AAR [10M]: Slightly Used Airship Free to a Good Home (2021-05-21 @ 2300 GMT)

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Xzandrate
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Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm
Messenger Report

Post by Xzandrate » Sun May 23, 2021 7:43 pm

May 23, 2021
3:33 PM

**As the magic flows across the page the words come into view**

Adepts returned to the scene of a Scourge plot to incubate Hydras, the goal was to retrieve the crashed airship. The vacuum left by the Scourge has presented a number of interesting factions.

Faction: Undead Grotequerie
Brief: A group of undead battling for control of the Burning City
Status: Currently infighting
Notable Actors:
Undending Disappointment - Undead Master
Unsettling Epiphany - Undead Master
Uncomfortable Silence - Undead Master

Faction: Vasdenjas
Brief: Great Dragon
Status: Active in Scythan Mountains, protecting airspace of Burning City

After Action Report: The adepts located and destroyed a Scourge lab that some of the undead factions were searching for, they managed to rescue a number of stranded sailors trapped in the burning city as well as recover the airship, now dubbed the Black Phoenix Down.
no

Reporting Senior Agent: Bearded Dragon

**The words vanish as the magic dissipates**

sigfriedmcwild
Posts:335
Joined:Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:59 am

Re: AAR [10M]: Slightly Used Airship Free to a Good Home (2021-05-21 @ 2300 GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Sat Jun 05, 2021 8:31 am

From "The Skies of Barsaive", as penned by Norg, Brother of Earth and Sky, Corsair of Throal

Well over a year since the Arngeir was lost defending Kampung Gajah the aeronaut club finally deigned themselves to listen to me and pony up some cash for the recovery of the airship I landed on a hydra in Vesdenja's burning city. It had only been sitting in the magical fire for over two years at this point, what could possibly have gone wrong?

As it turns out, a lot.

I found Sandrin drunk in the club's lounge, grabbed Moe as he was coming in to inquire about joining, found Thorkell discussing the virtues of Swiftwind ship design, and, by the time we made it to the docks, LaShana had appeared from somewhere and joined the group. We hitched a ride north to the Scorched Tusk moot on a merchant airship, who offered to takes us all the way to the city.

As we were approaching, another airship flew over the city and was shot down, so we decided to leave the ship a few miles out and approach on foot to try and render assistance to the other crew. We pushed hard through the night, the fires providing plenty of light to see by. The city was a hive of activity, hundreds if not thousands of abominations scurrying around. We overheard some talk about setting up defences against the Unending Disappointment and the Unsettling Epiphany, so I guessed the three super abominations we had heard of last time we were hear had each claimed some territory and found servants to fight their war. If I had it right we would be in the Uncomfortable Silence's territory.

After some deliberation we decided to rely on Moe's illusions and carpets to hide us and avoid contact with the undead on our way to the wreck. This did not work out, pretty soon a less abominable abomination waved at us from the top of a watchtower and warned us that big V did not like things flying in the city. It also offered assistance if we went to talk to its master, the Uncomfortable Silence.

We tried to ignore the request and keep going and, just as the sun was rising, big V decided to come have a chat. Or just demand that we land. At which point we were immediately surrounded by undead. Was Moe losing his touch? Or was something else going on?

At this point we were pretty firmly told we had to go talk to the abomination in charge, who was willing to assist with the rescue if we did it a "small" favour: locate the abandoned Scourge facility that was churning out more abominations by the day. With little choice but to agree, I negotiated a night of rest for us while they fetched the crew from the wreck.

The next morning we found out that several crews over the last two years had been stranded in this hellhole by Vesdenijas. Sandrin went off and talked to them, other than terrible judgment they seemed to be all fine and were eager to leave. I was not entirely sure we should take them on, since they had failed to notice the giant flaming city before and then just decided to fly over it for no reason.

The prettiest of all abominations (not a very high bar that) showed us a map of the area and several possible locations where they suspected the facility could be. We set out for the closest located in the Unending Disappointment territory and the way there was surprisingly hassle free as the undead seemed more concerned with fighting each other than dealing with us.

As we approached the location, we spotted what I can only describe as a mobile blob of flesh going to town on several abominations and we heard something about a Scourge scouting party. This understandably drew our attention and LaShana led us back along the tracks of the blob. This took us to the outskirts of the city, to a building that was surprisingly not on fire.

