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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pogre" data-source="post: 7133572" data-attributes="member: 6588">The Saga of Lucius Victorium Gnaeus Episode Six The dawning sunlight flickered through the dirty inn window as I finished my early morning prayers to Kord. Truly I was blessed. Escaping from slavery with nothing but the shirt off of my back, I now had enough coin for food, shelter, and a fine set of armor and weapons. If I was truly a chosen of Kord, I knew greater challenges lay ahead. Only through darkness can the Will shine. I knew this was not a mere platitude, but soon my blessed deity Kord would demand more of me with the boons He had provided. The strongest armor is true faith. The task before us was defined, but challenging. We had agreed to save the sister of a Halfling chef, Mr. Huggybottom (an unfortunate family name), from captivity. Ms. Huggybottom was being held on a great airship known as Grim’s Folly. Mr. Huggybottom had absconded with a great gem that was the primary propulsion magic of the airship. In revenge, and assumably to gain leverage over Mr. Huggybottom, the dastardly captain of the airship had kidnapped his sister. One would assume such a rare and large artifact as an airship lacking main propulsion would be relatively easy to find. Yet, we were not precisely sure where the airship was. We did learn that the ship was near the city of Haven. We also knew it still had some limited mobility through its lesser maneuvering gems. Finally, we had learned that the ship’s cabin boy frequently came to Haven to buy supplies for the ship. The cabin boy’s identification would be made much simpler by his chosen companion, a bugbear. The task would thus be to follow the cabin boy and the bugbear back to the airship. We had obtained a detailed diagram from Huggybottom of the airship’s layout. The airship was nothing akin to the floating spheres released at Needfest, this was a massive vehicle. We had some idea of a few locations where the hostage might be held on the ship, but nothing solid. Unfortunately, finding the airship might be the easiest part of our task! ***** It occurred to me that we would need a way to follow the cabin boy after he had made his purchases at the market. In other words, we would need to hire or buy a boat. After inquiring about available boats from several locals they suggested with some visible contempt that perhaps we should try the boatyard. Patience for foreigners was not a particular strong suit for Haven residents, even during market times. The shipyard was located, and after limiting haggling, a suitable long boat was purchased. The longboat, christened secretly by me as Kord’s Divine Waverunner, was deposited near numerous other boats at the end of the central market island. A short discussion ensued on whether the newly purchased conveyance required a guard, but observing all the rest of the nearby boats had made no such safeguards, we adjudged our craft safe for the nonce. The search for the cabin boy and the bugbear on the island, crowded by trade traffic, began in earnest. I quickly determined that this market would be a very tough place for a pickpocket to make a living. Guards were seemingly everywhere. Even a lively debate between merchants and customers drew their immediate attention. This state affairs quickly nullified any notions of employing our “plan B” of kidnapping the cabin boy and forcing him to reveal the location of the airship. The powerful magician, Shen and I pronounced that we would remain on the end of the island where the bulk goods were sold. We were confident someone seeking to restock an airship would largely spend their time there. Faithless and Thock would do laps around the island looking. Edgy, the cat of fugacious intent and wandering motives, would search in his own way, which at best could be described as distractedly. Shen, the Elf-blooded, sharp-eyed illusionist, spied the pair first bartering with a merchant. After a quick word it was decided that Shen would keep track of our quarry and I would alert the others. I promptly found Thock and Faithless and directed them back to Shen. My remaining task of finding Edgy was akin to pushing a chain up a tree. Fortuitously, I found Edgy eyeing some market items with the malefic intent of committing a petty crime. I distracted him long enough to bring him back to the rest of the group. The cabin boy was a sandy-haired youth with a bob in his step and a friendly countenance. No doubt his bargaining leverage was greatly enhanced by his companion. The bugbear exuded malice and was ugly even by the standards of that foul race. The bugbear was over seven feet tall and seemingly just as wide at the shoulders. His shambling gait and ease of lifting heavy boxes gave evidence of his tremendous strength. The pair loaded their small sloop with their numerous purchases and set sail on the river. Our crew scrambled to our beached longboat to give chase. The straight river