Up, Up and Away!

He got away. The good news is we saw who it was and was able to communicate the information to Varek. In the discussion we related that the Tiefling was warped by chaos and he thanked us for allowing him to complete a ritual. What the ritual was for we do not know. There were two dead tieflings on the table. We can only presume they were used in the ritual. It may have been a ritual of summoning. we did defeat a Yolchol, a demon in the service of Lloth. Or was the ritual for something else. Summoning demons is not all that difficult, controlling them after is another story. We also shared the information about the Doomwheel. This level of technology below the city is troublesome. We did destroy it and the workshop, but who knows what sort of siege engines lie beneath the city.
 
Varek asks if we have any information about a rumored expedition. I turn to Kemurial to see if he wishes me to divulge what we know. Kemurial nods with permission. I share the information I have. A rogue who seems to be connected to an information stream. His information seems useful to the cause. Beorhtmaar is his name. He talks of surviving dwarves of the north engaging a banished wizard to aid find a way to protect them. This could be an item or great magic.
 
Varek confirms the rumor. He sits back and once again I feel like I am being analyzed. Varek speaks to our survival and our level of skill. We seem to have found success in our endeavors. He leans forward and confirms Beorhtmaar's info. In fact, he can introduce us to the dwarves. They seem to be in the market for experienced adventurers. The mission is being sponsored by Borek Forkbeard. He was a participant in the last Chaos Wars more then 200 years ago, and is not leader of the surviving dwarven clan.
 
A mission briefing on the trip with the dwarven leadership. The target location, Barakdoom. I had to chuckle. Why do the Chaos forces always name themselves after doom. The humorous cliche is not lost on me.
 
Barakdoom is located in the middle of the Chaos Wastes. The air literally is fuming with chaos fumes, corrupting all who breath it. The Dwarves share they have found a way in and out without being exposed to the fumes, and the city of Barakdoom is shielded from the fumes.
 
I interrupt the meeting with a question. I ask Borek if the retrieval of this weapon more of a Dwarven heritage issue, or does it have the power to turn the tide in the wars. In short, Borek replies both. The weapon could turn the tide. The weapon is The Hammer of Fate. We have the name, not what it does.
 
I hint at how I believe the Dwarves plan of getting us there through teleportation. Borek chuckles and replies, no sir, we have an airship. I ask if the chaos fumes are only ground level . Apparently the airship design is like no other. The protective magics keep the fumes away. The bladder is not just one bladder, but hundreds of little ones, so if the bladder is assaulted, 1 hit doesnt bring the ship down.
 
This is the third airship of this design. The engineer who designed and built this ship is Malakai Makaisson, in conjunction with the banish wizard previously mentioned, Maximillion Schreiber. The first two ships, The Indestructible and the Unsinkable, did not live up to their names. This ship, The Spirit of Grunye was going be named with the same egotistical nomenclature, but Borek vetoed the idea and the Spirit of Grunye was born.
 
Maximillion specializes in protective enchantments. With this expertise, and the limited time, he crafted us with necklaces of limited adaptation, that are very limited. They can only absorb so much before becoming useless. Lucky I obtained a regular one. I will use the disposable one first, but if it runs out, I can switch to my normal necklace. This is why I prefer to make the plans then rely on others.
 
Malakai is a Slayer. This could be troublesome. Slayers are dwarves who are looking to die honorably, to atone for sins committed. I ask Borek if he could sacrifice himself, and take us with him. Borek assures me that dwarven culture would not consider that an honorable death. I nod, but in reality, zealots like Slayers tend to twist what they feel is honorable. I will have to keep my eye on this one.
 
We agree to the trip, and receive a payment up front. Decent, but considering the risk, a bit light if you ask me. That being said, we personally are being sponsored by The Iron, so, this can be considered gravy I guess.
 
Morning comes and the launch horn sounds. We board and are being shown our rooms when more horns blast. These arent launch horns, we are under attack by a massive army of Skaven! We sprint to the hold of the ship where there are 3 gyrocopters. I gotta say, this ship and the contained technology is impressing even me. Freya gets a message to protect the plans so the Skaven cannot get them, and if necessary, destroy them. The Skaven has shown experience in technology, and a ship of this nature would be devastating to cities around the region.
 
Get get a quick 60 second training and we are launched in the gryocopters. Freya says on the Spirit of Grunye to stave off boarding parties if it comes to that. The gyrocopters are armed with steam cannons for strafing, and 3 bombs. Rory, Kemurial and I, while incredibly inexperienced, handle the machines well enough to do moderate damage to the armies. Between the air assault, and the deadly dwarved forces, we rout the Skaven, killing many of their chaos mutated big rats. Our success is a devastating blow.
 
We able to navigate the copters back to the Spirit of Grunye for refueling, but another launch is not needed. The Dwarven Protection forces clean up what is left. Freya, a woman of few words commented that even with all the fireballs are her disposal, the copters were far more devastating. High praise indeed. Although the question remains, how did the Skaven know of the ship and the date of sail? Infiltrator, Divination magic? The ship itself has protective magics against invisible intruders, but scrying is something complete different. These are dwarves, not Svirfneblin. They do not have natural protections against scrying. This is an issue that must be addressed in air and on ground.
 
We also agree as a group that we cannot be side tracked away from the goal of this expedition. We must push forward. The greater loss if we do not retrieve the Hammer of Fate if far greater then any losses we can prevent by staying.
 
Onward we go.....