Update #41: A Broken Airship and a Missing Deckhand
This game session was a bit unique for us. First off only Sasha’s player, Alexandre’s player, Dox’s player and I made it to the session - and Dox’s player was late. Thankfully (for the DMs) their absence could be explained by the circumstances of the adventure. The first half of the session we spent individually tracking down errant members of the crew. We record each session and I usually transcribe these updates from those recordings, but this particular session was difficult as we had 3 players pretty much constantly doing individual searches around Sharn with our 2 DMs. Special thanks to Tmaaas and Alexandre’s player for transcribing their part and making the below update easier to write.
In any event, the first half of the session (and the next couple updates) will be rather action light – and heavy on detail of our escapades running around the city. However, finding these members of the crew turned out to be extremely important later on.
Don't worry though, the second half of the session saw the situation getting more violent…
***
Ruel and Sasha catch up with the rest of the Irregulars before the appointed time of their meeting with Ravien d’Lyrandar, but the whole of the group is made to wait in a sparse waiting room outside of his office in the Lyrandar tower. The sharp-eared among the group overhear him conversing with a woman.
“Ashaya, what business brings you here?”
“Nothing but gloating my dear Ravien, nothing but pure unadulterated gloating.”
“You’ve heard about the Liralen then,” Ravien’s statement is not a question and his tone is iron cold.
“The Liralen? Oh my no! Is there news about your precious little airship,” Ashaya’s tone drips with mockery.
“Ashaya, I haven’t the time to play games with you. If your sole purpose in coming here is to gloat about the rumors, I’ll give you the privilege of hearing it from me. My ship is crippled. There you’ve had your fun, now will you please leave me to my work?” Ravien’s voice sounds tired and worn.
Ashaya is all business in her reply. The abrupt shift is somewhat disconcerting, “The Liralen is crippled. How?”
“I owe you no explanation of that Ashaya, you’ve been at cross purposes with me for some time now. One could hardly expect me to be forth-coming with information to a rival in the House,” Ravien answers carefully.
“True, nothing is owed on my account, but you will tell me or I will find out another way. What is your preference there? I do have an active interest in the construction of elemental bound crafts, perhaps I could come up with a possible solution for you.”
It is very quiet in the room – as if Ravien is weighing Ashaya’s words for truth or sincerity. Eventually the Irregulars hear his reply.
“The ship was a new design, easily three times larger than any airship yet constructed. Its size was supposed to be compensated for with a new process of elemental binding. The result lasted for a short time. But now it becomes clear that even an augmented helm of wind and water is not adequate to maintain the control necessary to fly the ship. She can still be made airborne, but at a fraction of her previous speed. I need not tell you how that will affect the future of the ship. Specifically the finances that she could have been capable of bringing in that are now out of reach.”
“You find yourself in a dilemma Ravien. Sell out to me – I can easily recoup your loss in her construction,” Ashaya offers.
“And exactly what would you do with the Liralen?” Ravien sounds genuinely surprised by the offer.
“Oh I have ideas, perhaps I could fix her… hire a new crew… make the ship a profitable and proper Lyrandar vessel,” she muses.
“The Liralen’s crew is one of her best assets Ashaya,” Ravien now simply sounds annoyed.
“Oh yes your hand-picked crew!” Ashaya laughs nastily, “You know there are some things we never will agree on don’t you.”
“Yes Ashaya – I do realize that. Just as much as you know I’d never sell out to you.”
“Oh well. On to the technical discussion then. Your helm of wind and water is augmented by Khyber shards. Is it not?” Ashaya’s tone changes like the wind.
“Yes, the most powerful currently available to the House.”
“Ah, yes, but not the most powerful ever available to the House,” There is a silent period again and the Irregulars are at a loss for what is happening. When Ravien’s voice returns it is much lower and they catch hints of awe, “The wreck of the Galivant…Where did you get this map?”
“From someone who has assured me that there is no other map like it,” Ashaya replies smugly.
“It could be a scam. Many know how ardently we’ve sought to recover the Galivant,” Ravien cautions, but his awe is tinged with clear desire.
“Ravien, when was the last time I fell for a ruse?”
“How much do you want for the map?”
“It’s not for sale. As I told you earlier, I merely came by to gloat,” she lilts.
Ashaya exits the dead quiet office with a barely contained look of amusement on her features, throwing the Irregulars a callous glance before departing the waiting room entirely. The Irregulars collectively note a dragonmark openly displayed on her back – a Greater Mark of Storm.
