Sorry for the delay, this slipped off my radar.

"Aye it won't make a big difference, another day perhaps two." replied Braenar.

With that the impromptu conference dispersed and Braenar returned to the flight deck. Shortly after the airship gently turned towards distant Waiaki island and the fans roared up to pull power. It was going to be a long trip and many things could happen along the way.

But do they? No, plain sailing so far.
1d100 ⇒ 35
1d100 ⇒ 87

The first week passes quietly with the Xunlai islands a receding memory. Still there was much work to do, and the archeologists busied themselves cataloguing the finds. Dr Munroe was writing a paper, which he intended to file in the restricted archives under the hundred year rule. Professor Dexter was writing several papers based on the strange creatures and the pink grasses you encountered. She also had to take care of several dangerous looking animals she'd captured for the zoo. Professor Upham was awed by the Mind Vesta and unlike most of the crew who shunned it, he followed it around like an excited child asking a never ending series of questions. Vesta responded to these inquires with inhuman patience although it was clear it would not talk about technology with immediate military application, deeming society as being unready.

This is a natural break to level up. Congratulations you're now level 6! As part of your WBL you may claim technological items as part of Vesta's bequest, this includes weapons. Vesta won't explain how to build copies but it doesn't seem overly concerned about a few side arms falling into your hands.

Braenar blew his cheeks out and hummed and hawed before replying, "Maybe three weeks, perhaps four depending on the weather. We've got the supplies to go there directly but we'll need to resupply before anywhere else."

Braenar fusses with his beard as he mutters, "Aye that we can, the Buoy would likely survive deeper than any airship on account of being small and very sturdy. Still t'would be a terrible death we'd consign anyone that follows."

After a moment's consideration his tone changed, "Bah! If any captain's fool enough to follow that signal into the depths of the world they deserve everything they get. Everyone knows its death, even if strange things have been seen below."

Quarter of an hour later and with little ceremony a reprogrammed buoy is loaded with the tracker chip and dumper overboard to slowly descend into the interior. Meanwhile Braenar spun the Dawntreader's wheel to point in a semi random direction and so you all headed NNW at top speed.

Giving everyone nearby a meaningful glance, Braenar asked "That course is good for some hours but we need to decide where to go next."

Braenar spoke up, saying "Nae, I have a better idea. Let's attach it to a weather buoy, sail low until the winds howl release it. That'll send The Kez on a merry chase and no mistake!"

The lines holding the Dawntreadder down were hauled in and with a gentle whirr of the rotors the airship bobbed upwards. True to Dr Munroe's words you headed more or less straight up giving a fantastic view of the ruins and the churning atmospheric vortex that surrounded the archipelago. Of the Kez ships mercifully there was no sign.

As you climbed higher the air grew thin and frigid and still the vortex towered over you. Braenar herded everyone inside and declared, "The Dawntreadder has a few non standard tricks up her sleeve, if all the doos and port holes are closed she's hermetically sealed. She can't hold a full atmosphere but she can maintain three quarters, we're going to go up and over. Might get a little bumpy but nothing like before!"

For the next hour The Dawntreadder kept on rising until the haze obscured the islands below and you were level with the mountainous crown of the storm. But your ascent wasn't finished yet, up you rose until the port holes froze over with ice and the hull began to sing from the pressure. You looked out of the heated bridge House windows to see the great maelstrom below. Satisfied at last Braenar steered to starboard and the Dawntreadder slowly came round before starting the long journey west. As you passed far over the rim of the maelstrom the still air become markedly rougher but not enough to really pose a problem.

After a couple of hours the bouncing smoothed out and Braenar adjusted the Lift Crystal trim and the ship slowly descended. Everyone's ears popped a few hours later when you'd descended low enough to open the doors. Everyone crowded outside and below there was an endless plain of white clouds, above the azure of a late summer afternoon.

Before long a call came from one of the lookouts and Braenar and Mirriam bustled out to greet you. Braenar called out a cherry "Hullo! Good to see you safe and sound. And my you seem to have made a friend." He marvelled at the floating mind.

After speaking to Dr Munroe, Braenar wanders over carrying one of the ship's spyglasses and examines the volcanic island for a while.

Snapping it shut, he says "Aye Dr I can see what ye mean. There's two likely sights on that island, one by a small river and another on a hill. The one by the river is closest to the border so would be easiest for us to get to. You'll have to hike to visit the one by the hill, that island is big enough to give lift crystals problems."

