Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 6876842" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 86, “I have no idea what in seven hells we're doing, but let's do it anyway”, September 11, 1882, 3:00 P.M.</strong></p><p></p><p>All eight cannon fire at once. The projectile from eight-inch gun smashes a large hole in the northern section of the roof, causing a 20-foot diameter section to collapse. The three six-inch guns each break through as well, creating approximately 10-foot diameter holes and starting a fire in the room below on the east facing wall. The quartet of four-inchers do not break through, but apparently have pyrotechnic charges, as sections of the roof where they hit erupt in a rapidly spreading flame, each covering a twenty-foot diameter area.</p><p></p><p>"Hades, it's like they're trying to kill us or something!" Ruby calls out as she dodges pieces of flying rubble. Mina and Abby's horses were just reaching the roof when this hits, the flame causing the animals to retreat downward at a faster pace. George and Ruby's horses run across the roof away from the flames. Freya is on foot and standing within the flames, which appear to have no effect on her despite her still being in human form. Lawrence and his mount are now six feet above the roof.</p><p></p><p>Mina and Abby take off the way the came in. "We'll try to be right behind you. Take Freya with you." "George, get up!" Ruby pulls him up off the ground. "I'm not planning on sticking around to watch the fireworks. I only pray the Princess is not on that thing." Lawrence flies right in front of Ruby and she swears. "Watch out Lawrence!" she calls out. "Damn it now I don't have a shot!"</p><p></p><p>Ruby then yells, "Lawrence, don't go too far! Freya, are you ready for an assault on that flying monster?" Alright thinks George "Abby climb up behind Lawrence, Freya if you could turn back into a dragon, and perhaps carry a few of us up to the dreadnaught. From there we shall break in and search for the princess as well as disable the guns. We may even be able to destroy the thing, but we have to make sure the princess is not on board." Lawrence shakes his head to clear the ringing from his ears. He hears the yelling and swoops back down onto the roof. "We need to move now. It'll take them a while to reload. Prepare boarders." He grins as he says the last bit.</p><p></p><p>George notes that the eight cannon can only pivot downward up to 45-degrees, which they are currently at. That leaves a ‘blind spot’ directly beneath the gondola where the party are currently at, where there is also a large trap door that is currently closed (the trap door could be used as either an emergency exit, or to drop bombs from). He also sees that all four corners of the lower gondola also have Gatling guns. He also recalls from his previous Dreadnaught ride, that sixteen soldier work the lower gondola, twelve enlisted and two officers.</p><p></p><p>Abby carried every gun she had managed to collect and could still hold while still getting up onto Lawrence's horse. "I have no idea what in seven hells we're doing, but let's do it anyway." Lawrence holds his horse still as Abby climbs up. He says, "Don't worry. I have no idea either." He waits for the others to prepare. Going up with just the two of them would be risky.</p><p></p><p>Freya moves forward to the point immediately beneath the gondola, within the balloon's blind spot and transforms back into the dragon form. George recalls that it takes three minutes for the Dreadnaught to reload and over a minutes has passed by since the artillery barrage. In that time the balloon has pivoted in place 45-degrees, so that the four large cannon are now lined up with unbroken sections of the roof and the four smaller cannon with the incendiary charges are pointing directly at the holes in the roof that the larger cannon had created.</p><p></p><p>"Have your weapons and spells at the ready" says George. George, Ruby and Mina hop astride Freya. George signals Lawrence to follow them up. George calls out directions to Freya as they ascend in a tight spiral underneath the dirigible, staying out of line of sight of the spotters. As they rise they pull up directly underneath the hatch on the keel on the dirigible. There, as Freya beats her wings, George holds Ruby steady as she reaches up and begins to work the latch with her tools.</p><p></p><p>The deadbolt for the door is on the inside and the thick doors prove difficult for Ruby to work her tools through. Freya cranes her neck around and asks "Do you want me to just punch the door out with my fist?" By George's calculations the cannon are now within twenty seconds of firing off a second barrage. "Struggling to be heard over the wing beats of the mighty dragon, Lawrence shouts, "Do it! They can't be much longer." "Agreed" calls out George giving Freya the go-ahead signal.</p><p></p><p>She tells those on her back to hang on tight. The three grip handholds between her scales as she changes her flight to stand more upright. George and Ruby are able to hang on but Mina loses her grip and falls free. Freya notices this and manages to reach out with the claw on her rear right leg and catches her.