Ravien appears at the door a moment later, and his visage matches his prior tone of voice – worn and tired. He beckons the Irregulars inside, “I apologize for the wait.”
As they all sit down, his eyes briefly flash to Sasha, the only newcomer among them. But he only shakes his head, “I regret to inform you that I will be releasing you all from my employment.”
“We… overheard some of your conversation,” Audric advises. His face is still a picture of disappointment, a rare display of emotion from the monk.
“Well, that will make things quicker. The fact is the Lyrandar’s design has failed, and it will no longer function in the capacity I had envisioned for it. The same capacity by which I had envisioned all of you providing your services,” Ravien admits.
Alexandre looks hard at Ravien. “What was Ashaya talkin’ about? I thought I heard her say something about a ‘Wreck of the Galivant?’”
Ravien looks at his deckhand, “Yes… I’m embarrassed that you heard that. I do not care for the woman, but I admit I would pay a lot for the map-“
“That’s not what I meant,” Alexandre interrupts curtly. “Tell me this – there’s somethin’ on the Galivant that would let the Liralen fly proper again. S’that right?”
“In theory… yes. The Galivant contained the greatest Wheel of Wind and Water ever installed aboard a Lyrandar airship. It should be able to handle the elementals bound on the Liralen,” Ravien indulges Alexandre’s curiosity patiently.
“So you need a map, aye?” Alexandre grins suddenly.
“Where are you going with this Alexandre?” Ravien’s voice reflects that his patience is ebbing.
Alexandre leans back, continuing to grin. He pulls his ratty backpack up into his lap and roots through it, pulling out a weathered map case. Twisting it open, he rises and unrolls the leathery contents in front of Ravien. The half-elf studies the map only briefly before rising abruptly to his feet.
“The map!” Ravien moves swiftly to the door, peers outside of it, then shuts it and locks it. Coming back around the table he takes a second look at Alexandre’s map, and then looks up at the man. “This could save her! This could save the Liralen!”
“Aye,” Alexandre smirks. “How much is it worth to ya?”
Audric glowers at Alexandre, “’Xander…”
Ravien looks down, “A lot, I’m sure you overheard that much. If I am to make the Liralen ready to fly however…”
“Ah, I’m just kiddin’ ya. So long as we all get her jobs back. Oh, and give her a fair shake at a job onboard. She’s alright,” he jerks a thumb at Sasha.
“Yes, that I can do,” Ravien smiles, nodding at Sasha. He relaxes for a moment in his chair, hope seeming to give him new life. He then looks shrewdly at the Irregulars. “We have to move quickly. Ashaya will be after the Galivant quickly. I’ll need all of your help, to prepare the ship and recover the crew, you see you were the last to be dismissed...”
***
The Irregulars are divided. Dox, Audric and Elisa are enlisted to help prepare the Liralen for departure. Alexandre, Ruel, and the newest member of the crew – Sasha are tasked with finding much of the crew, who have scattered across Sharn. They have a day to try and make this happen.
Ruel holds a list of the missing provided by Ravien, with notes on their location scribbled quickly beside them:
-First mate: Aloysius
-Bo’sun: Fendrik – Rooming at Lyrandar Towers Room #1890
-Cabin Boy: Errol – Rooming at Lyrandar Towers Room #1892
-Cook: Meat - applied for kitchen help wanted at the Rowdy Tankard.
-Undercook: 42NATO – Last seen looking at a news clipping detailing Sharn’s fine dining scene
-Scullery: Cynde d’Lyrandar – 1476 Skyview Tower
-Deckhand: Redbeard
-Scribe: Oliver d’Sivis - Sivis Sending Stone @ Sivis enclave Box 57893 , Mail picked up daily at 5pm, 671 Sivis Enclave Apartment #18, Dragon Towers district, Middle Central
-Healer: Vijaya d’ Jorasco
-Healer’s Apprentice: Grelyn d’ Jorasco
(Vijaya was attending some healer’s conferences at Morgrave University )
-Entertainer: Kashandi Navoestra - last overheard saying she needed to find a job.
-Guard: Kyrjet d‘Lyrandar - Sea Ray Tower #333, Sunrise district, Tavick’s Landing
-Guard: Tamblyn d’Lyrandar - Crumbledown Tower #5, Longstairs district, Lower Northedge
- Griffin Rider: Maddy Tregear - Can be contacted by reaching: Lt. Brandon Tregar
Daggerwatch Garrison, Upper Dura
-Griffin Rider: Gemma d’Lyrandar - Stormwind Keep, Oak Towers , Upper Northedge
“Ah hell, this is impossible!” Alexandre spits, after a quick glance at the list.