It was also guarded by four more blobs, so LaShana went ahead to scout it and returned saying the inside of the building was almost entirely filled by a massive flesh blob, but there was a room in the middle. We got ourselves to the roof and through the roof into the central room, which turned out to be some sort of lab.

A quick examination revealed some vials filled with a suspicious liquid, several mad magician journals and a pit full of namegiver corpses. We grabbed the notes and the vials before wrecking everything else. Moe prepped a portal into the room and then we left to return to our "employer", stopping along the way to dispose of all but two of the vials.

At the Unsettling Silence we gave our report, Moe informed them of where they could portal directly into the lab and we ready to go find our ship. Moe prepped another portal to get the crews to the ship safely and we set out for the centre of the city.

One again we were mostly ignored by the swarming undeads and reached the wreck with little trouble. It was in better conditions than I feared but still required a lot of work, thankfully Moe was able to bring four almost complete crews to help us through the portal.

And then half a dozen flesh blobs converged on our location.

We quickly moved to intercept them before they could murder the sailors fixing the ship and were quite successful in holding them off, only a handful of sailors died even if Sandrin dropped before the end and LaShana got pretty beat up. Still in a surprisingly short time we were in the air and flying out of the city, when big V had another tantrum. With two airsailors and two other adepts trained in manning an airship we managed to keep ahead of the senile old lizard long enough that it gave up the chase.

On the way south we dropped one of the crews, blood elves, on the bank of the Serpent so they could make their way home and another at the Iceclaw moot before returning to Throal.

And so the aeronaut club acquired their second ship, the Black Phoenix Down

verse86
Posts:269
Joined:Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:16 pm

Re: AAR [10M]: Slightly Used Airship Free to a Good Home (2021-05-21 @ 2300 GMT)

Post by verse86 » Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:08 pm

Thorkell's Journal:
Norg and Sandrin approached me with a mission to recover a fallen airship. The ship had apparently been crashed into a hydra by Norg about a year ago. This retrieval would be especially tricky since the town where the ship had crashed was guarded by Vesdenja, a rather angry dragon. We also picked up LaShana and Moe'uhane since stealth would most likely be key for this mission.

As the airship approached as close as it dared we saw another brazen ship fly over the city only to be shot down by Vesdenja's fires. This would be no cakewalk. As we approached on foot we noticed what appeared to be horror constructs. From Norg I learned that three beings that I'm still not sure aren't horrors were warring over territory in the city. It appeared we were in the Uncomfortable Silence's territory. We decided to be stealthy and used a combination of Moe's flying carpets and Notice Not spell to avoid the majority of the beings. One flying one appeared before us and warned us of the dangers of flying in the city. As if the freshly downed airship was not warning enough. Apparently it wanted us to meet with the Uncomfortable Silence. We decided to ignore this invitation, but some time later were told in no uncertain terms that the neutral response we had received so far would turn hostile if we did not comply. Being in the middle of a dragon's territory surrounded by abominations, we decided it would be wise to follow.

The Uncomfortable Silence's representative welcomed us and told us they would give us the location of the airship as well as release any living crew from previously downed airships. This turned out to be more people than we thought, some from as long as a year ago. The stipulation for this help was scouting out a facility in the Unending Disappointment's territory. This seemed much more reasonable than making an enemy of the thing's territory we were currently in.

We set out the next day to find the facility. The entire inside of the facility seemed to be writhing and alive. We decided to burn it down and get out of there. The Silence seemed grateful and released the survivors to us and pointed us in the correct direction.

Moe used his magic doors to bring everyone to the airship once we found it. It still needed plenty of repairs, but the horror constructs coming our way did not seem willing to grant us that. We fended them off as best we could while protecting the non-adepts. The ship shuddered as it took off. I hoped the patch job would hold. We didn't have long to wait before putting her through her paces. Vesdenja took great offense to us leaving his territory and gave chase. Fortunately, our crew was able to dodge the dragon fire and make it back safely. Norg decided to name the airship the Black Phoenix Down.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: AAR [10M]: Slightly Used Airship Free to a Good Home (2021-05-21 @ 2300 GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Mon Jun 14, 2021 2:35 pm

The Adventures of Sandrin
Chapter 22 - Fear and Loathing in Dragon City


I'd been drowning my sorrows in the bar of the Aeronauts Club for some time. Norg carried me out, saying something about a crashed airship. The barkeep started to say something about my tab, but thought better of it.

