The Adventures of Sandrin
Chapter 12 - Riders of the Storm
The club believed the Arngeir to require 30 crew to fly her, and they asked myself, Icarus, Norg, Vlolkir, and Reyis to assist with the maiden voyage. The launch was planned for two days later. They also invited guests from the Broken Spear moot.
Helga approached each of us, explaining that the expedition requires a few things. She gave each of us waivers to sign which required the use of a Last Grasp Blood Charm from Travar to help us stay on the ship.
Strange Shipmates
The next day, a commotion began at the gates of Throal as 30 trolls enter. They all carried large lengths of rope. Helga greeted them. Their leader, Vark, normally the captain, asked to see the ship immediately. Messengers gathered us all up to meet the guests. If there was any lingering animosity from them at Norg and me, it was well concealed. Apparently, not everyone in the Aeronaught Club was excited to join us, so the Moot brought “instructors.” We’re introduced to the crew, a Helmsman, Navigator, and Chief of the Drive. Many of the trolls are Sky Raiders, some other adepts as well, including an Elementalist for repairs.
The goal of this first flight was to take the Arngeir out to an air node known by the Broken Spear Moot, on the other side of the Throal Mountains. This node is perched off a sheer cliff, so airships provide a much safer way to access it.
Launch Day
I take over as Captain of the Arngeir.
Reys works from my charts to plots our course.
Icarus takes the helm.
Norg and Vlolkir manage the oars to drive the ship.
As we pulled away from the dock, we heard a large round of applause from below. One of the Aeronaut Club members gave a speech about Throal reclaiming the air.
Once properly underway, the Moot starts applying their rope, which is threaded with True Earth to make it stronger. We achieved a cruising altitude of about 1500 feet. We planned to fly lower in case of combat. We headed for 47.08, about 1000 feet directly over the mountains. The location of the node is known as the Howling Cliffs. Legends say trolls can jump from the boat and float above it.
In the distance, Icarus and I spotted two large sparkling birds. As they approached we determined they’re a pair of Thunderbirds, known to enjoy attacking airships and throwing sailors off the deck. We prepared for their approach.
The thunderbirds swooped down at us, injuring Norg with their initial attack. Gale Cutter and I kept them off the ship by attacking their wings. At first, I threw Gale Cutter, but I decided to give the special rope a test and swung overboard to attack them up close. It was quite enjoyable to be swinging from the rigging, channeling the magic of a true airship through me. By interrupting their flight, I provided others the opportunity to focus on them individually. Reyis calmed one of them and tries to Bond with it, so we left it alone. Shortly after, we killed the first one on the deck, and the one Reyis is holding flies off.
We took some mementos of the Thunderbird before throwing the carcass overboard. For my part, I used some feathers to adorn the shoulders of Storm Dancer and braided some into my hair.
We continued over the top of the mountains and started coming down the other side. There were storm clouds in our path, so we battened down the hatches to prepare for the worst. We slowed to about half speed as we sailed through the pouring rain. Reyis was miserable but didn’t spread the demoralization to the rest of the crew.
The Howling Cliffs
We spied the node off to the Northwest. Vark suggested we throw anchor upon the cliff face to maintain our position while the Elementalist collects some True Air as proof of our success. During his excavation, the howling wind seemed to intensify. Vlolkir calls out a warning when two Shadowmants altered by the node approach from the stern at me. One of the Stormants attacks me, but I’m able to avoid its renowned poison. I promptly bring it to the deck in return.
Just as we’ve dedicated ourselves to the stern, four altered Ice Fliers (Storm Fliers) approached from the starboard. One of them severely wounded Icarus and knocked him down. Two of them attacked Norg to little effect. Vlolkir leaped up and killed the Stormmant on the way down. Reyis cast Leopard Pounce on a Storm Flyer. Norg killed the second Stormant.
We dispatched the Storm Fliers one by one, and the Elementalist finishes his work. We left the node behind and located a safe harbor to spend the night, and enjoy a Heroes Feast to recover.
As we settled in for watches, Vlolkir and I took the first watch. I noticed an erratic light flashing off in the distance. This reminded Vlolkir of tales of citadels having beacons of light.
Day 2
The next morning we decided to investigate the light. We got the Arngeir up to about half speed, making the journey in a few hours. As we approached, through the clouds we saw an outline of a floating island still some distance away. We briefly lost sight of the island, just a black blot in the sky. Reyis noticed that a swarm of something crossed between us. A wall of Stormwraiths was about halfway between us and the island.