“Nonsense,” Ruel considers the list thoughtfully. “We just need to whittle this down a bit. Now – Fendrik and Errol are in this very building, I will simply speak to them directly. Ravien told us not to worry about Aloysius. Oliver, Cynde, Kyrjet, Tamblyn, Maddy and Gemma all have left mailing addresses. I will have letters sent via courier. That just leaves Meat, Fortunato, Redbeard, the Jorascos and Kashandi. Now, we do not need to find Meat. Fortunato was a better cook anyways…”
“That’s for damn sure,” Alexandre agrees.
“Entertainment is a low priority for this mission, so we need not find Kashandi…” Ruel continues.
“Ruel!” Sasha admonishes sternly. “We are not leaving behind Kashandi.”
“Ahh…” Ruel looks flustered, but then smiles. “Right, we should do our best to find her. Alexandre, why don’t you try and find Redbeard. He was a deckhand like you, you probably know him best.”
“Right, good as done!” Alexandre grins.
“I will look for Fortunato,” Sasha says.
“Good,” Ruel nods. I will send these messages and then look for the Jorascos.”
“And after that, you will find Kashandi,” Sasha looks hard at the wizard.
“Of course!”
***
The hot sun beats down on the dome of Lyrander Tower, making the deckhand squint as he contemplates his task – finding his fellow deckhand Redbeard. Ruel’s logic made a certain sense. He did work with the man, more than anyone else. However, as Alexandre thinks over his conversations with Redbeard he grimaces – beginning to realize they were pretty one-sided. Really, all he knows about Redbeard is that the man likes to keep to himself.
“Great!” he complains sourly to himself. “Fantastic.” Turning around abruptly, he turns back in to Lyrandar Tower, deciding to ask around if Redbeard had anyone that he talked to among the crew that are still near at hand. Unfortunately, no one knows any more about Redbeard than he does.
“Why don’t you ask the captain who hired him on?” A half-elven sailor asks archly. “That’s who ought to know the man best.”
“Ravien,” Alexandre rubs his chin thoughtfully and nods. “Good idea mate, thanks!”
Alexandre strides purposefully towards the meeting rooms and offices from the crew lodgings. On the way he crosses a short sky-bridge and sees One-Eyed Jack at the Guide Booth beneath him – his old friend who helped him and the rest of the Irregulars before when they arrived in Sharn. “Hey! Jack! Wait around!” He points at the man meaningfully.
One-Eyed Jack gives him a strange look, but as Alexandre enters the office area he can hear Jack holler back, “Make it worth my wait!”
Alexandre has to dodge around scurrying office workers once inside, rushing frantically to fulfill rushed business orders. It would appear the Liralen’s unscheduled departure is putting a strain on house resources. He grabs the arm of one of the workers, who nearly scowls at the interruption, “Can I help you?”
“I need to talk to Ravien,” Alexandre says seriously.
“He’s busy at the moment,” the worker replies tersely. “It’ll be at least an hour before he’s available, if you care to wait.” She jerks her gaze over at a row of a few chairs against a wall and then pulls free.
Alexandre grumbles as he goes over to the chairs. Before he sits he thinks better of it – he doesn’t have an hour to waste. He goes back outside and finds Jack. “Alright Jack, We’ve got work to do!”
“Aye?” Jack squints at Alexandre.
“Aye! I’ve got a man that needs finding, somewhere in Sharn. Which means I need a guide, and you’re the best in Sharn, right?”
“Aye,” Jack smiles.
Alexandre claps Jack on the back, “Good man! Let’s see. If I just got fired, what would I do?” Thinking a moment, he snaps his fingers, “Hey let’s go see if any of the other ships are hiring on!”
Jack and Alexandre spend a few minutes chatting with the crews of the two other airships berthed at Lyrandar Tower, but neither are hiring deckhands – and no one has seen a man with a red beard asking for a job.
“That’s okay,” Alexandre concludes. “Redbeard could have joined on with a sailing ship. Jack, where would you go if you were a sailor trying to hire on?”
Jack is silent.
“Hey you’re a sailor! You should know this! What happened to the guy that knows Sharn like the back of his hand?”
Jack jingles his coin purse meaningfully. “Well that information is for paying customers. Aye, I’ve gotta make me livin’ somehow.” He says almost apologetically.