</p><p></p><p>She balls up her right fist and punches the door, but due to the delay of her catching Mina it is now too late to stop the next artillery barrage which releases almost simultaneously. The trapdoor is broken totally free of its hinges and falls the 80 feet to the roof below. White smoke bellows out of the trapdoor as well as all the side windows from the artillery. Four new large holes appear in the palace roof, which now begins to resemble a moonscape, as fires erupt in the floor beneath the roof from the new incendiary charges. Freya immediately changes her flight, leveling off her back again as she flies parallel the gondola and near it to give Ruby and George access to the doorway.</p><p></p><p>"Up inside before they get to the guns." cries George as he leaps through the opening and pointing the wand at a corner with soldiers quickly recites the seven hills of Rome in Italian. One advantage to Freya busting the door simultaneous to the guns going off is that all sixteen soldiers were focused on the roof, the cannon blasts and the recoil which kept all of them from hearing and noticing the trapdoor's destruction.</p><p></p><p>Four of the soldiers do hear George's Italian incantations and turn in his direction just as he gets to the name of the third hill, at which point a flash of light exits the wand towards the opposite side of the room. A massive fireball erupts, instantly killing the six men caught inside the blast. It also ignites a pair of four-inch pyrotechnic shells for a secondary blast. All occupants, including George, are hurt by the second blast which physically hurls George back through the trapdoor and downward.</p><p></p><p>Ruby uses her catlike reflexes to try to reach out and grab George as he falls backwards, grabbing at him while trying to brace herself against the airship. She manages to grab him, but looses her grip on the dragon's back. As they slide down the magnificent creature Freya pivots around in the air and catches them with the leg claw opposite the one holding Mina. Continued explosions erupt above in the gondola, as more ammunition is ignited.</p><p></p><p>George signals Lawrence and yells “Fly over head up to the top level port side, we need to conduct a search for the princess. All hands should be headed to fight the fire here so it shouldn't be too bad. Freya, head up to starboard top level." Lawrence points upwards in understanding. "Right." He pulls back on the reins to move his horse upwards towards the upper deck. The flying horse and the dragon both fly upward.</p><p></p><p>Ruby asks, "Freya, if we do find the Princess, will you be able to hold her too? How many of us do you think you can handle at one time?" She says, "I have four claws and am only holding you three in two of them." Ruby says "You are amazing!</p><p></p><p>“The lower tier of the gondola is in total ruins, although curiously enough there are no fires, indicating that some fire-suppression magic had apparently been used in its creation. All of the soldiers appear to be either dead or unconscious. The dragon and flying horse reach the outside of the upper level, which appears to have been protected from the blast below. The Princess and General Orabi do not appear to be any of the seven people present on this level. Four of these men are the pilot and engineers, who appear to be hitting the controls to gain altitude as the balloon begins to rise. The other three look to be Frenchmen, two of whom George recognize from his prior meeting as Joseph-Michael Montgolfier and Jules-Henri Poincare.</p><p></p><p>Lawrence shouts over his shoulder, "Abby I don't see the princess. Do you see them?" Ruby says, “Now, how do we figure out if the Princess is in there is the question. She could be in an area we can see. It's hard to know if those," Ruby points to those they can see, "Are part of the conspiracy or not. Either way I imagine this thing is not going to stay in the air for much longer now." Lawrence replies, "I'm not so sure, the balloon is fine."</p><p></p><p>The dirigible begins to gain altitude and turns. Lawrence exclaims, "Crap, they're getting away. Freya, can you drop people off through the door?" George says, "Ok Ruby time to stop playing cowboy and start playing pirate. Let's go take over the airship, or at least search it." Lawrence smiles to Ruby as he nods in agreement with George. Freya says, "Why bother? They're French wizards, they all deserve to die. Why don't I just shower them in acid!" Ruby exclaims, "What if the Princess is still on there and we just can't see her? She's no French Wizard." "I didn't see women in there. Hold on...." The dragon pokes its head up by the window and inhales. She then exclaims..."Yes, only males there...."</p><p></p><p>Abby paused, then said, "What's the difference between us going on there and taking them one on one, or Freya doing what she does? I doubt they'll surrender to us!" Ruby nods, "She's right." Ruby pulls out the big magical rod. "Freya, look menacing. Not that you don't already look menacing, but back me up here. Get me up by the windows."</p><p></p><p>Ruby points the rod at the dirigible and yells out menacingly, "Land this thing now and you may yet live. Continue on this path and this will surely be the last stupid mistake you make! Land NOW. And if you fire one more time or make one more move that is not toward the ground, we will help you to the ground ourselves!"