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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Urko" data-source="post: 2261933" data-attributes="member: 30822">The journey beginsAgreed. And Tailspinner seems to be MIA - I'll NPC him for a few days and if we don't hear from him I'll look for a replacement player to assume the part. Let's assume that Borden came in late in the night, went to sleep without speaking to anyone (except maybe Eff Flat) and left before everyone else got up (seems like older people always get up at the crack of dawn <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />). In your reactions to the departure sequence, please bear in mind that most of you will also be meeting Borden for the first time.One final note - I'm in a play that's opening this weekend, so if my posts are a little sporadic over the next couple days, please bear with me.The sun is shining brightly and a brisk breeze carries the scent of the hordes of orange taelfir blossoms crowding the banks. Most of the boats are already out; fisherman plying the waters where the river meets the sea, patrol boats keeping a watchful eye for carnivorous dinosaurs and other aquatic dangers, and even a few pleasure craft. Calabas waits for you at the entrance to Pier Six, leaning against the railing. He is dressed less formally than yesterday, although still all in black. He wears a simple short-sleeved shirt, knee breeches, and sandals, capping it all with a wide brimmed safari hat, which he tips in greeting. ”Good morning!  Slept well, I hope?  Shall we get this journey underway?”  He leads you to the end of the pier.  ”All aboard Kolbek’s Pride!”The boat is a broad, rectangular shape, about ten feet wide and twice as long. It’s flat-bottomed and only the slight rounding of the front end and moderate angling of the prow give it any streamlining at all. The most prominent feature is a two-armed, dragonshard-studded wooden construction with loops on each end, mounted on a swiveling boom at the stern of the vessel. Erin recognizes it as the containment structure of an elemental ring, similar to those used on airships, although the elemental itself is dormant at the moment. There is an elevated chair in front and just to the left of the boom, from which the pilot can change the ring’s angle and direction. The area immediately in front of the pilot’s chair is open and about half full of carefully roped-down crates and barrels. At the front of the boat are four benches for passengers, two on each side. Poles support a green and yellow striped canopy that covers the entire length of the boat.Calabas is in high spirits as the party boards.  ”This is a prototype of the river runners the Orien couriers use - perhaps you have seen them? This particular vessel is a bit larger than the ones the House of Passage finally settled on, and not quite as fast. Still, the entire trip will not take more than eight hours or so. We should arrive at the plantation in time for dinner.” Once you are all seated and your gear is stowed, Calabas climbs up to the pilot’s seat. He places his left arm into an intricately carved cradle attached to the seat and wraps his hand around a smooth black stone that protrudes from the hand rest.The armature assembly shudders as the dragonshards along its length, carved into the shape of binding runes, begin to glow from within. Vague, misty shapes coalesce within the two loops and stretch out to join together and begin rotating, forming a ring of turbulent air about fifteen feet in diameter. As the ring picks up speed it is accompanied by the sound of an increasingly violent gale. Calabas shouts over the din. ”If you think this is bad, just wait until we get up to full speed!” Grasping the steering stick with his right hand, he angles the ring slightly upwards and the boat slowly backs away from the pier. Once clear, Calabas releases his grip on the black stone, then regrasps it. The elemental ring halts briefly, then reverses direction. Kolbek’s Pride lurches forward as it picks up speed while Calabas maneuvers into open water. The noise of the elemental ring rises until it seems as if a hurricane is propelling you. Soon you are past the city and outlying fields and dwellings and there is nothing but unbroken jungle racing past on both sides.</blockquote>

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