We quickly discussed our options and decided to try for the island, avoiding the Stormwraiths as much as possible. If the citadel is unbreached, it could be a safe harbor. We found good wind and started to climb. As we approached, a large draconic creature became visible, a twisted black Wyvern that is not fighting the wraiths. At this point, we decided to turn the ship around and dive. The Stormwraiths soon started to fall behind, but the Wyvern gained on us. Icarus worked his magic upon the helm and eluded the Wyvern. I took a bearing and marked the site on my charts. The island was approximately 900 yards above the mountains.
Return to Harbor
We made our way back to Throal. The watchtower alerted people to our arrival, so a large crowd was present for our landing. The others started to tell our tale, but from the deck of the Arngeir, I bestow upon the audience the ballad of our first voyage and the island in the sky under siege by horrorspawn. Despite the mixed news, the celebration of our journey lasts for days.
AAR:(6M) Your Exits are Here, Here, and Here. (2020-07-05 @ 20:00 GMT)
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Re: AAR:(6M) Your Exits are Here, Here, and Here. (2020-07-05 @ 20:00 GMT)
From "The Skies of Barsaive", as penned by Norg, Brother of Earth and Sky, Corsair of Throal
The Aeronaut Club was finally willing to let the Arngeir fly. Dorsha and Helga were eager to put her to work mining elemental air, but the club was dragging its feet and making excuses as usual. When Helga approached me about crewing the maiden voyage, something I immediately agreed to, they made her bring liability waivers. As if someone could get in an airship without understanding that they could fall off.
Crewing the ship was apparently an issue: Sandrin, Icarus, Vlolkir and I were apparently the only ones willing, even if Icarus was sure he could bring a friend along, the rest of the Aereonaut Club apparently preferred to keep playing at being an orchestra. Helga and Dorsha themselves had been prohibited from joining the voyage, something that I worried may trigger Helga's gahad at any moment.
To remedy the situation the Broken Spear moot was asked to provide a training crew, which they graciously did. To this day I still wonder what exactly we had to offer in exchange. Two days later the Arngeir had a crew and was ready to take to the skies, but we could not leave until some puffed up official wasted everyone's time with platitudes. If Throal was actually serious about retaking the skies, why was the ship crewed almost entirely by a moot?
Finally we took off, with that silly band making a show of themselves on the side. The Broken Spears were clearly used to flying an airship and helped us get used to our duties. Sandrin was the acting captain for this voyage, Icarus' friend Reys Poriv, a windling Shaman I had not met before, navigated, Icarus was at the helm, and Vlolkir and I coordinated the rowers. I say coordinated, but they all knew their job and often our best contribution was to just put our backs into it.
Helga had provided us with what she called Last Grasp charms that should help in case we were about to fall overboard. The Broken Spears had the much simpler and possibly more effective solution of tying themselves to the ship with lines that had been infused with elemental earth for added strength.
Our destination was to be a node near what was called the Howling Cliffs, where the winds flow upwards and are allegedly strong enough to float a troll. To answer the question immediately, no, we did not test this.
We made good speed over the mountains, until two Thunderbirds decided they would like lunch. Luckily Sandrin and Icarus spotted them before they reached us, so we were somewhat ready. That day I learnt that fighting birds from an airship is really aggravating as they kept swooping in and then retreating outside my reach. Sandrin's throwing sword definitely came in handy and we eventually took the birds down without too much damage to anyone. We all took some feathers as a memento and Vlolkir insisted on keeping the thighs for eating, they did look delicious.
The next obstacle on the way was a bank of stormclouds. I think Reys lost his bearings for a while there and at some points it felt like I was just rowing by myself but we made it through unscathed.
A few hours later we arrived at the cliffs, anchored near the node, and the Broken Spear Elementalist began to harvest a kernel as proof that we had indeed reached our destination. While we waited for the ritual to complete, the howling of the wind seemed to intensify and a couple of creatures that looked like distant cousins to Shadowmants attacked us, but Vlolkir spotted them in time. Just as we were dealing with those, a bunch of wispy looking Ice Fliers also attacked, severely injuring Icarus before being crushed.
After the kernel was extracted, we moved the ship to a safer location nearby and rested for the night. During their watch Sandrin and Vlolkir noticed some kind of beacon in the distance so the next morning we set out to investigate.
