Alejandro gives a brief scowl at his lack of stealth, draws his shortsword and stabs at the closest soldier.
Perblentious moves up and gets all the soldiers with a color spray spell.
DC 16 Will save.
2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
3 or 4 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.
5 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Sightless creatures are not affected by color spray.
Alejandro jabs and misses but then Perblentious' color spray flows over them. Three of them drop, outright, the officer stands unsteadily on his feet with the ertu hopping up and down on his shoulder and warbling.
Orin've steps out from the curtained area and asks, "How did you do that? Never mind, we need to get out of here. Let's grab Leir and the bound ones, then head to the airfield."
"Yes, I think getting out of here is a good idea. They will wake up soon enough. "
Myrtis was preparing to charge, but the sudden change in the enemy's circumstances makes her reconsider. She runs to find Lier and the bound ones instead.
Gheorix nods at Perblentious, Nice job, much less bloody than I was about to unleash... and smiles, hopping up on the cart and urging it toward the airfield with the others.
Alejandro grabs any dropped weapons before swinging up onto the back of the cart.
Perblentious climbs into the cart. Walking fast is not his strong suit.
The team makes its way through town. It seems that imperials are everywhere. You step off the main road soon after you leave the Dive (location 8, see the second slide of Map of Tattoo Island). Soon you find yourself of Tradesman's Lane running along the Trade Quarter as pointed out by Orin've. Up ahead you can make out a large structure (9) in the direction you are moving. It looks like a wooden coliseum. At the end of Tradesman's Lane you exit out into a bustling open air market which is dominated by the coliseum. Perhaps the imperials checked the market earlier but for whatever reason they do not appear to be present at the moment. Orin've explains and you recall from your far off view that the airfield is on the far side of town. Even from here you can still see giant birds and strange air ships going up and coming down in the distance. Meanwhile, the imperial ship floats ominously above.
Without pausing in the market you hurry across moving south of the coliseum. There are numerous paintings of larger than life warriors riding monstrous dogs while whipping one another. Another painting depicts a pot gold just behind a ribbon. For those who can read Greek the words surrounding the pictures are promotions for wolf racing and the ribbon before the pot of gold has the word 'finish' on it. Passing from there you continue down Airfield Avenue until you leave the town. A large customs building dominates the road immediately outside the gate. Beyond it is the airfield.
The airfield is a collection of wooden A-frame style towers standing about forty feet high. The open sided towers have a solid top and a set of spiral steps coming down the center. Airships of every variety are moored in the airfield. However, with the arrival of the massive Imperial airship, many have left and many continue to leave.
Orin’ve, any ideas who’d welcome a cargo and some extra travelers?!? Gheorix calls out in Greek as they get into the airfield, scanning the area for a likely place to jump on. anyone got any bright ideas?
"I think we run for a ship, and if we lose the cargo, we lose the cargo. I doubt we can load it fast enough. "
"We need to avoid that official looking building, I reckon. There's enough people leaving that we can hopefully get lost in the crowds."
"I managed to coordinate passage with a Captain. He left right before I came over to deal with the belligerent hobgoblin. Hopefully he is out here by now. Your cart slowed us down a bit so its possible. Come, let's find tower 9." Orin've says to Gheorix.
You move through the crowded airfield and quickly figure out the layout of the tower numbers. In short order you find Tower 9. There is a spiral flight of stairs rising through the middle of it. What do you do with the cart and its contents?
"Looks like we can't take the cart. Grab anything metal from the cart. Otherwise, I guess what's valuable at home will still be worth something here." Alejandro gathers up a bunch of stuff from the cart and heads up the stairs.
Perblentious grabs a few things, but he's small and weak, so not much. Perferably valuable things are what he chooses.
Cheorix does likewise, scooping up anything he thinks would be valuable and not too heavy for them to carry, Hurry up! Let's get away. he takes direction from Alejandro and Perblentious about what to grab up.
About half way up the steps you hear a man yell and see an imperial soldier with an ertu pointing up at you. His calls are drawing other soldiers who are scattered around the airfield. You hurry to the top just as crossbow bolts begin to bounce off and stick into the A frame around the stairs. As hoped, Captain Christoff is there.
Orin've shouts out, "Captain, I'm afraid we have uninvited guests!"
"I see that. Get your bones aboard and we'll square underway." The captain says.
