced technology? Hope that the gruesome campaign against the Norvanians would finally end revitalized the country-- until, year after year, with no news of success, the Espisaean spirit slowly sunk again.

But here was the so-proclaimed assistant to the one Dr. Gallagher, who had acquired the key and the means to find the mysterious city. Sheryl felt a sense a duty stir in her. She had to do this, not for herself, but for her country. Finding the ruins was key to saving her fellowmen from wasting life after life in an eternal belligerent stalemate. Taking a deep breath, she looked back at the devastation behind them. It was the least she could do, helping their journey, to make up for all the trouble she had instigated. Glancing at Lewis, she nodded and stepped forward.

"Is this it? have you all come this far only to give up now" said felix
he continued "if your coming with us speak up, who wants to go altus on the other side of the world?"

"Well, I guess that settles that," said Lewis. The unanimous enthusiasm was something he was unaccustomed to; he had expected far more disagreements to result. It gave him hope, but made him anxious as well to satisfy their thirst for adventure.

"So, first things first." Lewis stepped off his makeshift podium and met the eyes of the observant group, now his teammates. "We can't stand around on the roof all day! And since my apartment is now out of the question, I suppose we'll need new headquarters. Erm... does anybody have any suggestions? An aircraft, perhaps? The library is also a possibility..."

"My safe house on falcon court? Its not far from here and has quite a bit of useful equipment, always have been fascinated by machines. Thats what earned me "Tech". How about that?."

Or like I said, there's also my airship at the Aeroport. She can hold us all with room to spare, and I could have her ready to cast her lines by tomorrow...

"I like the idea of a movable hideout. Er. Headquarters." Luke piped in.
He was used to being on the move anyway, and waiting around in town did not sit well with him.

"You have an airship?" said felix
"yes" matt replied
"But i also have a plane" tech interupted
"yes" Felix said "but how big is it?"
Lewis spoke "Why would that matter"
"well if techs plane is small enough and we have as mush room in matts airship we might be able to put techs plane into the extra space"said felix "Unless of course" he continued "any body else has an better idea"
"wait a minute" felix turned and looked right at Lewis "You organized this trip lewis, don't you have some sort of a back up plan?"

"Backup plan?" Lewis was surprised at the allegation. He hadn't thought of a backup plan, it was true - but then again, he hadn't expected the kind of arrival that had occurred, either.

Lewis turned to face Tech. "With all due respect," he said, "I think Matthew's airship would help us much better than a stationary headquarters. Just... just in case. Anything could happen."

"Perfect!" said Matthew, excited by the prospect of having his airship serve a purpose. "My Hispaniola is ready to fly anywhere we need it!"

"I don't think we'll be needing to leave the city quite yet, actually," said Lewis. "There's still quite a lot we must do first here in Lucidia."

"Well, to the airship station, I suppose," and with that, they were off.

((to the next person that contributes: just start at the airship station. we're not going to write every single steps our heroes take. start us off arriving at matt's ship or something. thanks!))

((sorry I had to add a few extra paragraphs but it explains how we get there undetected))

As the group neared the bustling station, Sheryl tapped Lewis on the shoulder.
"Hmm?" he spun around. "Oh... guys, how are we going to get this lady through the port?"

That was a problem. Sheryl had already tried to push past the guards earlier that day, and the results were as expected: a nervous guard escorted the cyborg out amid hysterical shouts and screams. Now that she was recognized for knocking out a policeman, it was even more risky to waltz right in.

As they glanced around, looking for ideas, the quiet girl in the rear suddenly pointed to the side, mumbling a few words. Sheryl turned to see a cart full of scrap metal abandoned outside a building. "That'll work!" Luke quipped. "We can hide you underneath that pile of junk and say we're transporting the metal somewhere."

Sheryl reluctantly lowered herself into the heap, which shifted underneath her. She began pulling up parts and stacking them over her until she was completely covered. It was uncomfortable, but it would have to do. Pushing the cart, Lewis beckoned the group to continue forward.

