Lighting storms were not something generally under the control of man. Grand magics and grand ritual only worked within stewarded lands, fizzling to nothing shortly after contacting unconsecrated domains. Within those lands feats beyond imagination were possible, provided they followed the spirt of the land and of the divine lord that made them.
This made the perpetual storm one of the greatest mysteries the castle and the Dyne family had to offer. There was no magic at work, no steward of the land of Dyne yet an impossible phenomenon existed here, constantly raining thunder and lightning from the heavens.
High places in areas that netted frequent lighting strikes should be avoided. Roof of rear castle was one of such places. On the surface it was an innocuous stone roof. It had steeples on the corners, several ramparts, and battlements to complete the structure. There were ventilation gaps and rain grates, all things one could find on an ordinary castle roof.
This would not have been the grand castle of the House of Dyne if that was all. Each steeple had cages of wort iron, chard by lightning strike. Piercing the sky with lightning rods stood as sentinels to the storm. Several strange glass tube assemblies covered with brass sat to the side, driven by a gear train, half in the roof half out.
Giant rows of conduit. Vast metal panels, grates, generators, and buildouts. Several strange contraptions with arms and claws were standing by. Lose parts, grease and oil were spilled everywhere. Amid all of this stood the lady of the hour. Her hair was unrestrained wildly pulled by ambient static, several workers were doing odd tasks and her servants stood on the side.
"Excellent you have arrived, don't step on the cabling, it will give you two forty at a hundred hertz. In a few weeks you will have to come to the main castle often, so I thought I'd develop you transportation."
Lady Dyne didn't seem to care if anyone heard her, but none the less she decide on how the noble heir was going to commute to and from her lessons. Her more common lords' cloths had been replaced with course coveralls in a dark blue, and a pair of light goggles were hung around a soft soot-stained neck.
"Let's go!" Waving her forward she set off along the alure, shortly after the group rounded a bend on the ramparts. Standing there was a spiraling helical gear train, half embedded in the floor. As she walked over lighting arched from the sky to the nearby spire rod, blinding every one present. Purple spots, ozone, and strange teal, red streaks dotted the eyes and nose as the noble tried to see in the wake of the flash. Lady tossed her googles behind her, signaling for the noble to put them on.
"These got arc flash protection, come check this out." The noble wanted to ask what arc flash was and if the ladies' eyes would be all right without them. Both the servants Sir Octave and Lady Aroura had glasses on their eyes, Lady Aroura a fashionable turtle shell frame, with Sir Octave an almost invisible frame that reinforced his mystic. Placing them on the noble felt suffocated and blind before she queried the wild lord.
"What exactly is that? Lady Dyne?" Child shouted loudly over the mechanical melody and peels of thunder; it was one of the first times the noble finally spoke directly to the lady. Miss Tiffaney didn't know what to make of the two solid posts set up in the center of the roof. There was a small enclosure panel on one post, and a hook rigged to a third post behind the center shafts.
"It's a slingshot!" Ridiculously proud of herself the lady began to rattle off its stats.
"This baby is the latest in irregular transportation. Able to launch a payload of 25 to 150 kgs up to seven kilometers at just under a hundred and thirty kilometers an hour. It's got soft rubber seats, hexagon silver silicone bands, and a recovery system on the other side of the cliff that remote opens the hidden doors, all while it keeps deceleration to under 2.67 G's."
Even a noble knew what a sling shot was, however using one to launch people seemed very problematic.
"Are you sure this is safe milady?" Sir Octave raising concern with a single brow.
"Of course, it is. I ran the design specs myself." Waving off the two servants certain in ability of the lord of the dyne family, she turned to her new heir.
"Ready to try it out?" Looking over the railings and to the cliffside she was being launched at, Lady Tiffaney was most certainly not okay with this. Servant extraordinaire came to her rescue.
"Perhaps you should demonstrate since the young master using it for the first time?" Bandersnatch responded mellowly, as if this was not the first time the lady of the house had built a dubious device. His white gloved hands lightly clasped in front of him.
"Right, right, it's not a hard mechanism to operate, In the future you should be able to determine these things by yourself. For now, though start by hooking up the release hitch…" Scurrying around the lady babbled nonstop about how to set up the device. Lady Dyne went over which switches and pushbuttons would engage the mechanisms to tension the sling. Several other odd notes and design decision were recounted as the lord of the house clambered into the attached seat.
"Release is this lever next to the ground here so just yank the leaver and th-" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as she triggered the release. With doppler effect in force she disappeared from the seat as the entire assembly strained its limits. Gracefully flying through air, the lady soared at incredible speed from the aperture of the transport.
Three point seven six meters directly into the floor. Lady Dyne's body decelerated at an unprecedented amounts of g forces, creating a cracked human shaped outline on the castle roof. Tiffaney would latter calculate it at an estimated 8500 newton seconds.