The Ageless Seahawk has the frame of a standard sloop but with various flying modifications. It is suspended from several floating bags held in place by a webbing of ropes. A mast protrudes from either side so that it is side rigged. The alarm has been raised by the Imperials and chaos has ensued. Numerous vessels untie from their berths and begin to take off to include the Ageless Seahawk. At the same time, several giant seagulls with riders are disgorged by the large Imperial ship.
The Ageless Seahawk rises rapidly, gulls on an intercept course. Sailors begin firing at the birds with heavy crossbows mounted on the sides. Then the large imperial ship begins to maneuver in the Seahawk's direction. The Ageless Seahawk shoots up past the large ship which is moving quickly, and without sails. Fore and broadside ports open on the Imperial ship.
Christoff, the Captain, shouts, "Defensive screens." Four sailors run to non-standard cleats and release the ropes. When they do, a large metal net drops from the large balloon above so that it hangs like a veil all around. The impressiveness of the moment is quickly lost because of the numerous holes in the large net. But soon the reason for the holes is realized. Green sacs of acid shoot out of the opened ports of the imperial ship and fly toward the Seahawk.
Luckily the Seahawk is running across the bow of the oncoming ship and firepower is limited. Only six shots are fired sending green globs of acid hurling toward them. Four miss by yards and two strike the netting causing it to rattle and ring against the ship. Within seconds it eats holes in the metal further reducing the protective screen. With the Seahawk gaining ground the larger ship begins to come about to line up a broadside shot. On its port side it has four times as many of the deadly looking firing ports.
The Seahawk rises so fast that the wind whistles and the ship shakes. The imperial ship finishes its maneuver and fires. Twenty four globs of green acid come flying at the Seahawk. At least eight are sure to hit and another six will be close. Just before impact the ship lurches and takes off at nearly ten times its former speed. The scene of the other ship blurs behind them.
One of the sailors near the Atlanteans sees the surprise on their faces. He smiles at their ignorance and says, "We hit the slip stream. We hit her kind of 'ard so me an' me mates will 'ave ta do a bit of extra work today shoring up the rigging. But we got away." he says with another smile.
Shortly thereafter the Captain approaches the group still on the main deck. "Now, let's talk coin." he growls and negotiations begin.
Looks like Perblentious could carry about 20 lbs, and metal is particularly scarce around here so he will grab the 10 short swords and 5 cutlasses.
"I don't suppose you might have some interest in trade goods?"
Gheorix scoops up armloads of equipment, but focuses on the metal weapons as his prioritym scooping up an armload of longswords (15), his personal gear, the sunrods (3), The silk rope (3), the bow, and the alchemical glue (5). Hearing Perblentious begin the negotiations, he chips in, We do have smoe fine weapons for sale...
The captain notes your arm loads of metal weapons and a smile cracks his face. "Aye, you do at that. This passage is halfway across the empire. Even in the slipstream it will take me two weeks in plus you got imperials on me. Normally, I'd say 800 gold each for the trip but you do seem to be a pitiable lot, say 760 each but not a copper less." You find out that Orin've has already made accommodations for himself and Leir.
Gheorix takes in the captain's offer, and holds up his hand, If I may talk with my friends a moment? he gathers the rest and switching back to Atlantean, Sounds reasonable, plus I don't see many other opportunities at this juncture. Perblentious, want to make us a deal? We can easily trade some of these weapons for transportation.
"I've got this"
To the captain "Good sir while I understand you do have us over a barrel, you did see how we were forced to abandon much of our capital. I can't see us being able to go on if we were to spend more than 700 per person. We do have a trade mission to complete. "
Alejandro grabs the alchemist fire, a couple of casks of fine spirits and and armful of scimitars and climbs his way up to the top.
While the others negotiate, Alejandro looks over the ship and its crew, taking note of any differences between sailing in the air and sailing on the sea.
"I understand your plight but I still have a ship to run. 720 a head or I drop ye off at the next island." Captain Christoph replies to Perblentious.
"Done and done." then he shakes the man's hand and stacks up enough goods to meet the price. Likely they will be in metal since it's fairly heavy, if valuable.
Looks like
3 longswords, 3 cutlasses, 2 short swords and something else to make up the spare 80 GP.
"Aye, that'll about do it. Time for you to settle in, it's a bit of a trip." The captain says gathering up the weapons. "This is my first mate Dimas." he gestures to the brawny, orange haired dwarf who's been standing nearby. "He'll show you to your berthing area."
The dwarf shows you to your berthing and then departs. You find Orin've and Leir already there. It is nothing special, just a portion of the hold with hammocks hung between beams. If you have questions for the dwarf before he departs feel free to ask.