He then offers the spyglass if anyone wants to take a look.

With everything loaded aboard the Wink and the mooring lines removed, Zendara gave the lift crystal some juice and the small craft rose upwards. As they turned about Zendara could really fell the difference in performance due to the heavy load, now wasn't the time for fancy flying.

Avoiding some smaller bounders the Wink kept on rising until they were well above the worst of it and then it was easy to spot the Dawntreader. it (or perhaps the nameless islet head) had drifted half a mile or so to the east, but it was a simple matter to angle the wink accounting for the prevailing wind and fly towards the bigger ship.

Soon they where floating above and inching down, the cross winds where fickle so this needed to be done carefully but Zendara was more than up to the task - flying felt so good! With a slight jolt they landed on the Dawntreader and Braenar and several of the crew where quickly ratcheting it down.

As the hatch opened he greeted you with with a cheery, "Hullo! Ohh you've been busy... Just as well you didn't take much longer, there's a storm coming and I think weathering it on that rock would have been utterly miserable. Wouldn't want to fly the Wink in a proper bit of weather..."

Braenar showed you the pilot's seat and explained the various controls, pointing out the yoke the forward throttle the lift crystal controls and various trim controls along with foot pedals and a bewildering array of switches dials and breakers.

"Ah nice simple controls, takes me back." mused Braenar without any hint of irony, "So whose gonna fly this thing?" He looked at each of you in turn as if weight up your piloting skills.

Braenar lead you to a quarter deck on the stern you've not visited before. This was dominated by hoisting machinery and a large object under a green tarp. It took several of you to remove the tarp and stow it safely, underneath was a sleek outline of a gleaming steel runabout called 'The Winking Maiden'.

"The Wink has seats for four and a decent sized hold. It's not quite as fast as the Dawntreader and only has the range of about a day's travel without recharging but its very nimble and small enough to navigate down there without issue." explained Braenar.

Everyone looked over the stern railing to the churning debris field a few hundred feet below. The majority of the debris looked to be the size of pebbles although there where larger boulders in the mix. Fortunately everything was widely spread enough to make navigation by a small craft possible.

After discussion had settled down Braenar said, "When you're ready lets get you strapped in and I'll show you how to start it. Oh in case you're wondering how to land it back here, there's two ways. The first is to simply manoeuvre it above and descend gently, easy to say a bit tricky to do especially if the wind picks up. The alternative is to come along side and use the winches. Much easier for the pilot but I'll have to let out the winch lines and one of you will have to go along these catwalks and attach the hooks to this ring here and that one there."

The catwalks themselves looked pretty scary, although they did have a line you could attach yourself to with a harness. A bit like a via ferrata if you've come across one of those.

Braenar was off duty relaxing in one of the couches and upon hearing Zendara he replied, "Oh aye? Lets have a look." He looked through spyglass and replied excitedly, "Oh yeah I see it now... Hmm. There's a lot of smaller boulders I don't think it would be a good idea taking the Dawntreader down there but we've got a runabout stowed aft, small and nimble just the thing for getting there and back."

From the wheel house Braenar put down his own spyglass as he laughed, "Slow obsolete warships. They might have been trouble if we still had a limiter!" He shouted into the listening tube which went down to the engine room, "FULL POWER!"

The fans spooled up alarmingly and the Dawntreader shot away from Carina into the glorious open sky. The chasing airships put on a burst of speed too and started to gain a little but Braenar just laughed, "HA! They can't keep that up for long, their engines will overheat and they'll have to stop or risk them seizing up."

Sure enough one by one the ships started to fall back until there was a lone cutter chasing. Designed for speed this ship was heavily armed with twin forward ballistae, but it was lightly armoured and Braenar fancied his chances in a fight. It didn't come to that though, suddenly there was a distant bang and smoke stared pouring out of the cutter's port nacelle and it started to recede into the distance.

I was unclear about the knowledge checks, there are two rolls: 1 what is a limiter. 2 to actually remove one. Both checks are now passed.

Earlier during the nervous wait for Zendara.

Xindrya found Braenar in the engineering deck where he'd opened up a number of panels in the walls and floor to reveal power conduits and various strange devices.

He greeted the Tiefling warmly, "Glad ta see ya lass! Can you see that power management console over there?" He pointed his spanner at a veery complex looking collection of dials and knobs and she nodded.

