Session 43

Corrected Course of the Crazed

Date: Wednesday, 6th of January, 2020
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3 Hours (Total: 138 Hours)

Game Time 16th of Sowmeadow, Noon
To
16th of Sowmeadow, Noon
Game Locations:
Over the Glimmer Waves heading toward Benira

"Did you see this Drosko?" Burn tossed the book over to the dwarf, who glared at the sky before turning to the papers set between them. Burn insisted on them taking their studies to the sun, insisting that it was healthy for them and the little loaf she carried with her.

"Hmmm?" He lifted the booklet up, scanning the pages quickly before raising his eyes to Burn, confusion on his brow. "I don't have enough beer in me for riddles. What is it?"

Burn sighed, setting the child, nearly as large as her, onto the bundle of blankets piled beside her. "The picture! I don't know what they are doing, but it's that same symbol again!"

Drosko looked down at it. "That...hmmm, that is interesting. That's the same one in Kivini's book, right?"

"Right here! That's why I said it. It's here, on that one, and then right here!" Burn pulled over Kivini's book, dropping it open and flipping until she reached the page on a particular tribal pantheon. "Here it is again! And look!"

Drosko reached down for his flask, disappointed to find it wasn't there as he waited for burn to flip through several dozen pages, muttering small annoyances as she scurried.

"A-ha! This is also one of Kivini's bricks-"

"Book"

"One of Kivini's books, with an illustration of Kivini at a ruin he was excavating near Skim-a-balloon."

"Skemnavla, and...wait a minute," Drosko look over the images, focusing heavily on Kivini's likeness. After a several breaths, he finally stood up, looking down at Burn. "Keep it up, I need to speak with General Threev."