</p><p></p><p>The dirigible continues to climb higher at a 30-degree angle. Dragon Freya has no difficulty keeping pace with it, holding the rear claw with George and Ruby by the open side window. Ruby says, "What do you think Freya? They seemed to have some sort of magical immunity to fire or ways to put out fire, do you feel like lighting this thing up? We could let them get out from over the city so as to not to injure anyone below..."</p><p></p><p>Abby pulled out one of her own fireball wands and looked toward Ruby. "Looks like they're not feeling cooperative," she said, loud enough for the French to hear., adding "Mother Earth longs to welcome them home!" George sighs and shakes his head. Such a senseless waste of knowledge and talent. "Ok, Freya" says George reluctantly "Gas them" The man who George does not recognize yells out something incomprehensible in an odd variation of French. Iron walls suddenly appear where all of the open windows had been a second before.</p><p></p><p>Abby says, "Alright, let's bring this balloon down. I'm going to fire this wand. Ruby, you try too. Freya, if you would be so kind as to bathe the balloon in acid, we'll bring these bastards to the ground." Abby pointed the fireball wand and began reciting the names of the hills of Rome. Freya flies up above and ahead of the dirigible. When she is directly above the upper top she lets loose a deluge of acid from her throat which showers onto the top of the outer covering. As the vehicle is still climbing at a 30-degree angle, the green liquid flows down the entire length of the material as well as spilling down the sides</p><p></p><p>As Abby rattles off the name of the seventh and final hill of Rome the wand discharges. It strikes the side where some of the acid had already flowed down and the material had begun to dissolve. George had been told that the balloons were fire resistant, and they do not ignite, but the impact of the fireball itself against the already weakened balloon frame cause that section of metal and wood lattice-work beneath the outer coat to collapse inward, which then cuts holes into the interior balloon in that section. Abby whooped. "That's exactly what we want! Get a couple holes in that balloon and watch it float to the ground!"</p><p></p><p>Ruby lets loose at the acid covered nose of the balloon, pointing the wand of fireball and reciting the seven hills of Rome until she learns the activation word to fire. The fireball explodes with the second hill named. As she struck where it had been most heavily coated in acid the outer covering shreds with the force of the fireball. Freya assists this shredding by grabbing a section that flies up by her and pulling while flying higher. The upper frame begins to shatter. It now becomes obvious that within the cigar-shaped frame are eleven different round and oval balloons ranging from 75 to 200 feet in width, three of which are now cut open and loosing their gas.</p><p></p><p>Two of the other balloons are still fully inflated but now float independently away from the dirigible, these two rising quickly once free of the extra gondola weight holding them down. The remaining six interior balloons remain wedged within the still intact sections of the dirigible frame. The dirigible itself now stops rising, but continues to hold level. Abby aimed her wand again at another acid covered area, away from any allies, hoping to enlarge the hole without igniting the gas inside. The name of the last hill of Rome again passed her lips to loose a streak of fire. Ruby exclaims, "Nice shot Abby!!!" She waited to see the damage Abby did before firing off her next shot.</p><p></p><p>Another section breaks away, falling to the side and covering over the right side of the gondola. The balloon in that area gets sliced open in the process, the air shifting out, at which point the adjacent balloon to it floats free and away. By now the first three cut balloons are mostly deflated, now leaving just four fully-intact balloons of the original eleven. The frame and the dirigible begins to make a gradual descent although they are still over 1000 feet above the city. At this point they are nearly a mile from the palace, having traveled northwest and towards the Nile.</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "Freya, why don't you go in and get one last balloon with your claws! It will make you feel good and it will guarantee this thing comes down." Freya does as requested, her claws making very short work of the next balloon, which quickly shreds. The outflow of gas blows strongly against Ruby, George and Mina, who have to hold on tight to keep from being blown off from the rear claws. Another balloon then floats free, leaving just a pair of intact balloons inside the remaining frame, which quickens the descent, now at 900 feet and falling at around 50 feet a minute.