Chronicles of Hedda Bardinsdottir - Vengeance Delayed due to Mechanical Difficulties

Lohner may not be any closer (so he says) to finding Hedda Bardinsdottir, but his search has turned up pages from her journal.

From the Rhunikron of Hedda Bardinsdottir

Seems to me that engineers can never put a job down. I first saw this in action with Uncle Drakki. Always fiddlin’ with a new invention he was, fine-tunin’ he called it. Adjust this, tighten a valve there, and so it went.

Even when downing ale after a hard day’s work you can be sure at least some part of an engineer worth a pint is still ruminatin’, still rolling around in their minds how to get whatever they’re twiddlin’ on to work better, run faster, or shoot further.

Here aboard Grungni’s Whisper I got a ship full of endrini whose fingers are itchin’ to tinker. I say I want more speed and I get ten different answers, every engineer schemin’ a different plan. I can’t expect to catch Gangplank Git if some crackpot is tryin’ to rebuild my steam engine.

What really grinds my gears is havin’ to admit that Gangplank Git’s fleet is faster’n me. It’s as sorry a collection of grobkaz as ever sailed. Hard to fathom how that lot o’ planks stays afloat, much less tears across the seas. But it does. Me da’ always said that gobbos were capable of impossible feats of engineering. Used to drive him mad, and I guess I’m a Bardinsdottir for all the distance, because it vexes me just as much. I’ll be
blethering about Cousin Okri next, and then where will I be?

Through piracy and salvage, I reckon the grobi have patched together some powerful engines. I mighta lost ‘em altogether some time ago ‘cept their trail is easy to follow.

Whatever fuel the salvaged engines of the Git’s ships burn belch chugging black clouds out of their rusted smokestacks. That pall is easy to spot, even over the horizon. And it helps that grobi can’t steer – always zigzaggin’ like a gorogoz. Then there is the wake.

Y’never know what’ll be in that flotsam – bit o’ plank, old mast, half an oar - the ramshackle ships can’t hold together at the speed they travel, and bits tear off regular like. Y’can even spot a grobi or two bobbin’ along, clingin’ to some bit o’ wood. Whether they fell, were thrown, or had to walk to plank after their captain’s namesake I dunno...but they make good target practice.

Every endrini aboard has a plan to catch ‘em up: how to stoke our engine faster, how to reconfigure the regulator, how to boost steam or inject alcohol fumes, and on and on.

But I can’t stop for major repairs. If I did, the only full head o’ steam aboard the Grungni’s Whisper would be mine! We got no time for experiments, I ain’t letting the Gangplank Git cheat me of my skakgal!

But I’m Captain, and I’ve a plan!

So long as we can track Gangplank’s fleet, we’ll be fine. I know my grobi. I’ll wager my az that their shoddy – far worse than Umgak – fleet breaks down before too much longer. Miracle it’s gone this long, really.

Dawi-made is built to last, even new-fangled ships like our nautilus. We keep steady and true and they’ll falter, mark my words. And when they do, we’ll catch ‘em ... that is, so long as I can keep the blasted engineers from tinkerin’ with the engines!