"So what exactly constitutes a bit of a trip? I'm just curious. Oh and where is our destination? Not that I'd know of it anyway. "
And Dimas, how long you been sailing on this ship? I've only helmed a ship on the water, how different is this? And what was with the Imperials back there being all mean at people? This sort of thing happen often? the celt peppers the dwarf with questions.
Myrtis grabs any remaining long blades among the weapons, short swords, long swords, cutlases, and scimitars. If there aren't enough of those to fill out her load, she takes axes for the remainder.
"Your friend Orin've asked for passage to the County of Aderall. We'll drop you all there. In the slip stream it should take us maybe two weeks to complete the trip." the dwarf answers Perblentious before Gheorix starts asking questions.
"I've been sailing going on thirty years." The dwarf says. "I haven't sailed much on the water. I've only done it when we took bladder damage and ran out of aer." He explains looking quizzically at Gheorix. "As to the imperials, they's always a nasty lot. It's their way or the brig in many a place, at least since Prince Dagan became emperor about ten years ago."
"Is there any place hereabouts which isn't the Empire? I don't know how welcome we are in there. "
"The empire covers the known world other than the night continents above." Dimas answers
Dimas leaves you with Orin've and Leir. You may ask additional questions of anyone as you choose. You have 15 days to plan, study, learn the ropes on an airship, etc.
Gheorix will spend time learning the ropes on the airship, and see how different it is from his experiences sailing on the oceans of home. At some point, he'll ask Orin've and Leir some questions:
So we're obviously not from around here - we've never even heard tell of Tattoo Island. What can you tell us about what you know? We get the Imperials are heavy-handed and mostly seem to not like anyone who isn't with them. But where do your people come from, are there origin stories? Are the Imperials at war with anyone? Is there a less-hostile government out there? Have you ever heard of Atlantis?
We were sent to establish a trade relationship in these lands, but the Imperials got off on the wrong foot so to speak with us, so they aren't an option. But we should try to stay on mission and find something to make our way home.
"The imperial seat was not always like that. As a matter of fact, it started off as an office chosen from among the nobility. It was kind of the head of a council of lords. About two hundred years ago our lands were attacked by a horde of extra-planar creatures. The head of the council was named Emperor or Dictator if you will in order to make rapid military decisions to deal with the invasion. The result was a victory and our learning the means of binding extra-planar beings. That started the imperial seat and our habit of using bound ones for menial labor. Perhaps knowing their power came from the other lords, the emperor's were pretty content to put out the occasional edict but to follow the general guidance of the council. But our current Emperor Dagan is very different. When he came to power he crushed dissent. There was a group called the Oathbound who were nomadic warrior judges. They traveled the breadth of the known world and supported the throne once it solidified after the war. However, they disagreed with Dagan's heavy handed tactics. Dagan found with Kul'Gressor, one of the greatest of the Oathbound. He formed the Bloodsworn and used them to destroy or drive the remaining Oathbound into hiding. Today, they are the crown's elite troops." Orin've says in response to Gheorix's question. "As for where we come from? There is a tale of a great migration that brought us here from a land unlike this. Many scholars, particularly since the extra-planar invasion have suggested we are in a pocket dimension that is at a crossroads of some sort in the ether. Drawing creatures in for our bindings they say is relatively simple but other non-desirable creatures can more easily access our realm. So, the powers that be are typically on the lookout for invaders." He says in response to the second part of the question. "As for Atlantis, I had never heard of it before you mentioned it."
"As for trade. The imperial seat may be against you but there is a new council of Lords that has formed. They are working to restore the old government. Perhaps you will have better luck with them. If all goes well, that is who we will be meeting with."
Alejandro will join Gheorix on learning about sailing an airship.
He'll also ask around (language barriers permitting) to see if anyone knows why all the land is in the sky rather than being on the water.
He also wants to know whether other languages than Greek are spoken anywhere, or if he should start learning it.
If you know sailing and you learn the ropes, so to speak, of the airship version, then you may apply Profession Sailor/Sailing to flying an airship without penalty.
Neither Orin've nor Dimas have any knowledge on why the continents are airborne but they always have been. According to their oldest histories it speaks of the flying isles.
Greek is the language of their ancestors. Some of the other beings in the empire such as skasaw and the bound ones have other languages but the most common by far is Marolingian (Greek).
Perblentious will spend his time asking the crew about market conditions in various areas. He hopes to get a feel for trade values and where he might set up routes.
