Practical Weaponry [Wednesday, Period Four]

[doubleohblonde]

Today the Danger-Shop was set up to look like a large plain with a castle in the distance. Bond leant against a large wooden device, looking very pleased with himself indeed.

"This is a trebuchet," Bond began, slapping the side of the device fondly. "It's siege engine dating from the Middle Ages, used mainly for flinging high speed projectiles at fortifications, though occasionally infected corpses were thrown over the walls, and while most of you are unlikely to ever need to use one for its intended purpose, they still provide an excellent exercise in calculating trajectories and distances."

"The principle is fairly simple. A missile is placed in the sling at the long end of the arm, then the counterweight at the short end is raised," he explained, pointing to the relevant parts of the trebuchet as he spoke. "When you wish to fire, this latch is released, the counterweight falls, the long arm rises, one end of the sling is released, and the missile flies off to hopefully destroy your target. Like this."

Bond did not grin as he set off the trebuchet and the stone went flying in the direction of the castle. That would have been unprofessional.

"Your mission today is to try to breach the walls of that castle over there. Who wants to go first?"

[ooc: wait for ocd up.]

[Class Roster|Previous Classes]

Comments

Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[doubleohblonde]

Alone or in pairs, try to destroy the castle!

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[bitchprince]

Yes, Arthur was fairly sure he could manage that castle all on his own strength.

As he was setting up, however, he was glancing around just in case someone wanted to see how it should be done.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[solo_sword]

Could you cheat and use the Force for this kind of thing in the Danger Shop? Jaina was going to try, yes. Shhh.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Really, all out assault wasn't the usual way that she could think of to destroy the castle, but Hinata was more than willing to try with this device and looked around for a partner.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah grinned at her and bounced over. "Destruuuuuction!"

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata laughed. "Are you r-really so excited about it?"

Never mind the fact that Hinata was pretty interested too.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"When there's nobody in there to get hurt? Yes. BOOM!" Okay, more like Crash! But still! "Plus, it's a challenge!" Especially with Dinah's lack of patience.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Oh dear!

"Shall I guess that you've never played with one b-before?" Hinata teased, smiling, before confiding, "I never have either."

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I've seen them on Discovery Channel, and once on The Amazing Race, but never for real," Dinah said, looking at it with gleaming eyes. "The weight part goes here, right?" She grinned at Hinata. "Cannons might be more accurate, but this is more fun, with the swinging-thing."

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Cannons may be more powerful too," she said, studying it. "And that is the--swinging-thing--and that's wh-where we set it off, right?"

[Sorry for the slow! Work went insane and then it was heading home time.]

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I think so," Dinah said, looking insanely cheerful. "Bucket, and... trigger?" She said, looking hopeful. "You want me to load it up, and you set it off?"

[np! am on sucky connection, and missed this 'til now!]

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"It sounds good to me," she agreed. "And then sw-switch it up?"

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yesss!"

Dinah used both her hands and her TK to load the bucket, poked at it, bit her lip, then figured that if it was heavy enough on the counterweight, it would still reach. "Good? Ready?"

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

The best thing about this, for Turtle, was not that you had a really big weapon, flinging crap to try to destroy a castle, although that part was pretty awesome. The best thing about this for Turtle was that it involved calculating. She was eager to try to figure out the figures, and may have bounced with girlish glee any time a given calculation proved to be effective and she let a trebuchet rip to the expected results.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[glacial_queen]

"Hey, Turtle," Karla said. "Would you mind a partner?"

It actually looked like Turtle had this well in hand, but Karla wanted to talk to her anyway.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle met the question with a smile. "Not at all, Karla. You work with trebuchets before?"

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed and shook her head. "Never. We're not really big on siege weaponry in my home Realm. There hasn't been a war fought in Kaeleer in almost fifty thousand years. And from my reading, this world hasn't used such devices in hundreds of years, right?"

She glanced back at Bond a few times. "I'm not certain if this can be considered practical," she said, smiling.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Turtle said with a laugh, shaking her head, maybe a little more than she needed to because haaaair. "But, while it's not exactly practical anymore, it is at least fun."

Which was the perfect cue to set off the trebuchet she had been setting up and sending a stone flying.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[glacial_queen]

Karla cheered as the stone went smashing though the castle's fortifications. "Your haircut is really cute, by the way," she said, stepping back to admire it. "It swishes when you move your head."

She paused to help set up the trebuchet for the next launch. "By the way, I was wondering if you'd mind me throwing a slumber party in the cabin either tonight or tomorrow. It would be open to all of us in the cabin of course" Karla hadn't learned about Tahiri being a cougar yet "and some of the other females from school."

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Thaaaanks," Turtle grinned, shaking her head a little more because, shut up, she loved the swishing so much. And then she bounced, a combination of the news, flinging rocks at a castle, compliments to the hair and a generally awesome week for her. "And oooooh, slumber party! Of course I'd be okay with it. Under one condition, of course."

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[glacial_queen]

"What's the condition?" Karla asked, a little wary.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle grinned, glad that the appropriate wariness had been achieved.

"You have to let me help plan it," she said. "Or, at the very least, let me provide some snacks and supplies from the store."

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

There were more than a few misfires that could have ended up with stoney death for Rose if they hadn't been in the Danger Shop. But once she got the hang of it, the joy of destroying the castle was totally worth it.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[feline-royalty.livejournal.com]

Tybalt wasn't exactly a master of archaic weaponry, but he was quite happy to see the occasional projectile actually make contact. And the smash when a wall happened to topple was most satisfying, indeed.

Re: Trebuchet! - PW [Week 3]

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda looked at the castle, and an idea occurred to her. "Is it possible to get enough range to fling something, over the wall, and hit the other side from the inside?"