</p><p></p><p>George says, “Ok, this works well, Freya are you strong enough to push or pull the airship as it descends to steer it towards a less populated place to land?" She says, "I could try, but as weakened as the remainder is, it might crumble if I apply too much pressure." Ruby says, "I think that does the job, what do you guys think? Where do we go now?" "Let's just puncture one of the others. We need them down faster. They could be teleporting out of there, and we want those people. We need to know what they know," Abby states.</p><p></p><p>Ruby listens to the others, "No, you are right. We shouldn't let them escape. If we bring them down someplace it'll be easier to confront them on the ground. I'm just afraid we're all tapped out of spells, mostly. These little wands are quite handy though! We should pick a few more up before we leave this magical land of... magic."</p><p></p><p>George tells Freya, "Let us try to do so, but from the stern. But take out one more balloon first." Abby lets off another fireball into the frame alongside one of the remaining intact balloons, which causing punctures in it. The rate of descent increases. Then the iron walls over the upper windows all vanish, subtracting close to a ton of added weight, and the descent slows as the dirigible starts to level off at a 500 foot elevation, despite only one intact balloon remaining above. Ruby is now reminded of the magical levitation plates coating the outer wall of the gondola. The four engineers and pilot appear to be frantically working. Only one of the Frenchmen is immediately seen on that deck, but some movement is also now seen on the lower level.</p><p></p><p>George calls out, "Freya, take out the last balloon" As Ruby watched the dirigible float away from them in a downward fashion, the adrenaline wearing off just a bit, she felt a sharp stab in her side. She put her hand over her wound. "Maybe a little rest is in order. This war thing is tough on a body."</p><p></p><p>Freya does as commanded, not only breaking it but pushing it away from the gondola, which now has wreckage from above draped over both the front and right side, and making it more difficult for the frantic pilots. The wreckage causes the Gondola to list to the starboard bow as it is now just 350 feet above the African continent's largest city and now descending at a rate of more than 100 feet a minute.</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "Freya, is there a way you can drag this a little bit so as it goes down it goes to a less populated area?" "Alright Freya the sin against nature is mostly destroyed, let us save what innocents we can below. Guide the gondola as best you can towards the Nile regions, it is more agricultural over that direction. They have some sort of levitation in the cabin all we need to do is push laterally don't worry about slowing it down." says George with a few mental calculations.</p><p></p><p>She flies to the right front and uses her tail to grab onto the balloon wreckage enshrouding that section of the gondola. She starts to tow it in the direction of the rice and grain warehouses closer to the Nile in the northwestern section of the city. Her pulling also accelerates the descent, with them now just 150 feet above the ground and buildings. Freya spots an open section between two warehouse that she steers it towards, now less than half-a-minute from a crash landing. George gives the count and a good twenty seconds before impact and once assured of minimal collateral damage, gives the signal to Freya to release the gondola so that she can slow herself down Ruby says, "Great job! That's a good spot, better than most I guess. Question is, what do we do once it's crashed?"</p><p></p><p>Abby and Lawrence followed the dirigible down, staying a bit back in case of any unexpected movements. Abby kept her eyes focused on what was going on inside the gondola. She was in a state of hyper-focus, vaguely aware that it was easy to miss other things when she was so solely focused on the enemy. Something had stirred in her blood during this fight and she was struggling to keep her mind in the game as well as her sword arm.</p><p></p><p>The Frenchman still on the upper deck is Mongolfier, who is working with the pilot and engineers to try to control the descent and crash. Abby sees the other pair of Frenchmen on the lower deck, one strapping himself in using some cannon supports, the other appears to be casting a spell onto one of the downed soldiers.</p><p></p><p>The gondola first strikes on the front bow, which is the part weighted down by the balloon debris. One reason that the warehouses were built in this area is that only a few feet of topsoil are above a solid stone ledge, which causes the dirigible so hit very hard, the front corner folding in like an accordion on the lower level.</p><p></p><p>The large bow cannon then digs into the dirt and hits ledge, causing the entire gondola to upend at a ninety-degree angle. The only thing preventing it from completing flipping over is the balloon debris draped and pinned into the section that had collapsed, which pulls the gondola down and to the right. The right side hits the ground hard, the three cannon on that side breaking through their supports and back into the gondola. The combined weight of all the cannon on the lower floor then cause the entire gondola to land flat on the earth with a resounding thud and a large cloud of dust blows upward. As the dust starts to settle it appears that none of the occupants are standing or moving around. George sighs and shakes his head, "Ok, let's go search the wreckage" Lawrence looks for a place to set down, while staying out of the way of Freya.