Above the clouds in the middle of the Glitter Waves, the "Skypaw" hangs in combat with Captain Vak's "Heaven be Damned," the crew of the small airskiff on the path to Benira to find a table with a black candle on it to meet an agent. Ish Ma'el had arranged the deal with the Prince of Orvadah, gaining the airskiff as part of the deal, to figure out what the political situation is there and to report back within the month. Civil war looms over the peninsula of Tanaviak, but immediately important to the crew of the Skypaw, their ship was met by a warship in the middle of the journey. The party had taken evasive maneuvers to fly up and above the ship, flying toward the sun. A sandstorm had blown into the area once again, but at this moment: the Skypaw hangs above the Heaven Be Damned, suddenly horizontal after a sudden vertical climb.
Embra and Ashara, sitting in their ballista seat, glare down into the open sky ahead of them, unable to see the ship below. Victalyassa standing on the nose of the ship, having recently dropped a fire barrel on the ship below, turns to see Ish Ma'el in his wild state. He had just recently run out to the deck of the ship and released a lightning bolt onto the balloon. The lightning hits the net of the balloon of the ship, causing it to arc down across the ropes of the ship, sending sparks flying around. A bit of the energy drains into the middle railing near her, before spreading off the ship. A bit of lightning strikes down into Embra's ballista, causing it to be inoperable as a similar bolt flies by Ashara, who hardly witnesses the spark show. A feedback loop causes a bit of the lightning to strike back at him, causing minor damage.
Vic's hairs stick up as she looks around wildly, forgetting everything that is happening. She gives a sprint to Ish Ma'el, grabbing him by the lapel and slapping him. "What are you doing, we are in the middle of the battle?!" she says.
Ish Ma'el has a wild look in his eyes, bound and determined to kill Captain Vak. The slap brings him to some semblance of reality as he explains: "I need to kill this man, we can safely float down and drift away while he DIES!"
Vic looks shocked, stunned, unable to say what is on her mind fearing it would sound as crazy as the things he just said. Ish Ma'el also stunned, believed his plan to work but seeing it fail so fruitlessly leaving him unable to react in her arms, having no idea how bad the success of that moment would have been. He looks around, noticing the destroyed railing and ballista, he notices that Thomas is not on deck as he originally planned, having a moment to realize that Thomas would have died should his plan have worked. "I have to get back to the helm, no one is flying the ship" are the only words that utter out of his mouth after the long silence. The small flames which have built up on the deck begin to spread around him. Ish Ma'el tries to slip out of Vic's grip, but out of pure fear and adrenaline she grabs him and shakes him back into position. She trips his legs out from under and pins him to the wall within 5 feet of them, her grip secured.
Embra shields her face from the lightning and wood that flashes in front of her. She is weary of what exactly is going on, noticing Ish Ma'el had left the wheel. "Get us out of here, what are you doing?!" she yells at him. She unbuckles from the destroyed gun and looks to the fire starting around her, ultimately running over to Vic and Ish Ma'el.
Ashara notices the spark flying around. The world goes in slow motion as she looks around at the lighting. Vic running from a burnt and blasted railing as she grabs Ish Ma'el and Embra runs toward the cabin. In a moment, she moves toward Vics back to pull the water bucket from her bag, commanding Embra to take the wheel and "Figure it out!" as she aims to use the magical water bucket to end some fires going on around them.
Victalyassa feels the bag movement from behind her as she maintains her grip on the burned crew mate: "Get a fucking hold of yourself!" She slaps him again, harder now, hoping for a reaction. Out of rage, she strikes the wall next to him as she is afraid that he has lost of cool. She strikes into the wood with her Ki infused fists as splinters fly around Ish Ma'el. "He's got the Sky Madness, please someone take me from his belt!" yells the robotic voice of Kal's head.
Ish Ma'el blinks rapidly, afraid that the next punch won't miss. He looks to gain good graces at this moment, knowing he nearly ruined the team. He sucks in a wide amount of the sky air as he blows past her right ear, casting Gust, "WHOOSH!" at the nearby fire before Ashara can get the water bucket activated. Kal yells in fear once again!
Embra turns toward the deck and runs on the ADVICE of Ashara. She runs into the bridge of the Skypaw and looks at the wheel of the ship. She takes a moment to realize the positioning of the tubes and various instruments that give the ship sight. She grabs the turning wheel and holds it steady to stop the rocking back and forth.
Ashara, taking the bucket looks the fire on the ballista behind her and utters the magical words, "FILTHY" producing 10 gallons of warm water which she spreads onto the gun near her as she runs nearby. The water overwhelms the flames on Embra's ballista as she puts it out and continues on to the fire on the nose of the ship. A voice from below deck, asking for help, distracts Vic momentarily from her anger as she looks back to Ish Ma'el and tells him to "go help Thomas after the week of bullshit you've put us through, do one thing right!" She grabs Kal off the belt of Ish Ma'el and straps him on her own belt. She runs toward the port of the ship and looks down as the Heaven be damned below takes evasive maneuvers to disengage.
Ish Ma'el collects himself and dashes down the stairs of the ship to young Thomas down below. He finds him pinned underneath a large sealed barrel, held in place by another crate nearby keeping him pinned. He is bloodied and nearly broken as he struggles to get up, but with Ish Ma'els help, the worst should be behind him.
Embra turns the ship starboard at a safe bank angle. Everyone feels the ship begin to teeter as the ship turns toward a new direction. Ashara speaks another "FILTHY" dumping another 7 gallons of water across the deck, putting out the final fire. The water spreads over the deck of the ship, slipping down the nose and falling into the ocean down below. She notices that Ish Ma'el had ran down the stairs, possibly breaking the grip of Victalyassa to escape, and goes to give chase. She jumps over the railing of the stairs beside her and heads into the lower decks, albeit slower than she expected as she is still under the effect of the Feather Fall from Ish Ma'el before he cast the Lightning Bolt. She moves in just enough to see Ish Ma'el standing over Thomas on the ground. She throws the bucket to her left as her hand moves toward the Katana on her waist.