Alexandre just laughs and hauls out five gold pieces and slaps them in Jack’s hand. The man’s one good eye gleams, “Off we go, n’ how fast be you wantin’ to find this bloke?”
“Fast!” replies Alexandre
“How fast?” challenges Jack
“Money is no object!”
Jack gets a gleeful gleam in his eye and trots off towards the air coaches, motioning Alexandre to follow. He heads towards the most dilapidated, patched together coach Alexandre has ever seen. Its driver is snoring under a copy of the Sharn Inquisitive.
“Hey wake up Crazy Man, I’ve got you a job! My friend ‘Xander here wants a fast ride down to Ships Towers – what’s it gonna cost?”
The pilot slowly pulls down the paper from across his face and rubs his eyes. Without looking at Jack or Alexandre he throws out a hand at them. “Fifteen gold.”
Alexandre provides the demanded fee.
“Get in, hold on and if you’ve gotta stow your stomach contents, do it out the window,” Crazy Man advises. No sooner are they inside than the sky coach sidles over to the platform edge, then the driver lets it plummet in freefall. Skimming the surface of the great towers, dodging oncoming vessels and coaches, and recklessly snarling traffic with the spectacle of his wild descent, it heads towards the dock district with two ecstatically hooting men in the back seat.
When they arrive at Ships Tower (in record time), it costs Alexandre five more gold to retain the driver there for them. Alexandre and Jack ask around, checking out every lead they can find about any sailing ship hiring on deckhands, but can’t find any leads to the whereabouts of Redbeard. When they return, they find Crazy Man agitated at the wait, despite the lavish retainer Alexandre provided. When the two men hop back in, Crazy Man curses and mutters at other sky coaches, but he still get’s them to the next docks district – Sharn’s Welcome – in record time and with an abundance of harrowing maneuvers.
When they disembark Crazy Man holds up a hand to forestall further gold to keep him on retainer, “Keep your business to twenty minutes or less and I’ll stay. I don’t want to be grounded longer than that.”
Alexandre raises an eyebrow, and he and Jack do as much searching as they can in the limited time span. Alexandre eventually takes to asking random passersby if they’ve seen a man with a red beard. The answers are, unsurprisingly, no.
Jack elbows Alexandre, “Time’s up, we gotta get back.”
Alexandre grins, “Hey I think I’m getting better at getting information off of complete strangers!”
“Too bad the information is all ‘Nope, not seen him here.’” mutters Jack.
“Yeah well I think I’m starting to come to the conclusion that Red Beard didn’t come here. It’s kinda hard to pick up a trail when there never was one. How do you go about finding folks in this place?”
“Well you could always hit up an inquisitive at one of the Finders Guilds,” Jack offers.
“Inquisitors. I like the sound of that, tell me about them,” Alexandre smirks.
“House Tharashyk, who else?” Jack snorts. “Good as any at finding whoever you want, here or anywhere.”
“What are we waiting for?” Alexandre grins.
The pair return to Crazy Man who whisks them off to Dragon Towers. When they arrive, Crazy Man stretches his copy of the Inquisitor over his eyes and almost immediately starts snoring loudly.
“Guess he’ll wait for us,” Alexandre laughs as the pair disembark and head in to the House Tharashyk inquisitor offices. The duo is treated cordially and professionally when they arrive, and give a description of Redbeard. After a battery of questions (most of which Alexandre is forced to answer with ‘I don’t know’ to), the Tharashyk investigator summarizes, “So you want us to find a tall red bearded sailor, goes by the name Red Beard or at least used to. Last seen at Lyrandar Towers wearing a uniform of the airship Liralen. No ther information regarding relatives or interests. Well you know that’s not a lot to go on. This will probably take several weeks – if we can find him at all.”
Alexandre shakes his head and sighs deeply, “I really need to find him by tomorrow.”
“Well,” the man slides a parchment in front of Alexandre with a list of the House’s services and their costs. “There are other ways we could go about this. Discern Location is probably your best bet. You could also try Discern Creature, which is a little more risky, but if you have a solid idea on which district he might be in, it’s an option.”
Alexandre looks over the list and the prices and nearly chokes, but covers it with a soft chuckle, “How much for just a normal inquisitive?”
“One gold a day, plus five gold to cover any unforeseen expenses,” the man replies without a hint of reproach.
“Alright, I’ll hire a day’s worth,” Alexandre shells out six more gold pieces for the service. After filling out some more paperwork he and Jack shuffle back outside. “Jack – I need a place to think. A place with good food and better brew.”
