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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Funeris" data-source="post: 2782969" data-attributes="member: 22792">Moving on...Everyone follows the General toward the ship; some more cautiously than others.  The doorway, porthole, through which the others had entered, shuts before anyone can reach it.  A resounding click-clakt booms—the sound of a lock or series of locks sealing that entrance from the inside.A few of you glance curiously toward the General but he nods and the back hatch of the airship cranks open.  You can see a rather large, empty space, sealed completely by wood and metal from the other portions of the ship save for a single, iron door.  The door—and the walls surrounding it—offer no view into the other compartments.This time, everyone is cautious as they climb into the back of the ship.  This single room has obviously been equipped personally to suit the General’s needs.  After all, there is no where else in the ship where he could fit comfortably.  And further observance of the hull proves this theory—the wood of the hull was roughly cut to create a hatch that could flip open for easy entrance and exit.  Once the wood was cut, iron was bolted to its weak ends and then built into a skeleton-like support—Gregor actually admires the skill of the iron-workers.  The rear of the ship looks exactly like a cadaver’s rib cage (assuming no harm had come to the bone structure—of course) even down to the perfect scale and exact number of supports.At one side of the rear hatch, a clockwork mechanism—a steel box with a rotating handle and a handful of visible gears, sits solemnly beside an equally respectful, smaller Kaeruniban.  A thick, heavy chain darts from a pulley at the bottom of the mechanism up to the ceiling of this compartment where it passes through another pulley with spokes and then stretches horizontally to the bottom of the opening.  Once you all climb into the ship, the Kaeruniban unwinds the handle, releasing more chain from the mechanism.  The rear of the ship lowers into place and the small metal-man darts around the edge, sliding a series of locking bars into place.Now inside, the wood and metal vibrate warmly beneath your collective toes.  The ship lurches—as do your stomachs—and you’re airborne.  The General slides a wooden hatch to the left revealing a window covered by glass.  Outside, the blue sky is crystal clear—inside, the bright rays of light illuminate the cramped-feeling of the space.General Mechae hands the map and a quill to Cassock, “Mark the approximate location of the village”.  Before Cassock can scratch upon the paper—Soter snatches the map.“It was my home,” the sorcerer says.  “I know the location better than you.”  He hastily scrawls a rough orb on the paper, annotating it with: Leuo, and then hands it back to the iron giant.  The General hands it to the smaller Kaeruniban who carries the map through the doorway.  Before he has gone two paces past the door, the heavy metal door is slammed shut.  Again, the series of clicking locks echo through the air.Several long moments pass before the General breaks the uncomfortable silence.  “We didn’t really expect to meet the Caeliban here.  The possibility existed, but until we saw the gate we thought the skirmish would be unlikely.”“Then why are you here?” the priest questioned—trying to be at least sociable, in the event the metal giant decided they still required interrogation—especially after the warlock’s comment.“Long ago, after the Gods’ War but before the Gods’ Plague had run its full course, the Aedilean Empire feared it was the last nation standing in the world.  Our King, Laurien Aelyc may he live forever, sent out a number of expeditions to search for other survivors.  Most of the expeditions failed, some never even returned—vicims to piracy or bad fortune, we thought.  “One such expedition was led by Lord Atryus of Tide’s Bend, a great nephew of King Laurien.  He brought a fleet of ships south and stumbled across this isle—which he then mapped and lived upon for many years.  Eventually, he decided to set back and left a portion of his people upon the isle Atryus.  “When he returned to the Empire, Atryus only had one ship left.  He had been attacked mid-voyage by creatures that could supposedly appear and vanish like so many shadows in a flickering light.  Atryus and a skeleton crew had managed to survive the attack from an unknown amount of Caeliban.  He died in the arms of his uncle upon the day of his return.“Our true mission here was to find the descendants of that first voyage.  And now we have found those ‘rats’ as one of your advisors so rudely described it.”  Mechae glares at Rhynos, rage filling his eyes. “ No, the women of Leuo are not willing subjects.  Like all things the Caeliban wish for—they deceive, they steal, they rape.”The general goes silent and the remainder of the trip is spent in silence.  Rhynos can feel the glare upon the nape of his neck and does his best to shrink into non-existence, all while wearing his traditional smirk.Finally, the ship lurches downward toward the ground.  In moments, it shakes as it touches the ground.  The Kaeruniban returns from the front of the ship and cranks open the hatch.  General Mechae steps out of the ship, followed closely by all of you, into the familiar sight of Leuo.  Thatched huts stretch outward away from the river Leuo, really a stream here where it’s been pinched together by the domiciles.  A group of the villagers wait anxiously around—all shy away from the giant metal man as he steps toward them.  But upon catching sight of you—the prophesied heroes—the crowd erupts into cheers.</blockquote>

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