"See where those thick cables come up from the floor? That small grey box at the bottom, that's the limiter right. See how the main power cable runs through it? Right we need to cut it out and splice the ends back together and remove the sensor wiring without tripping its failsafe device which as you probably know is a small explosive device. First we need to simulate battle damage leading to a power outage and shift it only to battery backup after at least 30 seconds. That puts it into a safe mode and it won't be fussy about loosing sensor input. Of course you know all that right! OK lets get started I'll throw the breakers and you can handle the delicate stuff."

In theory this was all quite straight forward, but actually doing it was tricky - there wasn't much room and the power cable splicing had to be done right or there'd be a arcing leading to power loss and quite possibly a fire next time the engines where used. In the end it took about twenty minutes but the job looked good.

Hearing the conversation, a sweaty looking Braenar wandered over and added, "Who boy that was quite the job! Well we've got everything stowed at last and we can go basically whenever. About that, I hear the locals are likely to be none too happy and are expected to give chase... Now the Dawntreader's pretty fast but did you know she's ex-military?"

He leant in close and whispered conspiratorially "There's a limiter to cap us at 50 knots, she can do over 80 without and leave everything they've got in the dust. Bit tricky to remove it but perhaps you can help?"

Next morning at breakfast Braenar walks comes over to your table in the galley and says, "Mornin. I hear you may need us to high tail it, don't worry we'll be ready. Still please be careful, Carina's reputation is well deserved and the ones that run the place are proper degenerates. Oh and as for chickens that's fine, I like an egg fer breakfast now and then!"

OK where to?

Gruffly Breanar replied, "Aye, I like the sound of that. Should be safe enough for people to stretch their legs if they stay close but Carina has a reputation - I'd suggest you only go there in a group of at lest four and return before dark."

"Refugees..." noted Braenar sourly, "We're out of the loop, the Kez must have invaded somewhere."

"That's bizarre. We went way out of our way to find this artifact and they just happen by?"

With a sour look Braenar motioned one of the sailors muttering, "Bring it up here so they can see."

"How long do you think we have before they could be back with reinforcements?"

Turning to Edwin, Braenar shrugged, "Hard to say, I don't know where The Kez forces are stationed. Still we're a good week or so from anywhere at our top speed, that cutter's faster though. Of course if they have a quill of automatic writing then they already know."

Sailors quickly ushered the party aboard and a tired looking Braenar came to welcome you saying urgently, "Thank the saints you're OK! We where starting to get really worried. Look there's been some developments while you where away, we got message from the University via the quill of automatic writing. The Kez declared war two days ago and there's been several major engagements already, they warned us the Kez are blockading Essex Island and targeting civilian Merchant League vessels everywhere. We saw a Kez fast scout ship a mile off yesterday evening. They saw us and turned tail, I'll bet my beard they went to fetch trouble..."

As the ship's master, Braenar to his frustration wasn't going anywhere and had been soaking up all the gossip about the nautilus and suddenly gave a sharp look, "We have to swab the decks regularly to stop plant life building up especially after an uplift storm. I know we're pretty high up here but that doesn't sound right... A normal ship that size if neglected would have small pioneer trees cropping up after a dozen years or so and this thing has been here for way longer than that. Something must be stopping things from growing."

Braenar replied, "Aye lets take a look see." when Zendard and Xindrya suggested inspecting the top of The Nautilus. He nodded at Edwins observation, "Good ta know laddie." and walked over to the helm.

He strapped himself into the pilot's seat and started adjusting knobs and dials. Satiated with the trim and power settings he squeezed on the throttle and The Dawntreader soared gently towards the top of the giant craft. The closer you got the more overwhelming the scale of the ship was before something clicked in your mind and labeled it as "land".

The top of the alien craft while curved is large enough and flat enough to build a moderate sized town. On top it's a pretty featureless expanse of smooth grey metal that resists any attempt to cut or scratch it. The only feature is an area right in the very middle where there's a number of very large metal rings sticking out of the floor which appear to be for mooring. There's also a set of stairs with railings, sunk into the floor ending in a metal door. The steps and railings are disconcertingly large, suggesting it was built for beings who where perhaps half as tall again as a grown human or elf.

Braenar moors the airship using several pf the giant rings and once you are safely disembarked he motions you forwards saying, "Over to you!"

The door has a large circular metal wheel as think as your thumb attached to it, apparently part of the opening mechanism. There's also a smaller hatch on the door behind which is a series of shiny brass studs. It is of course locked.