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 6876842, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 86, “I have no idea what in seven hells we're doing, but let's do it anyway”, September 11, 1882, 3:00 P.M.[/B] All eight cannon fire at once. The projectile from eight-inch gun smashes a large hole in the northern section of the roof, causing a 20-foot diameter section to collapse. The three six-inch guns each break through as well, creating approximately 10-foot diameter holes and starting a fire in the room below on the east facing wall. The quartet of four-inchers do not break through, but apparently have pyrotechnic charges, as sections of the roof where they hit erupt in a rapidly spreading flame, each covering a twenty-foot diameter area. "Hades, it's like they're trying to kill us or something!" Ruby calls out as she dodges pieces of flying rubble. Mina and Abby's horses were just reaching the roof when this hits, the flame causing the animals to retreat downward at a faster pace. George and Ruby's horses run across the roof away from the flames. Freya is on foot and standing within the flames, which appear to have no effect on her despite her still being in human form. Lawrence and his mount are now six feet above the roof. Mina and Abby take off the way the came in. "We'll try to be right behind you. Take Freya with you." "George, get up!" Ruby pulls him up off the ground. "I'm not planning on sticking around to watch the fireworks. I only pray the Princess is not on that thing." Lawrence flies right in front of Ruby and she swears. "Watch out Lawrence!" she calls out. "Damn it now I don't have a shot!" Ruby then yells, "Lawrence, don't go too far! Freya, are you ready for an assault on that flying monster?" Alright thinks George "Abby climb up behind Lawrence, Freya if you could turn back into a dragon, and perhaps carry a few of us up to the dreadnaught. From there we shall break in and search for the princess as well as disable the guns. We may even be able to destroy the thing, but we have to make sure the princess is not on board." Lawrence shakes his head to clear the ringing from his ears. He hears the yelling and swoops back down onto the roof. "We need to move now. It'll take them a while to reload. Prepare boarders." He grins as he says the last bit. George notes that the eight cannon can only pivot downward up to 45-degrees, which they are currently at. That leaves a ‘blind spot’ directly beneath the gondola where the party are currently at, where there is also a large trap door that is currently closed (the trap door could be used as either an emergency exit, or to drop bombs from). He also sees that all four corners of the lower gondola also have Gatling guns. He also recalls from his previous Dreadnaught ride, that sixteen soldier work the lower gondola, twelve enlisted and two officers. Abby carried every gun she had managed to collect and could still hold while still getting up onto Lawrence's horse. "I have no idea what in seven hells we're doing, but let's do it anyway." Lawrence holds his horse still as Abby climbs up. He says, "Don't worry. I have no idea either." He waits for the others to prepare. Going up with just the two of them would be risky. Freya moves forward to the point immediately beneath the gondola, within the balloon's blind spot and transforms back into the dragon form. George recalls that it takes three minutes for the Dreadnaught to reload and over a minutes has passed by since the artillery barrage. In that time the balloon has pivoted in place 45-degrees, so that the four large cannon are now lined up with unbroken sections of the roof and the four smaller cannon with the incendiary charges are pointing directly at the holes in the roof that the larger cannon had created. "Have your weapons and spells at the ready" says George. George, Ruby and Mina hop astride Freya. George signals Lawrence to follow them up. George calls out directions to Freya as they ascend in a tight spiral underneath the dirigible, staying out of line of sight of the spotters. As they rise they pull up directly underneath the hatch on the keel on the dirigible. There, as Freya beats her wings, George holds Ruby steady as she reaches up and begins to work the latch with her tools. The deadbolt for the door is on the inside and the thick doors prove difficult for Ruby to work her tools through. Freya cranes her neck around and asks "Do you want me to just punch the door out with my fist?" By George's calculations the cannon are now within twenty seconds of firing off a second barrage. "Struggling to be heard over the wing beats of the mighty dragon, Lawrence shouts, "Do it! They can't be much longer." "Agreed" calls out George giving Freya the go-ahead signal. She tells those on her back to hang on tight. The three grip handholds between her scales as she changes her flight to stand more upright. George and Ruby are able to hang on but Mina loses her grip and falls