leading to the city of Haven was fairly easy to navigate but required arduous rowing. The strain of the rowing began to tell as we moved up the river. As those mighty waters bent back and forth like a colossal, liquid snake we were quickly losing sight of our sailing target. We rounded one bend in the river far from the city and just caught sight of the sailing ship going aloft. Many curses were sounded as we realized we were now tailing a flying vessel! Quickly the longboat was rowed ashore as we kept an eye on the sloop floating over a wooded area away from us. Hasty efforts to conceal the rowboat with a bit of brush was made before we took off on foot following. Our only hope was that the sloop would not go far or we would surely lose it. To add to our difficulty we were now travelling on some rough ground through the woods. With heads craned high we tried to catch glimpses of the sloop through the trees’ canopy. Occasionally, someone would go down and try to pop right back up to continue the pursuit. Then, someone tripped over a nest of ground hornets. We forged our way through that stinging cloud, weaving and slapping at the pests as we sprinted on. Thock managed to catch a glimpse of the sloop in the far distance and encouraged the exhausted group to redouble our efforts. Suddenly, I felt something large and leathery drop on my shoulders from above. As thick coils tried to wrap around my torso, I could tell I had been attacked by a massive snake. A scream from Faithless confirmed that there was not one snake attacking us, but two! While most of the group struggled with the snakes, Thock continued his bounding chase of the sloop. As unnerving as the constrictor attacks were, the group actually made short work of the snakes and continued our hasty travel. Now we were chasing Thock and were hoping the big orc-blooded barbarian was keeping the sloop in sight. I noticed we were catching Thock and then realized he had actually stopped. As we breathlessly caught up to Thock, he turned toward us and put a finger to his lips to indicate we should move quietly. Thock had reached the edge of the treeline of the woods and was walking cautiously in half circles looking up through the trees. “Where is the sloop?” Faithless whispered. “It disappeared,” Thock answered. “You lost it?” Faithless asked. “Yes, but it just disappeared,” Thock replied. He pointed at the wide expanse of sky beyond the treeline. “If it continued in this direction, I should be able to see it for a long way yet.” “It’s invisible?” Shen queried. “A possibility,” I offered. Now we were trying to chase a flying and invisible sloop - not good odds. The Tabaxi offered to scale a nearby tree and see if he could tell where the sloop had gone. Scaling one of the taller trees, Edgy stumbled on what appeared to be a large anchor chain that reached up and disappeared in the sky. He came back and reported to the group. After a quick discussion we surmised the sloop had actually docked on the airship, which was enclosed in some sort of displacement field. A cold camp was set up and we decided on a watch. The plan was in the late evening we would storm the airship and rescue the halfling’s sister. “What if we have Edge shimmy up the chain and check things out first?” Shen suggested. “I do not plan on doing any shaking style dances,” Edgy retorted. “No, just shimmy up the chain - you know - climb it,” Shen replied. “Oh, you mean have me SHINNY up the chain and scout around,” Edgy stated. “That, I will do.” “Shinny?” Shen asked. “Indeed,” the smirking cat replied. Shen shook his shoulders and the plan was agreed to. ***** That evening while I was on guard there was a large POP noise, almost explosive in nature. The rest of the group was startled awake and quickly inundated me with questions about what the noise was. I had no idea, but was fairly certain it had originated on the ground not far from our camp. A quick search yielded no source of the noise. The event was concerning, but remained a mystery. ***** They say what makes man the wisest animal is his ability to learn from his past. THEY have never met our group. Once again we were trusting Edgy to go up and scout a situation and report back quickly to the group. This really is akin to sending a toddler to the pantry to fetch a broom - 20 minutes later you get up and go to the pantry to find the toddler eating from a wheel of cheese. That was about the level of focus we could expect the Tabaxi to have, and yet, here we were doing it again. In preparation for Edgy’s scouting, Shen cast his ineffable invisibility spell on him. We heard Edgy quickly scale the tree, climb the chain and was gone. Minutes went by, and then, a quarter of an hour went by. “We need to go after him,” Shen suggested. It was agreed to with myself mumbling something about the predictable whimsy of our cat-like friend. One-by-one we slowly scaled the chain and made our way to the deck of a large ship. ***** We had climbed aboard the craft in the aft section. We were not immediately