The source of the beacon looked like some kind of floating island, but soon it seems to be obscured by some kind of cloud. As we got closer, the cloud turned out to be a writhing mass of Stormwraiths, some of which started making their way towards us. Sandrin decided to try and get to the island, hoping we could find some defensive positions there so we redoubled our efforts on speed.
Before we could get much closer, some tainted wyvern popped out of the cloud of Stormwraiths and Sandrin made the decision to turn back as the Arngeir was not equipped for such a fight. Vlolkir was not happy with this choice but accepted it and lent his considerable strength at the oar once again.
The flight back to Throal was otherwise uneventful.
The Aeronaut Club was finally willing to let the Arngeir fly. Dorsha and Helga were eager to put her to work mining elemental air, but the club was dragging its feet and making excuses as usual. When Helga approached me about crewing the maiden voyage, something I immediately agreed to, they made her bring liability waivers. As if someone could get in an airship without understanding that they could fall off.
Crewing the ship was apparently an issue: Sandrin, Icarus, Vlolkir and I were apparently the only ones willing, even if Icarus was sure he could bring a friend along, the rest of the Aereonaut Club apparently preferred to keep playing at being an orchestra. Helga and Dorsha themselves had been prohibited from joining the voyage, something that I worried may trigger Helga's gahad at any moment.
To remedy the situation the Broken Spear moot was asked to provide a training crew, which they graciously did. To this day I still wonder what exactly we had to offer in exchange. Two days later the Arngeir had a crew and was ready to take to the skies, but we could not leave until some puffed up official wasted everyone's time with platitudes. If Throal was actually serious about retaking the skies, why was the ship crewed almost entirely by a moot?
Finally we took off, with that silly band making a show of themselves on the side. The Broken Spears were clearly used to flying an airship and helped us get used to our duties. Sandrin was the acting captain for this voyage, Icarus' friend Reys Poriv, a windling Shaman I had not met before, navigated, Icarus was at the helm, and Vlolkir and I coordinated the rowers. I say coordinated, but they all knew their job and often our best contribution was to just put our backs into it.
Helga had provided us with what she called Last Grasp charms that should help in case we were about to fall overboard. The Broken Spears had the much simpler and possibly more effective solution of tying themselves to the ship with lines that had been infused with elemental earth for added strength.
Our destination was to be a node near what was called the Howling Cliffs, where the winds flow upwards and are allegedly strong enough to float a troll. To answer the question immediately, no, we did not test this.
We made good speed over the mountains, until two Thunderbirds decided they would like lunch. Luckily Sandrin and Icarus spotted them before they reached us, so we were somewhat ready. That day I learnt that fighting birds from an airship is really aggravating as they kept swooping in and then retreating outside my reach. Sandrin's throwing sword definitely came in handy and we eventually took the birds down without too much damage to anyone. We all took some feathers as a memento and Vlolkir insisted on keeping the thighs for eating, they did look delicious.
The next obstacle on the way was a bank of stormclouds. I think Reys lost his bearings for a while there and at some points it felt like I was just rowing by myself but we made it through unscathed.
A few hours later we arrived at the cliffs, anchored near the node, and the Broken Spear Elementalist began to harvest a kernel as proof that we had indeed reached our destination. While we waited for the ritual to complete, the howling of the wind seemed to intensify and a couple of creatures that looked like distant cousins to Shadowmants attacked us, but Vlolkir spotted them in time. Just as we were dealing with those, a bunch of wispy looking Ice Fliers also attacked, severely injuring Icarus before being crushed.
After the kernel was extracted, we moved the ship to a safer location nearby and rested for the night. During their watch Sandrin and Vlolkir noticed some kind of beacon in the distance so the next morning we set out to investigate.
The source of the beacon looked like some kind of floating island, but soon it seems to be obscured by some kind of cloud. As we got closer, the cloud turned out to be a writhing mass of Stormwraiths, some of which started making their way towards us. Sandrin decided to try and get to the island, hoping we could find some defensive positions there so we redoubled our efforts on speed.
Before we could get much closer, some tainted wyvern popped out of the cloud of Stormwraiths and Sandrin made the decision to turn back as the Arngeir was not equipped for such a fight. Vlolkir was not happy with this choice but accepted it and lent his considerable strength at the oar once again.
The flight back to Throal was otherwise uneventful.