free. Freya notices this and manages to reach out with the claw on her rear right leg and catches her. She balls up her right fist and punches the door, but due to the delay of her catching Mina it is now too late to stop the next artillery barrage which releases almost simultaneously. The trapdoor is broken totally free of its hinges and falls the 80 feet to the roof below. White smoke bellows out of the trapdoor as well as all the side windows from the artillery. Four new large holes appear in the palace roof, which now begins to resemble a moonscape, as fires erupt in the floor beneath the roof from the new incendiary charges. Freya immediately changes her flight, leveling off her back again as she flies parallel the gondola and near it to give Ruby and George access to the doorway. "Up inside before they get to the guns." cries George as he leaps through the opening and pointing the wand at a corner with soldiers quickly recites the seven hills of Rome in Italian. One advantage to Freya busting the door simultaneous to the guns going off is that all sixteen soldiers were focused on the roof, the cannon blasts and the recoil which kept all of them from hearing and noticing the trapdoor's destruction. Four of the soldiers do hear George's Italian incantations and turn in his direction just as he gets to the name of the third hill, at which point a flash of light exits the wand towards the opposite side of the room. A massive fireball erupts, instantly killing the six men caught inside the blast. It also ignites a pair of four-inch pyrotechnic shells for a secondary blast. All occupants, including George, are hurt by the second blast which physically hurls George back through the trapdoor and downward. Ruby uses her catlike reflexes to try to reach out and grab George as he falls backwards, grabbing at him while trying to brace herself against the airship. She manages to grab him, but looses her grip on the dragon's back. As they slide down the magnificent creature Freya pivots around in the air and catches them with the leg claw opposite the one holding Mina. Continued explosions erupt above in the gondola, as more ammunition is ignited. George signals Lawrence and yells “Fly over head up to the top level port side, we need to conduct a search for the princess. All hands should be headed to fight the fire here so it shouldn't be too bad. Freya, head up to starboard top level." Lawrence points upwards in understanding. "Right." He pulls back on the reins to move his horse upwards towards the upper deck. The flying horse and the dragon both fly upward. Ruby asks, "Freya, if we do find the Princess, will you be able to hold her too? How many of us do you think you can handle at one time?" She says, "I have four claws and am only holding you three in two of them." Ruby says "You are amazing! “The lower tier of the gondola is in total ruins, although curiously enough there are no fires, indicating that some fire-suppression magic had apparently been used in its creation. All of the soldiers appear to be either dead or unconscious. The dragon and flying horse reach the outside of the upper level, which appears to have been protected from the blast below. The Princess and General Orabi do not appear to be any of the seven people present on this level. Four of these men are the pilot and engineers, who appear to be hitting the controls to gain altitude as the balloon begins to rise. The other three look to be Frenchmen, two of whom George recognize from his prior meeting as Joseph-Michael Montgolfier and Jules-Henri Poincare. Lawrence shouts over his shoulder, "Abby I don't see the princess. Do you see them?" Ruby says, “Now, how do we figure out if the Princess is in there is the question. She could be in an area we can see. It's hard to know if those," Ruby points to those they can see, "Are part of the conspiracy or not. Either way I imagine this thing is not going to stay in the air for much longer now." Lawrence replies, "I'm not so sure, the balloon is fine." The dirigible begins to gain altitude and turns. Lawrence exclaims, "Crap, they're getting away. Freya, can you drop people off through the door?" George says, "Ok Ruby time to stop playing cowboy and start playing pirate. Let's go take over the airship, or at least search it." Lawrence smiles to Ruby as he nods in agreement with George. Freya says, "Why bother? They're French wizards, they all deserve to die. Why don't I just shower them in acid!" Ruby exclaims, "What if the Princess is still on there and we just can't see her? She's no French Wizard." "I didn't see women in there. Hold on...." The dragon pokes its head up by the window and inhales. She then exclaims..."Yes, only males there...." Abby paused, then said, "What's the difference between us going on there and taking them one on one, or Freya doing what she does? I doubt they'll surrender to us!" Ruby nods, "She's right." Ruby pulls out the big magical rod. "Freya, look menacing. Not that you don't already look menacing, but back me up here. Get me up by the windows." Ruby points the rod at the dirigible and yells out menacingly, "Land this thing now and you may yet live. Continue on this path and this will surely be the last stupid