ATWinPC-6

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==Chapter 6 - A Toreel Wizard in Prince Davion's Court==
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===Journal though the Dark Reaches===
Excerpts from Archmage Chimkin McNuggNugg's private journal
Second recharging cycle
What planar experiments I can safely conduct continue. The good news is that we are not completely cut off from the higher planes we're familiar with. Polly remains able to contact his superiors in his home plane, and Celia still receives her divinely granted abilities. Though losing access to those abilities would be inconvenient, it appears that this was more reassuring to the people back home, who it turns out had believed we were all dead... or rather non-existent, based on their own examination of the convergence we passed through. 
The bad news is tangible interaction is impossible. An attempt was made to create a small gate directly to Elysium (Polly's request, as he is running short of his most favored treats). Our first three attempts not only failed, but apparently caused the crew some concern. Once all the shouting stopped, we worked out that planar magic doesn't interact well with this ship's core, and their computing devices were complaining a great deal about our attempts.
After discussing things with Captain Doug, our second round of attempts took place well away from the ship. This took several days, primarily due to how hard it is to get the gestures right when you're in an ill fitting suit floating in a void with no sense of up and down. However, I am confident that I successfully cast the spell at least twice, with no result. Our hypothesis is that while we are still able to communicate with our home planes, possibly through the convergences that allowed us to pass into this reality, higher order transit is impossible.
Additional note: After learning how the crew uses thrusters to move around in space and the underlying physical principles around it, I took one of the decanters of endless water out with me on a space walk. The result was very difficult to control, but also extremely fun.
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Third Recharging Cycle
After watching me clean up the unfortunate side affects of our last jump, one of the crew asked me where the stuff goes after we clean it up. Surprisingly I didn't have an answer for her until after an hour of looking it up in my texts (it's supposed to be ejected into an outer plane, so I guess in this case back into what they call hyperspace). After I answered her question, I mentioned how it's strange how we just accept certain things without bothering to understand them. She agreed and said she felt the same way about something called "Battlemechs".
I wonder what those are?
To occupy myself I have begun magically mending worn parts at the direction of the ship's engineering team. I don't know if dad would be proud or would have already climaxed himself into a coma over all this remarkable machinery.
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Fifth Recharging Cycle
Celia is becoming friendly with one of the male crew. She's become quite at ease aboardship, even to the point of not always wearing her armor. The spartan discipline of shipboard life agrees with her, and she maintains that she can find no evil among the crew. They are all, in her eyes, good men and women.
L'heo and I have been wondering about that. If our theory about this reality's higher planes (or the lack of them) is correct, can we be sure that objective evil exists here? 
I'm worried our dear sweet naive girl isn't ready for a world where she can't discern a person's ill desires at a glance.
Adendum: Several crewmen in the galley have declared me Queen of the Ship upon discovering that I can add flavor to the food at will. It appears to be an honorary title.
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Eighth Recharging Cycle
It appears a rat has chewed up the last volume of the eight part Romance of the Lilly Maidens that I had brought with me to read on our journey. The book is a complete loss, beyond my ability to mend it. Captain Doug insists that he won't turn the ship around just because I really really want to know how the story ends.
I have assigned Polly the task of hunting down the rat, but he seems disinterested.
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Tenth Recharging Cycle
I have exhausted the ship's library of popular fiction. Moving on to historical texts.
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Fifteenth Recharging Cycle
But why didn't he just shoot Amaris?
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Nineteenth Recharge Cycle
I AM SO BORED!
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===Finally Somewhere===
Twenty-First Recharge Cycle
October 9th, 3025
She'd moved into an unused cargo bay on the ship sometime during the last recharge cycle, where she could work on things in peace. L'heo had managed to convince both the crew and their companions that it was probably best to let her have some space to work things out. 
Though Celia stood guard outside the door, nobody had actually gone in since, and Chim only came out briefly for meals. It was probably best to check on her.
Celia nodded as he approached, though the paladin looked particularly sullen about something. Rumors around the card table said she'd had a fight with the man she'd grown close to. L'heo obviously wanted nothing to do with that, so he'd consciously decided not to inquire further. 
Slipping into the cargo bay, L'heo could immediately see that Chim had been doing some redecorating. Piping snaked across the deck, haphazardly rigged up and fused together into what he vaguely recognized as a makeshift alchemical rig the size of a comfortable cottage.
"You've been busy," he said. "Where did you get the materials for all of this?"
"Around," Chim said as she was adding the contents of a can labeled industrial lubricant into a drum. "Stuff nobody needed." The lights in the bay seemed to flicker for a moment in emphasis. 
"Are you sure about that?" L'heo asked.
"If not, I'm sure the captain would have said something by now," Chim replied. "Walter, tea for our visitor!" 
L'heo was startled to hear the clank of something approaching from behind. As he turned he saw a metal framework in the shape of a man, like the ones the crew used to shift heavy (or rather massive) loads around, walking towards him carrying a drinking bulb. Except this one wasn't being worn by a crewman.
The framework extended the hand holding the drinking bulb. "Careful, sir," it said with a posh accent from no discernible place on its structure, "it is quite hot."
L'heo accepted the bulb and looked back to Chim. "You don't think they'll want him back?" he asked, then nodded towards the barrel Chim was focused on. "What are you making?"
"If I did it right," Chim said, still not looking up from her work, "It's something they call inferno gel. Sort of like alchemist fire, except it's thicker, won't spread as readily, but it'll burn hotter and stick to people better."
L'heo didn't feel particularly surprised. "Is there a reason you're making it?"
"I could get my hands on the ingredients, mostly," Chim replied, then absently waved a hand towards the stack of other containers at one end of the bay. "I already made everything else I could."
L'heo winced. Chim's father had a habit of building self-replicating clockwork constructs when he was bored. Chim hadn't inherited his mechanical aptitude, but his tendencies were still there, and she had inherited her mother's alchemical knack. "Perhaps I could tear you away from this for a moment?"
Chim rolled her eyes. "For what? Cleaning up vomit? Making food taste like food? Reading a book or watching a movie I've only seen half a dozen times? Staring out into the same great big empty I've been looking at for half a year? Maybe there's a particularly fascinating ball of burning gas or a dead rock for me to see."
"I was thinking a living rock, actually." L'heo said with a smile. 
Chim spun around to look at L'heo, her eyes wide like saucers. "You mean..."
"Yes," L'heo confirmed. "It appears we've arrived at our first inhabited system. Some place called Euschelus. How about a change of scenery?"
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