Leylyn raises an eyebrow. "You want to learn to speak fancy? I thought you hated nobles an all that fancy stuff? OK, If you want to learn, I'm more than willing to teach you."
A girl runs through a crowded street, face red with exertion, hands tightly clutching a loaf of bread to her breast. Guards pursue her, with clanking chainmail and angry eyes. They are too slow and dull to catch the thief. She runs past the merchants and their carts, past the taverns and the whores and the drunkards. She runs until she knows it isn't worth it to follow her, and there she sinks down in an alley, panting but elated.
No… I am done with this...
The day is fading, but her smile is bright as she takes a bite of still-warm bread. Sitting there, smiling at the coming darkness, face still flush from the sprint, she's beautiful.
Why now? It's been years, why now?
She appears lost in her thoughts, but she is paying close attention to the sounds, sights, and smells of the city. All seems silent and still as the hammer comes down on the side of her head. Blood spatters the bread as it falls from her limp fingers. She falls slowly sideways, her eyes wide and her mouth still nearly smiling.
A shadow detaches itself from the wall and stands over her, blood dripping from the weapon in its fist.
No, please…
The shadow looks up. Koldir is frozen to the spot as it steps past him, walking out of the alley and towards his comrades. Jevon pats it on the back, Baster gives it a nod, everyone welcoming it as a friend. As they leave, Leylyn looks over her shoulder, laughing. She has the same bright smile as the girl with the bread.
Koldir lunges forward with all his strength, and falls from the dirigible, the walls of the alley melting away as he hurtles towards the trees far below.
As he hits the ground he wakes in a cold sweat, lying on his cot in the airship. The darkness is suffocating and terrifying; he gets up and walks to the observation deck to clear his head.
"Good Evening, Koldir. What keeps you up at this very late hour of the night? Is everything alright?" Leylyn says in a very formal tone, concern in her voice. She seems to have been out on the observation deck with Jevon for some reason.
"Well, now I look like one, might as well talk like one. It's not like I'll forget how to talk like this lovey." He says. "Oh, Hullo Koldir."
Koldir seems surprised that anyone is on deck.
"Ahh... hullo. Aye, I'm alright, couldn't sleep is all. This deathtrap won't stop swayin' in the breeze..." He gives a weak smile.
"Oi, you don't look so good mate. Care for a puff?" Jevon asks, drawing out his pouch of herbs and pipe. He gently rests his hand on Koldir's shoulder. "C'mon lets sit down a bit."
Tim is elsewhere sleeping during the night, ready to rise early (to see if anybody else rises earlier then normal for the day shift.
Endrian moves sets his tent up close to the dirigible.
He then moves inside and protrates himself, praying "Eveldine, I pray that you help us uncover the one who would betray us."
"I beseech you for the wisdom you possess in order to judge fairly and correctly."
"Eveldine, bless my companions with your favour. They are good people and they have shown me many kindnesses. Help them as you help me to become better people striving for holiness."
"Thank you for your aid in slaying the dragon that had been set upon us. I do not know why or how, but your grace assisted me in ensuring that it brought no further harm to the people of this world."
"Eveldine, I recommit myself to you. I am your blade, your hand and your messenger, aid me in seeing when each is appropriate."
Endrian turns and removes his armor, donning his clerics vestments.
He then begins polishing Sera, taking extreme care and looking for any marks or scuffs from the battle, paying extra attention to those as he cleans.
Sleep may not find me tonight...
Koldir sits heavily down on the deck, resting his head against the railing. He takes Jevon's pipe gratefully and stares up at the balloon and the night sky beyond as he smokes. After a few somewhat frantic puffs he begins to calm down.
"Thank ye, Jevon. What are ye two doin' out here so late?" Koldir is anxious to get the topic of conversation away from himself.
"It aint no big secret or nufin'. I was askin' Leylyn to teach me how ter talk proper-like." He takes the pipe from Koldir, and after a long drag continues, "Guess I just aint want no fancy nobles to find out and mock me. Reckon my secret's safe wiv you two vagabonds tho'. Leylyn?" He says offering the pipe her way. "Sure is beautiful up here, aint it?"
On this night, Baster is sleeping on a out of the way wooden bunk in the dirigible, tucked under woolen sheets, with his scorpion whip in reach, and gently rocked by the soft movements of the airship.
He doesn't dream, or if he does, he won't remember it in the morning.
Ithriel is as well sound asleep and does not have a single dream, normal or prophetic, the entire night.
Endrian eventually falls asleep as the days events catch up with him.
Ithriel wakes the next morning before most of the camp, and goes a little ways into the woods. There he performs his morning Elven Meditation Dance.
Ithilinde templa,
Miqula romen lisse,
Sul tel'lina,
Quanta ar'tiri coia.
Afterwards, he goes back to camp and find Leon.
"Well my friend, shall our lessons of combat begin?"
Leon nods, hefting a practice sword and a book.