mistake you make! Land NOW. And if you fire one more time or make one more move that is not toward the ground, we will help you to the ground ourselves!" The dirigible continues to climb higher at a 30-degree angle. Dragon Freya has no difficulty keeping pace with it, holding the rear claw with George and Ruby by the open side window. Ruby says, "What do you think Freya? They seemed to have some sort of magical immunity to fire or ways to put out fire, do you feel like lighting this thing up? We could let them get out from over the city so as to not to injure anyone below..." Abby pulled out one of her own fireball wands and looked toward Ruby. "Looks like they're not feeling cooperative," she said, loud enough for the French to hear., adding "Mother Earth longs to welcome them home!" George sighs and shakes his head. Such a senseless waste of knowledge and talent. "Ok, Freya" says George reluctantly "Gas them" The man who George does not recognize yells out something incomprehensible in an odd variation of French. Iron walls suddenly appear where all of the open windows had been a second before. Abby says, "Alright, let's bring this balloon down. I'm going to fire this wand. Ruby, you try too. Freya, if you would be so kind as to bathe the balloon in acid, we'll bring these bastards to the ground." Abby pointed the fireball wand and began reciting the names of the hills of Rome. Freya flies up above and ahead of the dirigible. When she is directly above the upper top she lets loose a deluge of acid from her throat which showers onto the top of the outer covering. As the vehicle is still climbing at a 30-degree angle, the green liquid flows down the entire length of the material as well as spilling down the sides As Abby rattles off the name of the seventh and final hill of Rome the wand discharges. It strikes the side where some of the acid had already flowed down and the material had begun to dissolve. George had been told that the balloons were fire resistant, and they do not ignite, but the impact of the fireball itself against the already weakened balloon frame cause that section of metal and wood lattice-work beneath the outer coat to collapse inward, which then cuts holes into the interior balloon in that section. Abby whooped. "That's exactly what we want! Get a couple holes in that balloon and watch it float to the ground!" Ruby lets loose at the acid covered nose of the balloon, pointing the wand of fireball and reciting the seven hills of Rome until she learns the activation word to fire. The fireball explodes with the second hill named. As she struck where it had been most heavily coated in acid the outer covering shreds with the force of the fireball. Freya assists this shredding by grabbing a section that flies up by her and pulling while flying higher. The upper frame begins to shatter. It now becomes obvious that within the cigar-shaped frame are eleven different round and oval balloons ranging from 75 to 200 feet in width, three of which are now cut open and loosing their gas. Two of the other balloons are still fully inflated but now float independently away from the dirigible, these two rising quickly once free of the extra gondola weight holding them down. The remaining six interior balloons remain wedged within the still intact sections of the dirigible frame. The dirigible itself now stops rising, but continues to hold level. Abby aimed her wand again at another acid covered area, away from any allies, hoping to enlarge the hole without igniting the gas inside. The name of the last hill of Rome again passed her lips to loose a streak of fire. Ruby exclaims, "Nice shot Abby!!!" She waited to see the damage Abby did before firing off her next shot. Another section breaks away, falling to the side and covering over the right side of the gondola. The balloon in that area gets sliced open in the process, the air shifting out, at which point the adjacent balloon to it floats free and away. By now the first three cut balloons are mostly deflated, now leaving just four fully-intact balloons of the original eleven. The frame and the dirigible begins to make a gradual descent although they are still over 1000 feet above the city. At this point they are nearly a mile from the palace, having traveled northwest and towards the Nile. Ruby says, "Freya, why don't you go in and get one last balloon with your claws! It will make you feel good and it will guarantee this thing comes down." Freya does as requested, her claws making very short work of the next balloon, which quickly shreds. The outflow of gas blows strongly against Ruby, George and Mina, who have to hold on tight to keep from being blown off from the rear claws. Another balloon then floats free, leaving just a pair of intact balloons inside the remaining frame, which quickens the descent, now at 900 feet and falling at around 50 feet a minute. George says, “Ok, this works well, Freya are you strong enough to push or pull the airship as it descends to steer it towards a less populated place to land?" She says, "I could try, but as weakened as the remainder is, it might crumble if I apply too much pressure." Ruby says, "I think that does the job, what do you guys think? Where do we go now?" "Let's