confronted by its crew, nor did we have any indication Edgy was nearby. “Mayhaps you should drop the dweomer so we can find Edgy?” I whispered to Shen. “Guessing at Edge’s predilection of placing himself in dire circumstances, that might not be wise,” Shen answered. I was forced to agree. We carefully made our way around the edge of the back of the ship’s deck and could see a bugbear guard stationed in the structure above our place. If we moved further forward the beast would surely see us. Shen stepped forward and unleashed Shen’s Suggestion of Slumbering spell and the bugbear fell with a THUD. Unfortunately, Shen’s arcane vocalizations alerted others and soon bugbears in various parts of the ship were bellowing in alarm! A bugbear across the deck started towards our group and with a prayer the Greater Glorious Bolt of Kord brought him down. Not far from where the bugbear was felled by the almighty righteousness of Kord Edgy appeared opening a door, attacked a bugbear, and then slammed the door. While Edgy avoided contact with the bugbears the rest of the party slew every one that crossed their path. The melee slowed down, but suddenly things took a turn for the worse. Captain Grim, a cambion, appeared on the deck. Strife is a Blessing under the will of Kord. Without hesitation the group threw themselves at the cambion. Captain Grim realizing the danger of facing such a crowd retreated into the forecastle. Edgy was noticeably absent from the effort against the cambion. The combined efforts of the group was taking its toll on the Captain, and then suddenly, he disappeared. “He planeshifted,” Shen announced disgustedly. “What?” Thock asked. “He is no longer in this world,” Shen replied. There were still a few bugbears loose on the ship. As the group began mopping up the bugbears, we heard a female voice yelling. “Put me down!” the voice cried out. As the bugbears fell we watched as a petite, female gnome screamed at Edgy on the deck. Finally, Edgy set the gnome down and she sprinted away from him back into the forward structure. ***** When the last bugbear fell the group congregated in the small cabin where Edgy had found the diminutive female. She introduced herself as Molly Sprocket, captive head mechanic of the ship. Then we learned she was Filbert Huggybottom’s sister, or more accurately, step-sister.  “You would think he might mention his sister was a different race.” I sarcastically intoned. “Well, it is rare for gnomes to be raised by halflings, but not unheard of,” Shen replied. “She almost got me killed!” Edgy whined. “You wouldn’t unhand me you flea-bitten beast,” Molly spat back. “We should dump you right over the side!” Edgy exclaimed. “Just you try, puffball,” Molly retorted. Calmer heads prevailed and Molly was convinced to fly the ship back to meet with her brother. The rescued will return to rescue the rescuer under the will of Kord. “We need to move right away before Grim can come back,” Molly said. Jolted to action by the possible return of the cambion, we immediately set about getting the ship in motion. We escorted the gnome down to the ship's bowels and listened carefully to her instructions on how to crew the flying ship. I did notice a massive pedestal with a vacant indent, which undoubtedly was reserved for the gem Filbert had stolen.  Finally, I noticed that Edgy was gone again. I set off to find him and eventually located the Tabaxi prone and unconscious in the captain’s quarters. I checked his signs to make sure he was still alive and after assuring myself that he was going to live ascertained he had set off a trap trying to open the ship’s treasure chest. I distributed the treasure amongst the group, while Edgy sulked - whether from the gnome’s insults or the loss of the ship’s fortune I could not be sure. As we set sail across the land slowly moving along I finally relaxed and began going through my pack. There I found a sealed missive with the wax imprint of my father’s house. I gingerly opened the letter and learned of my family’s incredible misfortune. Through the maze-like politics of the noble families, my father had taken the fall and was imprisoned. My mother and sister had narrowly escaped, but were impoverished and barely surviving. The letter explained they had used their last coins to get a magician to deliver this message to me. I quickly realized what the loud pop had been when I was on watch at camp the previous evening. The letter closed with a pleading to come home and restore my family. ***** I announced to my friends my predicament back home. Further, I related that following our reunification of the Huggybottoms I would be heading home to undo this injustice. My only request, that if possible, could we use the airship to speed my conveyance home. Kord answered my prayers and the group resoundingly affirmed that they would not only take me home, but offered to aid in any way they could. Kord creates the Holy Nation where there was none before. Amen.</blockquote>

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