"This is the Tennants of Bladework by Sir Valens Lioncourt. I'm told that nearly all of today's fencing schools are an offshoot of his ideas. Read it. Today we'll start with hand and foot drills."
Handing over the book, Leon takes a wide stance with his right leg back but his shoulders still square and forward. He held the sword in two hands.
"There are nine basic cuts, and eight basic directions of movement. Those in addition to "holding ground", which means not moving your feet, makes eighty one basic attacks. They are numbered according to footwork first, cut second. So movement number one, which is straight forward, and attack number one, which is a left-to-right cut to the head or shoulders, is attack eleven."
"I know this sounds daunting, but the idea is to reduce movements to mathematics to more easily discuss them and teach them. It means that even after your body is weak and exhausted, you can still train with your mind. It creates a language to weigh combat options with. Once you train long enough the translation into numbers becomes automatic, and the various formulas for defense will flow naturally. Eventually I'm told the numbers become like higher math, more abstract than anything else. Today though, we will start with simply counting." Leon grins. "When you hear about people fighting "by the numbers", that's what it means."
"I see. Like this?" Mimics Leon's stance. "Let us begin."
The sounds of numbers and clashing wood sound through camp for a time, occasionally breaking to explain nuance and technique. It sounds a lot like a very violent mathematics lesson.
Endrian wakes up to the sounds of Leon and Ithriel's training session.
Panicking for a second, he grabs Sera and bursts from his tent, only to see Leon drilling Ithriel in the artform of swordcraft.
He calls out, "Ho, friends! Do mind if I join you for some drills?"
"I do not see why not, young one." Ithriel repositions himself to face both men. "Your move."
Endrian places Sera down gently on a nearby weapon rack retrieving instead a simple longsword.
"I apologise, I am a little rusty..." he says addressing both Leon and Ithriel.
He then turns to Leon "Swords never were, my forte... What is the basic stance again?"
Tim watches those three throw sticks around until he spots Ms. Koyr.
"Excuse me, Koyr right? I am a mage of a little skill and was wondering if you would like discuss magic with me? I hear you are talented and as you can see ..." He gestures to Leon and folks, "..my friends don't exactly talk about about mana theory."
"Square shoulders, strong leg back and wide, sword centered at pelvis level and aiming toward your enemy's chest. This is called lead-center stance, everything else comes from it."
Leon ran Endrian through the same basic drills of footwork and cuts that he'd been showing Ithriel, explaining the numbers and how they fit together.
As Leon guides him through some of the basic drills, years of training begin to shine through in his actions, however, Endrian looks uncomfortable as he goes through the routines.
He eventually throws the sword down in frustration.
"Gah! There is too much ridiculous finesse in this! How can you expect to knock your foe apart when you extol all of your effort getting the sword in the right place to strike?! With a hammer you can be guaranteed of causing serious damage with every connect!"
He picks up the sword as though it were a rag of filth and moves over to the rack, thrusting the sword in indignantly. Retrieving Sera, he storms off back to his tent.
Leon shrugs and watches Endrian leave. "I guess if I could heal myself with a prayer I'd worry less about footwork too." he said to Ithriel.
Leylyn smokes up with Jevon before finally going to bed late.
--
Leylyn wakes up late. She's just rubbing the sleep out of her eyes when Endrian enters the tent. "Oh, hey Endrian. When did you wake up?" She says sleepily. "Ugh. Mornings are evil..." Leylyn sees that Endrian is not in a very good mood. "Hey! I know! You should totally smite the morning for me! Then we could sleep in to our hearts content! Isn't that a great Idea?" She says as she stretches. Apparently Leylyn had fallen asleep in Endrian's tent. Again. And he had somehow not noticed this time...
Leylyn continues the conversation as she gets dressed in her usual non-modest fashion. "So, What's the game plan today? Get to know those three potential traitors? Watch them from afar? Do you think the captain will be alright with me setting off fireworks? I'm totally dying to try them out! I haven't seen any since I was a little street urchin! Do you like fireworks Endrian? I bet they set them off all the time during the religious holidays where you trained at. I bet it was totally awesome!"
Once dressed Leylyn waves to Endrain as she leaves the tent, or follows him out. She then decides to look around for the three that they are tasked to watch, to at least recognize them by sight.
After having woken up, freshened up and eaten breakfast, Baster goes out in the dirigible's open deck.
Leaning on the railing, he spends some time observing Leon teaching the basics of swordmanship to Ithriel.
Leon is a good teacher. And an obviously good fencer, though I never doubted that.
It's obvious he learned from an expert himself: his footwork is so deeply ingrained as to be instinctual. I have a hard time believing he grew up in a farm... Still, there's something of the fields about him... he's very grounded.
Ha, here comes Endrian.
Hmm. How is someone - so evidently gifted - prone to doubt himself so much, I'll never understand. Did they not teach you confidence on that paladin chapter house of yours, Endrian ? Bloody priests and all, with their soul searching nonsense, that's not how you make prideful men !