As far as any government officials were concerned, Luke was an import and export businessman dealing with all sorts of metal and other materials for purchase the world over. He even had fake IDs for his alias, Mr. Jonathan Yale. Jonathan Yale had served the thief well for a few years when boarding airships in his homeland and even the one from the vile country his group detested. Luke flipped the ID out and carried it in his pocket, just in case anyone came by and asked just what this ragtag group was doing with a cart of metal.
He turned to his new found friends: "Look, if we need to ask anyone, you all work for me, Jonathan Yale. Not a damn word about who I..er..we, really are."

"Umm, before we head off I need to head to my falcon court safe house, I have a few things there that might help us. Some of it might not be...legal but you could probably get by with a valid excuse. I could get all of it here within two hours, trust me, you will be pleased." Tech said


"What kind of stuff?" said luke.

"My most proud achievement is an arm mounted device that blasts sub-zero liquid air, has a useful range of about 6 meters**, some explosives, weapons, a variety of things." Tech said lost in thought. "I will head there now." And off he went.
((Tech is no longer with you.))

((** This device is possible, I have an idea about how it should work and I hope to build it.))

"so "Jonathan" we all work for you, or at least for now, you should know a thing or two about this"
"yes" luke responded
"my right arm ,being mechanical, will look unusual and suspicious what do I do?"
"roll your sleeve down" said Cecile suddenly
"it wouldn't work, i ripped it off" felix responded
"anybody else got any suggestions?" said felix

"Take my shirt, and if anything we can wrap it like a sling around your arm" suggested matt

Luke wasn't sure why Felix was so concerned about his arm. He had seen many people with steam assisted mechanical limbs.Maybe the practice was illegal in this country, and not in the other he had visited. Oh well, if wrapping Matt's shirt around it satisfied his security needs, so be it.
"I hope Tech's equipment does not dissipoint. We could have been in the air by now! But no, we need an...ice...gun or whatever. What happened to classic firearms and skills? People are to obsessed with convince these days."

"thank you matt" said felix wrapping it round his arm like a sling
"ok, felix" said Luke
"yes" Felix responded
"why are you concerned about your arm?" Luke asked
"well" felix responded "it's norvani technology, i'm a bit worried that it might be recognized as that. Now onto the matter at hand luke, as tech put it it was a sub zero liquid air shooter, you are right in that we won't at all need it but he is bringing other things back with him, you know explosives, weapons, but even if that doesn't interest you tech is gone and we arn't leaving without him"

Sheryl turned restlessly under the pile of junk.

The group had stopped again in a small alleyway off of Talbot Street, waiting for the man retrieving his tools. Two hours, the man had said. Sheryl wanted to sit up, but she knew it was too risky, and could blow their cover. Lying under her metal cover, she shifted around uncomfortably for what seemed like an eternity. But finally the sound of footsteps entered her senses, and Tech returned.

"Great," said Lewis, trying to hide his impatience. "Drop your items in the cart. You can show us once we get on the ship."

The group reassembled, they walked onward toward the magnificent Lucidian Airship Station.

Cecile could only follow the party quietly, going after them on whatever they do, whatever they say. She had no knowledge of where they were, airships or whatever. It was all unfamiliar, and there was not much she could do but follow and try to help whenever.

(Sorry if I haven't been cooperating much, I am still waiting for things to heat up a little or become in the field of my knowledge. ^^;)

Despite having seen the station dozens of times, Lewis never failed to be impressed by the sheer complexity and elegance of its design. The entire complex was contained within one massive building, which stretched hundreds of feet into the sky, almost impossibly high. It was a tower unlike any other - covered in openings of all shapes and sizes to accompany airships of all varieties. From the monstrous zeppelins that circumnavigated the globe to the minute gliders swarming the city, the station had room for hundreds of vehicles to dock, load and fuel.

The process in which airships boarded the station was incredibly complicated, requiring thousands of highly experienced personnel to maintain order in the city's airspace. Despite the building's dimensions there remained very little space between individual ports, making landing a tricky procedure not for the faint of heart. Lewis was amazed at how relatively few collisions there were, considering the volume of vehicles entering and leaving the station every hour - he considered it to be one of Lucidia's finest infrastructural achievements, a sentiment shared by countless others.