"Aye lets circle round..." replies Braenar and with much whirring of the rotors he deftly steers The Dawntreader around The Nautilus. Up close the sheer scale of it is daunting, who could conceive of constructing something so big? The internal volume looks large enough to house thousands of dwellers.

Most of the surface is smooth metal although every so often there are blisters of inscrutable machinery. Pipes and tubes and dish like shapes, all with no apparent purpose. The one thing you don't see is any signs of life or movement.

The closer look gives you a +10 bonus on the previous perception checks which you can try again.

I'd allow aid another for this. It's very esoteric knowledge so not really a surprise if you don't make it.

Both of Braenar's bushy eyebrows go up, "So the fabled nautilus eh?" He swallows before looking at the chartt, he runs his fingers through his beard as he studies them. After a few minutes of calculation he mutters, "Aye I agree we can make it, just. It's very high up so the air will be thin enough ta give some of ya a low grade headache. Should be ok once you get used to it, but you'll need time to recover after vigorous exercise."

Game wise, you'll be fatigued for 1 minute after each combat and other physically demanding activities.

Braenar grips the wheel and brings The Dawntreader about, cutting an angle into the stormy winds and rising steadily up. The winds make for a bumpy journey and the noise of the wind is incessant. Time passes slowly, and it seems like the storm could blow forever as if St Xandarus of the Hunt's hounds where dragging it along in their eternal wake.

After fitful sleep you wake the next morning to find the storm has blown itself out sometime during the night. The air ship is now very high and the air is crip and the cold breeze cuts like a knife. The ship has stored of winter clothing which while rather plain, you're glad off. The chef Andrew Segal followed by several helpers brings a hearty spiced chicken soup up in copper urns for breakfast. Normally you'd have plainer fare to break your fast but he insisted this would fortify you against the cold. It was delicious and served with great hunks of nutty moist dark bread so nobody complained.

Suddenly Marek O'Connor, one of the archeology undergrads pointed out of the mess hall window, and with a note of awe in his voice he cried, "Look at that!"

In the distance riding majestically above the clouds is what appears to be a great snail shell, miles long, hanging there exactly the way bricks don't. Constructed of some unknown metal it looks almost golden in the morning light. Time has taken a tole on it, bits of its skin are damaged and weather beaten, yet the whole is surprisingly intact for something that supposedly came from beyond the stars.

The nautilus looks an awful lot like this except it's not flying over land.

Braenar lets out a low whistle and asks, "Where abouts do you want to try and dock?"

Bushy eyebrows were raised at Zendara's warning of elementals.. Braenar grabby the controls and shouted, "Damnit I'll try and evade the elementals, but they're attracted to metals. Hold onto something I'm gonna flare the lift crystal!"

From the windows you can see dozens of elementals reveling in the cloud, like moths to a flame they spiral towards you but suddenly there is a deep thrumming noise, a sensation as much felt through your feet and in the pit of your stomach as heard. There is a moment of weightlessness and then you find yourself plastered to the floor as The Dawntreader bobs up like a cork and shoots up thousands of feet in seconds. Your ears pop as the thunder clouds around you visibly recede until you are soaring amongst their crowns.

Most of the smaller elementals were left far behind but two of the biggest were pulled along for the ride by The Dawntreader's wake. Braenr spots them and groans, "Incoming!" before pointing at the deck.

These things have low initiative, so party is up, you have 2 rounds to prepare. I'll sort a map tomorrow.

Gathered in the wheelhouse the door which had exposed your senses to the gale outside suddenly slammed shut and Braenar stomped in, his rain coat leaving a trail of water behind him. He wiped his eyebrows and wrung out his beard before telling you gruffly, "This gale's going to send us at least a hundred miles north of where we want to be, we might want to revise our plans..."

As a reminder you had been making for the free port of Carina, a journey of about a month. The airship can travel about seventy miles per hour at top speed.

As evening starts to fall, the sun sets behind the distant mountains on Essex Island. The shadow of the island is clearly visible in the evening haze, painting an impossibly long shadow below like a finger stretching out from below. Braenar pauses to look over the railings and remarks, "I've seen this a thousand times but my heart never ceases to skip a beat. Ah but it's good to be in the air! Tonight Dr Munroe and I think we shall have a celebration, good food, good wine, good company!"