"Is the lady still alive?" It had happened so fast the noble wasn't certain what had occurred. With a heavy sigh, both servants waved the heir off. Before moving to help the twitching women in her impact crater, Sir Octave directed the heir.
"For now, continue with what you're doing in rear castle, it will be several more days to weeks before she recovers. There's also a cog shattering that will be soon so expect her to unveil a new transport modification somewhere within a weeks' time as well."
Tiffaney continued her routine days and had begun to move beyond many of the things she had learned in her noble lessons. This week it was the idea of using letters to replace numbers in mathematics which simply blew the young child's mind. True to the head butlers' word, she was called back to the roof a week later.
"This time I made sure to add risers to ensure one goes up instead of down until they clear the castle." Lady Dyne excluded confidence as if she had not launched herself into road paste last week. The damaged human shaped outline still remained unfixed.
Once again, the lady primed her giant sling shot, pulled the release lever, and soared into the sky. She did indeed clear the castle so the noble ran to the side to watch her arch ever so gracefully into the ocean. Her splash was barely visible and several hours later, a dripping house master appeared.
"I'll add a human based guidance system next." Water spilling as the lady disappeared into the castle somewhere. In the interim, she learned basic weather and natural phenomena.
It seemed that the lady of the house had experience with major trauma, as in another week she was back with a triangle. A light metal frame with some webbing would allow for control to direct herself into the target area.
"Sir Bandersnatch?" Noble Tiffaney asked the butler as the lady went through the ratcheting mechanism that primed the sling.
"Yes, young miss?" Standing their unshakable aide watched his master prepare for another launch.
"I was taught today that lighting is generally attracted to metal, is it wise for the lady to attempt this at the height of the storm?" For a moment the two watched the preparations before the servant responded.
"In all my time here, I have not yet been able to dissuade the lady when she decides to take action. If you believe that you possess the ability, then I shall happily support the young mistress." Sir Octave did not like seeing the lady hurt, however he was the servant. Remaining quiet the noble admitted that she did not have the means to stop the lady either.
The launch this round was beautiful, the triangle sail allowed for her to control her motions with ease. Gliding towards the cliff face the demonstration had been successful. At least until the storm discharged a lighting blast.
Purple plasma lanced the sail and its passenger that turned the frame and webbing to charcoal. For a moment the lady hovered as if unaffected by the sudden loss, before she plummeted directly into the ocean with another tiny splash.
This time Sir Bandersnatch prepared towels, when the drowned looking house master returned, the heir dutifully handed her the fluffy white cotton.
"I had meant to say I would make a non-metallic human guidance system." Heir Tiffaney was concerned however despite the hardship lady Dyne appeared unhurt. Hoping to ease the burden the noble asked to get instructions for basic physics. She knew it wouldn't help in time for the weeks next test but perhaps she could help soon.
Aside from this the noble could only worry silently as the lord appeared on the roof in some sort of elaborate feathered costume for a fourth trial.
"I have it this time, I've triple checked my flight parameters and the storm strength. We are cleared for takeoff!" Looking like a malnourished bird, the lady showed no hesitation that she had everything covered.
Take off was smooth, her figure swooped gracefully. Thunder rattled as the flight continued but nothing obliterated her flying suit. Banking slightly the lady approached the opening in the rock face which held all the netting to catch her.
An opening with a rockface door that she had forgotten to open.
Pancaking into the solid façade, the house master slowly peeled off before once more she introduced herself to the ocean with her third tiny splash.
This time had finally been enough. When Lady Dyne appeared as a drowned cat, the noble heir couldn't stand it anymore. Standing on a chair, the noble gently dried off the ladies' face as she plucked a few of the remaining feathers from her sodden hair.
"This is too much Lady Dyne, I will find a way to make it to all my lessons on time so please, there has to be another way." Surprised at the concern the lord was quiet. Letting the child gently dab her face dry before relinquishing her of the cotton to finish herself. Opening her mouth to speak she was interrupted as the noble rubbed hair dry.
"I'm not worth this trouble miss. Please leave it be." Slowly getting off the chair nearby Emerald took the feathers from the young miss and the towel from the lady before week justification slipped out.
"I just have to remember to add a sequencer, so the door opens to." Looking at the girl Lady Dyne felt guilty about the soft genteel treatment she was receiving. Under the gaze of her new heir and servants the Lady caved.
"I had a tricycle built for you weeks ago, so there wasn't any point to me launching myself off the roof." Taken aback the heir stared wordlessly at the damp lady.
"If I had given it to you when it was done, then I wouldn't have had an excuse to build a giant sling shot on top of the castle." Her expression indicated as if that was the most obvious reason in the world. This did not go over well as the heir looked visibly upset.
"I'll do you a favor just name it." The lady conceded at the site of her angry puffed-up heir.
Give me back my pity and concern you crazy person!