The trip to the city was a haze of returning to sobriety. Being back in the air helped a great deal. I was shocked to discover it had been over a year since we lost the Arngeir against the Scourge.

Since I was recovering, I was not captaining the vessel, so I cannot be held accountable for it being shot down and crashing into the city.

The city has fallen to Horrors and the Great Dragon, Vasjendas. We make our way as surreptitiously as possible, but there are too many eyes. Vasjendas apparently objects to anyone in the skies.

We spy a group of patchwork undead huddled together, acting like Namegivers. The Astral is Tainted. Thorkell recognizes them as horror constructs, but can’t identify them fully. LaShana sneaks up to listen to them. They’re building fortifications, and have 3 Master Abominations, including the Unending Disappointment and Unsettling Epiphany. We figure we’re in Uncomfortable Silence territory.

I suggest Moe bring out his flying carpets and make us invisible to scout the city by air. We soon find a watchtower with guards. One of them starts waving at us. They appear to a whole Elf, but LaShana notices stitches in his skin. He tells us about a Great Dragon who wants to keep the skies clear. He offers to help us find the airship after we meet with his Master. He works for the Uncomfortable Silence.

We take back to the air, but lower, which slows our progress.

As the sun begins to set, we spot the dragon looming over us. The dragon, Vasdjendas, recognizes Norg, who worked for him about 2 years ago. He insists we land. He tells us one is in the center of the city. We land into a crowd of abominations. The elf guard from before arrives and escorts us to the Uncomfortable Silence.

Uncomfortable Silence

The Silence wants us to find a lab and bring its location and defenses.
We take a nap to rest off the fatigue.
When we wake up, we find the crew with the Silence. About 20 dwarves, but also elves and trolls from other ships. First Officer is acting Captain Torvall of the Freedoms Trade. It’s in the center of the city, where all the action is. They were flying towards Caucavics.

Captain of Troll ship, flying to Eastern Caucavics. The ship is destroyed. They’ve been here for a year and a half.
Captain of Elf ship was returning from Caucavic to Blood Wood. Ship destroyed.

The Elf Construct shows us a map of the city, divided into 3 sections. Scouts have never returned from 3 different locations. Closest is Disappointment, on the SE side of the city.

First Outpost

About 2 hours later, we arrive at the first area. Things start getting more hectic. We’re approached by some curious monsters, but Moe allows us to Walk Through a wall to avoid them.

We find a large group of monsters bashing on a larger monster. LaShana tracks the large creature’s trail back to a building that is not on fire.

We find 4 more blobs of flesh with several eyeballs guarding the building. LaShanna sneaks in through a window. She comes back having seen a huge monster filling the halls, and blocking her path. We fly on top of the building and Walk Through the roof into the room guarded by the huge blob.

Inside the room, we find lots of surgical equipment. There’s a grate in the corner where several corpses lie. There’s also a bookshelf with several books. Of interest, there are 20 vials of mysterious liquid. We gather up the vials for transport, destroy several of the tools, and sneak back out. About halfway back, we throw the vials into one of the flaming buildings. Moe also casts Other Place to make a fast transport back to the lab.

Silent Report

After providing our report, the Silence gives us leave to depart with the crews. The Elf construct brings us back to the map room. He points out the dwarf ship in the center of the three territories. Moe sets up another Other Place to evacuate the sailors when needed.

We head for the flaming airship at the border between Disappointment and Epiphany. Once we find it, Moe opens a door to bring the crew. They leap to start repairing the ship. Several of the Grotesques start to attack us and the crew.

Standing aboard the ship, I start directing the crew to work harder, while inspiring my fellow adepts to fight harder. The constructs know the importance of good leadership, and focus their attacks on me. Shortly after I lost consciousness, the crew finished the repairs and boards the ship for take off.

Moe shook me awake, and I immediately take command of the ship to get her airborne. Shortly afterward, the Dragon starts to chase us, but we’re able to avoid his fiery breath and outpace his flight. When we reach the edge of his territory, he ceased pursuit.

We drop off the crews near their respective homes. We finally return to Throal. After some discussion, we register the ship with the Aeronauts guild as Black Phoenix Down.

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