just puncture one of the others. We need them down faster. They could be teleporting out of there, and we want those people. We need to know what they know," Abby states. Ruby listens to the others, "No, you are right. We shouldn't let them escape. If we bring them down someplace it'll be easier to confront them on the ground. I'm just afraid we're all tapped out of spells, mostly. These little wands are quite handy though! We should pick a few more up before we leave this magical land of... magic." George tells Freya, "Let us try to do so, but from the stern. But take out one more balloon first." Abby lets off another fireball into the frame alongside one of the remaining intact balloons, which causing punctures in it. The rate of descent increases. Then the iron walls over the upper windows all vanish, subtracting close to a ton of added weight, and the descent slows as the dirigible starts to level off at a 500 foot elevation, despite only one intact balloon remaining above. Ruby is now reminded of the magical levitation plates coating the outer wall of the gondola. The four engineers and pilot appear to be frantically working. Only one of the Frenchmen is immediately seen on that deck, but some movement is also now seen on the lower level. George calls out, "Freya, take out the last balloon" As Ruby watched the dirigible float away from them in a downward fashion, the adrenaline wearing off just a bit, she felt a sharp stab in her side. She put her hand over her wound. "Maybe a little rest is in order. This war thing is tough on a body." Freya does as commanded, not only breaking it but pushing it away from the gondola, which now has wreckage from above draped over both the front and right side, and making it more difficult for the frantic pilots. The wreckage causes the Gondola to list to the starboard bow as it is now just 350 feet above the African continent's largest city and now descending at a rate of more than 100 feet a minute. Ruby says, "Freya, is there a way you can drag this a little bit so as it goes down it goes to a less populated area?" "Alright Freya the sin against nature is mostly destroyed, let us save what innocents we can below. Guide the gondola as best you can towards the Nile regions, it is more agricultural over that direction. They have some sort of levitation in the cabin all we need to do is push laterally don't worry about slowing it down." says George with a few mental calculations. She flies to the right front and uses her tail to grab onto the balloon wreckage enshrouding that section of the gondola. She starts to tow it in the direction of the rice and grain warehouses closer to the Nile in the northwestern section of the city. Her pulling also accelerates the descent, with them now just 150 feet above the ground and buildings. Freya spots an open section between two warehouse that she steers it towards, now less than half-a-minute from a crash landing. George gives the count and a good twenty seconds before impact and once assured of minimal collateral damage, gives the signal to Freya to release the gondola so that she can slow herself down Ruby says, "Great job! That's a good spot, better than most I guess. Question is, what do we do once it's crashed?" Abby and Lawrence followed the dirigible down, staying a bit back in case of any unexpected movements. Abby kept her eyes focused on what was going on inside the gondola. She was in a state of hyper-focus, vaguely aware that it was easy to miss other things when she was so solely focused on the enemy. Something had stirred in her blood during this fight and she was struggling to keep her mind in the game as well as her sword arm. The Frenchman still on the upper deck is Mongolfier, who is working with the pilot and engineers to try to control the descent and crash. Abby sees the other pair of Frenchmen on the lower deck, one strapping himself in using some cannon supports, the other appears to be casting a spell onto one of the downed soldiers. The gondola first strikes on the front bow, which is the part weighted down by the balloon debris. One reason that the warehouses were built in this area is that only a few feet of topsoil are above a solid stone ledge, which causes the dirigible so hit very hard, the front corner folding in like an accordion on the lower level. The large bow cannon then digs into the dirt and hits ledge, causing the entire gondola to upend at a ninety-degree angle. The only thing preventing it from completing flipping over is the balloon debris draped and pinned into the section that had collapsed, which pulls the gondola down and to the right. The right side hits the ground hard, the three cannon on that side breaking through their supports and back into the gondola. The combined weight of all the cannon on the lower floor then cause the entire gondola to land flat on the earth with a resounding thud and a large cloud of dust blows upward. As the dust starts to settle it appears that none of the occupants are standing or moving around. George sighs and shakes his head, "Ok, let's go search the wreckage" Lawrence looks for a place to set down, while staying out of the way of Freya. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
Top