Tech led the way as the party mounted the dozens of flights it took to reach Matt's ship. The group was understandably exhausted by the time they reached the 27th floor, the group barely speaking most of the way up. But to Lewis, at least, it was worth it; he realized immediately that deciding to go for Matt's ship was a wise decision.

As they walked through all of the floors it took to get to Matt's airship much of the guards looked and stared at the ragtag group, it was all going well until the 27Th floor in which they were stopped and asked by a guard "Where do think your goin' with all that scrap?"
Luke stepped in "This is my scrap we were taking it to a ship to sell"

"quite a lot of people for such a small amount of scrap" the guard asked
"there my team, they help load the scrap" Luke said
"hmm okay then" the seemed to buy it, But hen looked at felix and asked him "What's the story then"
Shocked at the question he said "What, oh err well we work for Johnathan here so he would be the one to ask"
"No not the scrap your arm, you have it in a sling how'd it happen?" The guard asked
"Oh!" felix said shocked "I err, fell off the roof trying to fix a hole"
"oh okay then off you all go then" the guard said and then walked off

"Bloody hell that was one tiring walk" Felix said after a bit.
After a bit of a walk they arrive at Matt's airship "well, here it is, my airship Matt exclaimed
They get on the airship and Lewis tells Sheryl that she can get out now, on that note she jumped out of the cart and breathed a sigh of relief.
So then Lewis said to tech tell us about these gadgets then

"Nothing that you wouldn't find in an army base, guns, explosives. There are a few other items as well, grappling hooks, lock picks, and a few things of my own creation. Just have a look. The trip was...interesting, and there is no time now to talk about it." Tech said, lost in thought.

Where did you find those other weapons or items?

Where did you find those other weapons or items?

Blah, I know this a blatent necropost and has exactly one in a million chance of working, but its something the writer in me just has to do. Like Han said "never tell me the odds." A perfect storm of nostalgia from a yearlong half-absence, combined my desire to start my own rp at some point, late night browsing and my recent discovery of \tg\ (shameful I know) has come together, right now, over me, and led to my attempted restart of this thread. I don't know if you guys are still around (besides devvy and bacon) nor if you're interested in continuing this thread, but its worth a shot. Besides it looked like devvy put a lot of work into the seting only to have it die after one misadventure and that pains me.
with that OOC out of the way (In the wrong thread, I know...) let us begin.

As the rag tag group approached the Hispaniola Matt could see the awe beaming from Lewis's face. And that, that was something never failed to make Matt grin. The Hispaniola was a modern marvel. From the durasteel exoskeleton protecting its helium sacs, to the condensation coil, or the sealed engines everything on her was designed from the ground up to reach the new frontier of high altitude flight and to protect her from the fate the last ship Matt captained suffered. He could talk about her beauty, her ingenuity, for weeks on end but Matt understood that it was the last thing this tired band of misfits wanted. Besides Tech gave 'em enough of it already.

Instead he quietly ushered them up the gangplank and into the meeting room. Hispaniola's heart room was only sparesly decorated, but what was there spoke of a man who found beauty in simple things that last, beginning with the heavy set oaken table they were now gathered around. Matt took a moment to fire up the boilers and get the cabin to a nice cozy temperature, passing a request to the cook for a nice, hot meal as he did so, before dropping the bomb on the new addendum to his crew. He was bankrupt, the deadline is today, and this adventure was going nowhere until they sorted it out. He silently hoped they would forgive him for dragging 'em into this.

If enough people are willing to participate then I'd definitely bring this thing back to life. With a little more direction this time. :)

I'd rather do a complete reboot instead of continuing where we are now, though.

I'm sort of using the setting and plot for a real-life novel so it wasn't all created for naught. Actually, this RP gave me a lot of new ideas for my writing, even though it didn't last long.

Oh hey, I remember this! it was a fantastic concept but we honestly took way too long to take off and actually go on the adventure.