"Do not judge him too harshly. He has had a great deal thrown at him since this journey started." Ithriel says as he blocks Leon's next three strikes. "And last night was probably very tough for him indeed."
After a couple more minutes of sparring, "I believe that is enough for today. We have other business to attend to." Bows to Leon, "Thank you for the lesson, we shall continue later." Heads off to locate Keddemas.
Baster looks at Endrian storming off from the training session on the ground below.
The man needs to get laid, pure and simple !
Endrian goes into the tent he shares with Leylin.
What do Leylin and him do in that tent every night ? Does she give him knitting lessons ?
The nobleman chuckles.
Well, enough dallying. We need to discover the traitor in our midst !
Shading his eyes with his palm, Baster looks at the morning sun, beaming down on the dirigible and on the verdant plain below.
"Is it not the perfect day to gut some perfectly despicable felon ?" he says aloud - though nobody is around to hear him, hopefully.
Koldir, much recovered from his nightmare, is scanning around for any of the three they're watching. He uses a bit of magic to aid himself.
As he's keeping an eye out he observes some of the combat training. He has little patience for the true art of combat, as he spends too much time practicing his magical skill. He chuckles, and silently agrees when Endrian talks about the hammer, but then his face grows grim. He puts his attention fully into watching for the three suspects again.
Tim watches those three throw sticks around until he spots Ms. Koyr.
"Excuse me, Koyr right? I am a mage of a little skill and was wondering if you would like discuss magic with me? I hear you are talented and as you can see ..." He gestures to Leon and folks, "..my friends don't exactly talk about about mana theory."
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+4
Koyr smiles politely at you and looks over to your friends. "I can see that... unfortunately I already have plans. There's a lot to prepare for the dirigible and I can't afford time for chit chat. Perhaps... we can talk again when we're up and above?"
After an unsuccessful search for Keddemas, Ithriel gathers his things and heads towards the Dirigible. I'll wait until he boards before I approach him. Nods at Baster while he boards.
As Endrian walks into the tent, he is taken aback by Leylyn's sudden appearance.
Was she here all night?
At the suggestion of smiting the morning, Endrian uses his Detect Evil ability.
"Eveldine, is this morn truly evil?"
When it does not ping as evil, he turns to Leylyn, "Sorry Leylyn, according to Eveldine, morning is not evil. Gah, I'm sorry, I've been in a bit of a foul mood and sword training doesn't exactly bring out the best in me..."
Attempting to respond to Leylyn's flurry of questions, Endrian quickly becomes tongue tied "The game plan? Well I guess... Yes we should try and find the... Maybe afar is the... Wait, did you say 'set off fireworks'? Here?"
Trying to make sure Leylyn doesn't destroy the dirigible with a firework, Endrian makes sure to follow her.
Jevon will also seek out Tiny. If he sees Tiny he will begin observing its movements and actions.
Having no idea what to do to help get the Derigible aloft, Leon packs up his practice gear and makes arrangements for the group's horses while they are on air patrol duty.
To Koyr, "Perhaps I can help? I have been learning whatever I can about this thing."
Tim helps with the dirigible, either with her if she allows or elsewhere if she doesn't. Either way he keeps an eye on her.
As Endrian walks into the tent, he is taken aback by Leylyn's sudden appearance.
Was she here all night?
At the suggestion of smiting the morning, Endrian uses his Detect Evil ability.
As the morning reaches its zenith, the dirigible is stocked with supplies, and the men and women assigned to it climb aboard. Each cabin is separated into three bunks each.
Though unassigned for now, it would be wise to choose quickly.
As you all prepare to climb aboard, you can see the three suspects clearly. Miss Koyr is heading inside, Keddemas is staying outside near the railings while "Tiny" seems to be observing some clouds from the aft deck.
Endrian approaches Leylyn, "Would you be uh.. Interested in.. Uh... Bunking with me?"
Tim follows her inside looking to claim a room. He follows her to one pretending to not see her till he enters, "Oh it's you again. Mind if I claim a bunk? Or should I move on?"
Baster looks curiously to Keddemas and unobstrusively to Tiny. He will try to bunk with the halfling, following him when he'll choose his cabin.
Let us assume that he is a male. By Eveldine's wardrobe, I can't imagine a woman willingly dressed like that !
Speaking of women: Baster is momentarily distracted from his detective duties as he sees the beautiful miss Koir and Tim Deamon going in search of a cabin.
It seems that our Tim was inspired here... Who knows what wonders this eldritch woman can call upon in the intimacy of the bedroom ?
...
By the way: isn't Leylin a magical woman in her own rights ? Ho, yes, very much, I would say...
Distracting thoughts abound !
Jevon will take a bunk and go to talk to Tiny. "Wotcha lookin' at mate?"
Walks over to Keddemas and says, "Good morning forest brother, is not today a day to sail the heavens?'"
I think I will try and share a cabin with this man.