And good to his word Braenar and Andrew Segal the chef out do themselves putting on a veritable feast. There where dishes from half a dozen cultures, even a couple of recipes from Yukarii's people. There was a range of refreshments ranging from spring water through light ales to dark heady dwarven beers. Naturally a ship as large as The Dawntreader has an ice room, so the elven ice wine was served at its proper temperature. Later on Dr Munroe and Professor Dexter treat you all to some surprisingly funny songs about their earlier adventures, both having better singing voices than you might have expected, or perhaps that was just the wine?

And to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter, lets hear your level 4 updates!

Back on the airship a consignment of dried food is being loaded as you have a readiness conference in the mess hall. Large enough to seat twenty people on two long tables in relative comfort, the hall was bright and clean although the decor could best be described as functional.

Dr Munroe had just finished speaking about the provisions which he said should last comfortably till the free port. Braenar then spoke up, "The repairs to the ship's lift crystal enclosure looks right professional. Everything else checks out. I think we're good to go, so any last minute considerations or should we set off?"

Braenar replied, "Aye there's another command word ta make the ropes unlash from the grapple heads... I'll tell ye what it is an then we can ferry this lot over to da watch."

He glanced around to see if folks agree with this plan.

Braenar shouts, "Alrighty, battle stations folks! I'm gonna pilot us down and then up real fast, they won't know what hit em!"

With that he heads for the bridge and the Dawntreader which had already drifted several yards away started to rapidly sink until it was a couple of hundred feet below. It gently levelled out and moved forwards as the electric fans whirred. Suddenly they reversed and with a rush the Dawntreader shot upwards like a cork!

OK then. Anyone going to operate the ballistas and launch the grapple bolts? Assume Braenar told you the command word for the ropes to make em skrink. I'm gonna try and get you a map tomorrow btw.

Braenar replies at once, "Fifty maybe sixty foot or so. Any further and the drop on the bolts will be too much to hit reliably, any closer is kinda reckless..."

Coloring with embarrassment the Dwarf gave the pair a helpless look before admitting, "Well erm you try to fire em at something solid near the top of the target ship's side, hopefully the barbs sink in a foot or so. The grapple's rope itself is magical and with the right command word it'll suddenly shorten pulling us together, or maybe it'll rip out depending on what ya hit."

"Erm..." replied Breaenar clearly caught off guard.

A couple of minutes later you realise The Dawntreader has started slowly drifting away from land and shortly after Braenar comes back on deck asking, "So what do you want to do? Sneak out or are we going to intervene? I can pilot us close enough to bring our ballista to bear or even try and drop you off..."

Took a bit of hunting but the numbers for aim and loading are the number of full round actions needed to perform that action. If you have enough people you can aim and reload in the same round. NB siege weapons are exotic weapons. The usual crew size is 3.

Braenar nods and hurries off to deal with the mooring lines.

I forgot to mention the rest of the crew from the university have arrived. They are not combatants but they can help one of you load and aim. I'll get a list of them sorted out soon.

Braenar gives a dubious glare in the direction of the tree trunk throwing ballista, "If you cut the mooring lines less than a minute or three if you do it the proper way. Xavier I know you're a bit crazy but just one of those bolts could take us out, are you sure it's wise to tangle with them?"

"Won't be needed lasse!" replied a dwarven voice from behind you. You whirl around to see Braenar and Dr Munroe who had just arrived.

He glances at you all before saying in serious tone, "I hear you lot repaired my ship and got it out of the pound. For that you have my gratitude."

"Korrin Torvalds, that fat little weazel." replied Braenar with distaste, "He oversees the Southend Docks, been in his post for years and years. Always been grumbles about the man but nothing ever seems to come of it."

Been busy :P

"Who is the person who has made this claim and where could I find him? Also is there no higher authority outside of the courts to appeal to?"

Braenar nodded, "I'm not a lawyer see but as far as I know the courts out rank him and will almost certainly quash his order, but justice is slow. It could easily take six months, more if delaying tactics are used. On the other hand if he was shown to be unfit for office, that would likely speed things up... Something about this whole thing stinks, might be good to sniff around and see what's what."

Zendara I'll get to you soon :)

"Aye laddie, that ye did." replied the Dwarf gruffly. Looking Yukarii in the eye he explains, "That was until that blasted harbor master saw fit to serve me a notice requiring me ship to have a complete overhaul for metal fatigue. Bah! Never heard such tripe, there's no metal fatigue on my ship! It's less than eighteen months old fer Elodin's Sake! Pardon my language miss. Anyway if you could speak some sense inta tha man I'd be much obliged. Aye that I would."