So these Oathbound, or the new Council of Lords, how would we find them to establish trade relations, and maybe we can find someone to point us the way back home? Perblentious and Myrtis would have a better idea of how to get us home than I do for sure. Gheorix asks.
Orin've explains that he has asked to go to Aderall to return the ertu to a member of the council of Lords. You should be able to interact with them then.
After the fifteen days, everyone is above deck to witness the arrival at Aderall. The Captain's ertu, an air ertu you have learned, gives a chirp at the wheel and Captain Christoff calls down, "We'll be dropping out of the slipstream in just a moment for Aderall. Hold tight." After that he begins various commands for the sailors to execute similar to those when a ship is tacking into a storm. One of those is to tie down. The sailors do so and give the company ropes to tie themselves to a cleat or railing. The ertu chirps again and Christoff spins the wheel hard to port and holds there as the ship begins to shudder. There is a massive rushing of wind and one sailor is whipped off the deck. Luckily he was properly tied down and is pulled back to safety just as the ship settles and the wind stops howling.
Everything snaps back into focus where the sky and land masses had all been fuzzy while riding the slip stream. Directly ahead is a large land mass which takes Captain Christoff by surprise forcing him to pull hard to starboard. Dimas quickly makes an altitude adjustment, using the blue and red liquids, that takes them into a rapid dive. You have learned that blue added to the altitude device causes ships to rise and red causes them to drop.
As they get to a safe position everyone takes time to look at the land mass. At first glance it is just a small island but a more detailed look reveals windows and ballista built into the sides of the island. "Let's get out of here!" Christoff yells to Dimas. They begin turning the ship and gaining altitude when a large number of giant gulls (24) come flying around the island. The riders all carry short bows and fire at the aer bladder keeping the ship aloft.
After hitting the ship's aer bladder, at least a dozen times, one of the riders slows and calls out using a wooden megaphone. "Follow us to the landing port. If you veer off we will shoot you down."
"Burn it all. Everyone, we could be in for some trouble. Dimas, show our passengers where they will be staying." Dimas waves to everyone to follow him. He leads them all downstairs where he pops open the racks. Each rack has a thin mattress lying on a man sized board. The board opens to reveal a hollow similar to a coffin. The dwarf gestures for everyone to get in one and shows them how they lock on the inside with a sliding latch.
Perblentious hides in the space as indicated.
Gheorix takes in the scene as his stomach drops from falling out of the slipstream, Dammit, that can't be good. What do you usually use these holes for? he gives an eye to Dimas as he climbs into the hole with his weapons at the ready.
"Keeping those that don't want to be found from being found." Dimas responds before departing.
Everyone gets safely tucked away in their coffins. Then you hear the soldiers come aboard. They throw around orders, the crew seem to follow them for the most part. It sounds as if one belligerent fellow gets cuffed but nothing major. Then heavy boots can be heard in your berthing area. They look through the area, sounds like they flip a couple mattresses before they move on. Shortly thereafter you hear a sharp click and Orin've speak quietly for everyone to come out.
"We need to get out of here but we need our crew to do it." Orin've says to everyone. "I plan to go after the rookery to keep them from being able to follow our ship when we launch. Do you think the rest of you can find and rescue the Captain? I'll send the ertu with you to help with communicating with other bound ones and navigation. The siti can stay here."
"It would seem like the polite thing to do. One should rescue one's host. "
So you'll go distract the rookery, and we'll rescue the captain. Meet back here? The Ertu comes with us to help however it can? Gheorix continues to translate for Alejandro. Leir, you coming with us? he'll ask.
"Exactly," Orin've responds. "Leir should go with you. Once you get back to the ship get back underway as quickly as possible. If I'm not here look for me on top. The birds will prefer an outdoor location so the rookery is likely on the top or side mounted to the island. I've never seen a place like this so I have no idea where they have their holding cells."
Leir is not happy about Orin've going off on his own but is resigned to it. Once everyone is ready you head above deck. The landing bay is large enough to fit two caravels abreast with room for workers and framing in and around the ships though it is currently empty except for the Ageless Seahawk. A security post is on the far right wall with open windows onto the bay. Sizable tunnels, about twice the height of a man and able to accommodate six abreast, lead from the room as does a stairwell leading up.
As a local reference we will say the open bay wall to the outside is south. There is a large tunnel leading west, another going north, and a third going east. The security post is located near the east tunnel. In the middle of the room is a spiral staircase leading up. Orin've, after a quick word of encouragement, leaps over the side, lands like a cat and sprints toward and up the stairwell.