The Aereonaut Club was asking for assistance once again and of course I was more than happy to take the chance at another trip on the Arngeir. The job turned out to be straightforward: Throal had lost contact with Fernsworth, a small settlement up in the mountains. As it was inhabited by many of the air sailing persuasion, the club was keen to restore communication.
Fernsworth itself is built inside the wreck of a Theran airship named the Arcadia, which would have drawn my interest all by itself.
Xeviouz, Vlolkir, Reys, and Daldorer also answered the call, although I think the Nethermancer regretted his choices once we took flight. From the club Helga Brightmore would join us on the trip together with her assistant, Aleya Wolfswift, Icarus's long suffering sister. Aleya took some persuasion before she acquiesced to the trip. Apparently she had never left Throal before and was quite terrified by the idea.
The trip started uneventfully, with the Arngeir finally with Throalic crew, some of the sailors seemed to have a chip on their shoulder about adepts, Vlolkir and I were curious were all these men were on the previous trip when the ship had to be manned by a moot.
Later in the day we entered a snow storm which severely limited visibility and speed, and also brought the gift of gargoyles. The first sign of an attack was the scream of a sailor being thrown overboard, before we could start taking them down. For all their toughness the gargoyles were not really a threat and we quickly dealt with them. The fight was so quick in fact that we managed to recover the sailor, who somehow survived the fall.
The voyage resumed into the strengthening storm and we managed to reach our destination before dusk. After mooring we use a mechanical contraption to lift us to the entrance level, Vlolkir and I man the winches. The wind continues to pick up and footing is treacherous, a gust pushed Aleya down and she hits her head on something but Daldorer sees to her before we get to the top.
At the top we're greeted by a rather frantic troll who shouts for as to get inside because "it" is coming. Once the gates are shut we perform standard greetings with the leadership of Fernsworth: Cinthia Dashwood, Rathgar Widearms and an Elementalist whose name I did not catch. They explain that some creature they call the Pale Death has made its nest on top of the Arcadia and attacks anyone that tries to come or go. It is also working to get inside the hull which would be the end for the settlement.
We agree to go investigate in the morning and spend the evening in Fernsworth's sole inn, a rather distressingly grim place, where they are willing to sell the grog left in the tankards at the end of the night to the next day's customers.
The night passes uneventfully until we are woken by the creature's scrabbling against the hull, a rather irritating noise, and an ominous reminder of the inevitability of death for everyone present. We make our way to the topdeck where we come face to face with the biggest Espegra I've ever seen. The ensuing fight is swift, brutal and rather one sided. Despite its size, speed and ferocity, Pale Death barely harmed us as we tore into it from all directions.
Celebration followed the fight and discussion of future trade was had. Xeviouz claimed the Pale Death's head as a trophy, Reys demanded that Icarus' ban from the inn be rescinded, and Aleya is left in Fernsworth as a liason, much to her great... joy... I'm sure those were tears of joy when we left.Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:56 pm
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