Jack grins appreciatively, “Aye! That I have the answer for!”
A quick trip later sees both men at a tavern in Elladra’s Kitchen. One-Eyed Jack is well on his way to complete inebriation, while Alexandre is more reserved in his drinking. Thoughtfully, he announces, “Ya know Jack, I’m thinking it might be that we won’t find this guy.”
“Aye!” Jack announces loudly, lifting his mug as if in salute. A moment later Jack seems to actually comprehend Alexandre words and lowers his mug. “Aye. Tis likely.”
“But really how hard would it be to find another sailor? I mean a good sailor – a sailor like us. Where in town would you go to hire on a sailor like us?”
One Eyed Jack looks steadily at his ale before swigging down half a tankard, “Only be one place in town that I’d be a hirin’ out of – that’d be Skulls Eye Wharf. Quality sailors there, none of that flim-flamsy uniform boys who don’t know port from a good drink.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me. But maybe I should try checking in with the boss man one more time. He still might know more ‘bout Red seeing he hired him on. So that’s the plan – boss man then Skulls Eye Wharf then maybe ‘nother tavern,” Alexandre drawls.
Jack agrees readily to the plan, thinking that the last part is an especially fine feature – particularly since Alexandre continues to foot the bill. Jack had forgotten how good of a friend Alexandre is.
This time when Alexandre returns to the Lyrandar offices, he tracks down Ravien directly – finding him speaking with artificers working on the Liralen itself. The conversation seems important, so he waits for a few minutes, but Ravien notices him and gives him a few moments of his time.
“What is it Alexandre?” he asks abruptly. Ravien is considerate, but also extremely busy.
“I was wonderin’, what do you know about Redbeard? He’s ah, provin’ hard to find,” Alexandre explains.
Ravien sighs, “Not much, I’m afraid. I know he is a Gatekeeper druid. He’s been quite competent and reliable, but he keeps to himself and I’ve respected his wishes for privacy in his personal affairs.”
Alexandre nods, “More than I knew, thanks.”
Ravien nods, “Your welcome, good luck.” He turns to leave but Alexandre stops him short with another question.
“Hey if we don’t find him, do you want me to go down and hire on a new crew member? Jack here knows the best spots in town.” The deckhand hooks a thumb at One-Eyed Jack, who tries to stand a bit taller, but fails to stop the awkward sway that has afflicted him since the pair left the inn where they took in dinner and drinks.
Ravien raises a quick eye brow and then smiles at Alexandre, “That’s fine initiative crewman, but I like selecting my men personally. One of the perks of owning the ship I guess. Thank you for the offer though.” With that, Ravien leaves them.
“A Gatekeeper Druid,” muses Alexandre. “What in the world do you think that is?”
Jack gives him a hiccup and a shrug, “Think I heard somewhere that they hug trees.” The two men look at each other for a minute and then laugh.
“Come on Jack,” Alexandre recovers himself first. “Back to the Inquisitive’s office! We gotta tell them Redbeard’s a Gatekeeper - then we can try another tavern.”
The pair update the search portfolio on Redbeard, then Jack finds them another inn in Hareth’s Folly. After enjoying its fare for awhile, Jack is fully inebriated and Alexandre is a fair ways from sober. Still, he is not ready to give up the search yet.
“So you suppose we should go look for some trees?” Alexandre jokes, setting both men to laughing heartily. “Notta many of those round here, unless ya wanna check out tha parks and such, or tha elves. Heard them elves and tree huggers go hand in hand…” Jack explains. The reasoning sounds good to Alexandre, and the pair take a trip to the predominantly elven district of Shae Lias in the late evening.
Their they find that two drunk and poorly dressed humans are not particularly welcome amidst the local residents. They find themselves shunned, and it eventually dawns on Alexandre that they aren’t going to get anywhere in the district, at least not tonight in the state they are in. Joking and laughing, the pair part ways to get some sleep.
Somehow Alexandre wakes with the dawn, though his head throbs uncomfortably. He vaguely recollects Jacks words about elves… and parks. Struggling into the same clothes as he wore yesterday and into his well-worn armor he hails down a skycoach bound for Sky’s Edge Park. Amidst its custodians he finally get’s some ‘Yes’ answers.
Yes Redbeard was there. Yes, he left for the Liralen. Yes, Redbeard got a note from a House Tharashyk Inquisitor late last night.
Alexandre grins – his man is in! He’s willing to bet he’s found his man before the others have found their crew members.
And it looks like poor Ruel has just triggered some very nasty magical effect...
