《Aris Cretu》Chapter 64: Steamship Dethlak
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Aflia Cencin lead the way down to the shore, "I don't think there is any particular hurry, unless you have plans for your birthday Lady SiDabolo?"
"Nothing better to do then spending my time drinking tea with a good book. Not many come to visit me anymore, and it is rather... dull."
"Then why not come out to Trebor for a while? I'm sure Aris would be glad to see you."
"I just may. Ho there! What Boat?"
The dwarf all but jumped over the side at the unexpected call, but the human cupped his hands to his mouth "The tug Dethlak, out of Sapphire!"
"What brings you to the Reef Dethlak?"
"Sea trials! Needed to know how far and fast we could go, and still make it home."
"Well, you made it here! Interested in some paying passengers on your way home?"
"If you don't mind helping shovel some coal, not at all!"
Mul scratched her chin and nodded at the flag, "Why the Westmacrh flag, if you are out of Sapphire master Dwarf?"
The dwarf shrugged, "none o' those poncy jeweled-city pricks wanted to get their hands dirty shipping Westmarch grain an' Glacierheart coal, so Westmarch told 'em to take a flyin' leap and set about figuring out how to ship it themselves. The Dethlak is only a harbor tug an' testbed, but the engine works well 'nuf. She does the work o' six oar-pullers, though she does make a bit o' smoke an' noise when the whistle gets pulled."
"And burning the coal moves the ship how?"
"Burn the coal to boil the water in the boiler, which drives a fan, which turns a shaft, which turns the propeller. Propeller's just a fancy name for a bunch o' oarblades stuck on the end o' the shaft, an' I'm skipping over the gears, pipes, an' whatnot. Dethlak will do about eight miles in an hour, might be as high as ten. We haven't put her to any speed trials yet, so I don't have a good number."
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Aflia flicked her tail, "if magic was used to boil the water, how far could the Dethlak sail? And how fast?"
The dwarf scratched his chin, "I don't rightly know. Probably as long as we had food for, which bein' a tug would be a day or two. More if we left the coal at home an' hoped for the best. Certainly couldn't cross any oceans nor go far from shore. I built the Dethlak tough, but she isn't that tough. One good blow an' she'd go under."
"So heading up the coast and then across to Althiem would be out of the question?"
"Aye, but we can take ye back to Sapphire at least, an' maybe talk some business along the way."
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