Narrative

The party has agreed to work on a dwarven airship in exchange for free passage to Zobeck. Razzit Greyborn (captain) shows them around and shows them where bunks are and introduces them to the crew. The night shift is currently sleeping in the bunks. One of those asleep is a tiefling. The adventurers are helping out by filling in so that the crew can work in shifts.

At the navigation area, Appaluna helps them fly through misty conditions and they just barely miss a mountain.

Ariana works on making a salad. She notices Thrardaed Ashbane acting weird. Ariana calls for security and Jackal comes and realizes Ashbane has poisoned the soup. Ashbane attacks because he is a fundamentalist who is mad the dwarves are trading with elves. Ariana and Jackal knock him out. After cooking up a new batch of soup, Ariana gives food to Appaluna and they go over what happened.

Assirlum Coalbreaker relieves Jackal for security. Aradius (the tiefling) relieves Appaluna.

Ariana’s dream: hears parents say “I hope one day our daughter becomes a leaf druid”.

In the middle of the night everyone falls out of bed due to turbulence. They investigate a noise and the ship’s cat jumps out of the shadows. Ariana casts Speak with Animals. She asks the cat if it’s the source of the noises. It says to head towards the smoke and scrambles away. When the team investigates, there’s a fire cat in the hold setting things on fire.

Appaluna gets to the wheelhouse. She finds Aradius slumped over the navigation table. The captain is bleeding from an arrow wound. Appeluna investigates and finds a metal toy. Turns out it’s a flitkith and it tries to stab her.

Meanwhile Ariana and Jackal fight with the fire cat. The fire cat attacks with a smoky yowl and neither one is affected.

Appeluna puts the flitkith in a glass goblet and puts her hand over it so that he can’t get out.

Ariana kills the cat and Appeluna locks the flitkith in the trunk in her room.

When they return to the wheelhouse, Aradiaus is awake; he wasn’t dead, he was just knocked out. Ariana heals the captain’s wounds.

Appaluna interrogates the flitkith and finds out he was hired to bring down the ship and brought the firecat. He doesn’t know who his ultimate employer was as he always met with a go-between. Appeluna agrees not to turn him in to the ship’s captain and he decides to make her into an ally.

They land in a field in the north of Zobeck.

“Unlike Reywald, the city from which you departed 2 days ago, Zobeck is a cosmopolitan city. In an inversion from the Duchy of Dornig you seem to see every type of creature EXCEPT for Elves. Before you is a busy city full of humans, kobolds, ravenfolk, ratfolk, dwarves, dragonborn, and even aasimar and tieflings.”

As they cross the bridge they meet a gearforged who explains the rules of the city.

The team tries to complete their task and deliver the box from the sorcerer. As they approach the gates to the university, a gearforged tells them to come back in two weeks for the recipient, Mage Orlando, is not currently at the university.

GM Thoughts

I’d been planning this session for weeks, but getting the Monster Vault 2 the day before the session led me to some more fun villains for the airship, namely the flitkith and the fire cat.

• Tales-of-the-Valiant