Young Thomas reaches up to Ish Ma'el, "please help me out of this, I am pinned... please don't hurt me anymore" he says through struggling verbiage.
The skies of the open ocean cannot hide the Heaven be damned as it flies away from the Skypaw. Feeling a personal victory, Vic brings Kal's head up to hers and asks for his opinion on the situation. "They appear to be retreating for some reason, I think we may be okay," says the robotic voice. Vic runs into the bridge to check on Embra, but she looks cool and confident in her role.
"You must have intimidated them with your excellent flying," remarks Vic. Nervously, Embra agrees.
"Why would I hurt you?" asks Ish Ma'el as he opens a potion of healing and pours it down Thomas's throat. Ish Ma'el then rises up to move the barrel off of Thomas, shifting the weight and working it with Thomas's minor help. He still has a broken leg and minor lacerations, but Thomas is in much better shape than he was simply moments ago. He leans back, producing sharp winces of pain, as he moves back out of his location. Ashara whips out her Katana and quickly moves into the room. She holds the katana to Ish Ma'els throat and looks for a response to her poise. Ish Ma'el stares down Ashara's blade into her eyes, "do you know that ship?"
"No."
"I do, all too well. The man that runs that ship is a murderer that would put you to shame. He has held murdered villages and cities hostage, and ransomed Kings."
"And what does that matter to me, you almost got us all killed by directly striking our ship!"
"I'm sworn to kill him, now compelled to kill him in my current state. While I was intending for us to flee, it occurred to me as we were flying to flee, what a weapon we would make to bring our ship down onto his deck."
"Well don't do such in a way that would endanger our crew and mission again. Should you falter once more, I will cut you down in front of young Thomas here." She looks to Thomas, "you will do well to remember this too." Ashara sheathes her blade and returns to the top of the deck to ensure their safety for the moment.
In the bridge, Vic sits down, leaning against the wall and takes a moment to regain her own breath. "Could you stay here with me?" mutters Embra.
"In this sandstorm," Vic retorts, "this is the only place for me." Vic then spends time talking to Embra to get her mind off of the current situation. "I have been itching for another game of Pickit, you're a much better drinking partner than Kal here I'm sure."
Vic holds Kal, and he says, "I have never drank in this state before, but I can teach both of you how to fly if you are both so interested."
"I think we're already ten times better than Ish Ma'el" says Embra.
Kal goes on to teach both of the ladies how to fly the ship and Ish Ma'el had taught him over the course of the last few days while he tried to treat him like more of an auto-pilot than a co-pilot. Down below deck, Ish Ma'el tries to set Thomas's leg but does so poorly, causing Thomas to beg to be healed by a cleric in Benira.
Ashara walks into the bridge seeing the two girls talking with Kal, noticing the Heaven Be Damned be far in the distance to the port side. She leans up against the wall and Vic asks her, noticing her entering, "how is Thomas down below?"
"A broken leg and several incisions from the unsecured cargo below, but it seems Ish Ma'el is treating him kindly and doing his best. Whatever you did seem to have a positive effect." says Ashara.
Vic notes that slapping Ish Ma'el around seems to keep everyone in line. Ashara notes that everything seems to be in order and goes to her room to get some much-needed rest. Ish Ma'el, after helping Thomas get into position and comfortable, goes up to the bridge, bringing Ashara with him from her room.
"I want to begin with I owe you all an apology and an explanation," says Ish Ma'el as he stares out the window," the difficult part is knowing where to begin, perhaps the beginning. Has anyone here heard of the Heaven be Damned?"
The party negates.
"It is helmed by a ruthless Captain Vak which my father once served with decades ago," he begins.
"Sounds like a certain person I know," says Vic.
Pausing for a moment, ultimately ignoring the comment, he continues, "he lusted after my mother and also, being a pure elf, he hated himself for it, for my mother was a human woman. One day my father committed some sin, I don't know what, against the captain, that he felt so egregious that he descended upon my village. Perhaps it was my existence as a half-elf bastard, or perhaps Baum herself, but I survived that day. Sadly my mother and father did not. I found myself in the care of a priory, and for years I labored there, keeping their vestments nice and clean."
A long pause. Vic nearly finishing her drink.
"When the war broke out, I overheard a sailor talking of a cruel captain which matched him toe to tip. I was soon granted the role of captain of a small skiff. I mastered the movement during the Battle of Tinab and filled with rage and hatred and desire of revenge, I rammed the ship, and it killed my crew. Only I survived with only the use of Feather Fall, but it was then I realized the actions I had done."
Ish Ma'el looks at his reflection in the window, the scarred undead features and eye patched eye, "my vengeance consumed me. I did not expect to see him today, and I was overwhelmed with the vengeance to kill. Baum granted me this undead being so long as I kill Captain Vak. Him and I are locked in this struggle, and I am sworn to kill him. I do not know if he even knows I exist."
Embra senses the cohesion of the party, she puts her hand on Ish Ma'els shoulder and thanks him for telling us that. She looks to the party as a whole, "we will do the best to help you on your quest, but try not to kill us again."
Ish Ma'el turns to the crew: "I didn't try to kill you all. I did try to save you and did not expect Young Thomas to go below deck. But that is not an excuse, I do not want blood on my hands in my hyper focus for revenge. For that I am sorry."
Vic gives a sigh, hoping to lighten the tense grievances, she walks up and punches him in the side of the arm. "You get a pass for this time but try not to do it again."
"I'll do my best."
"Then I will try not to slap you so hard next time."
"You slap me as hard as needed to get my senses back!" he says. "Your words, not mine," retorts Vic as she takes another sip from her flask before walking back to her spot on the wall.
"Well, I'm just going to hold on to this for a little longer, it feels nice." says Embra, gripping onto the wheel of the Skypaw and feeling the engines hum through the wood of the wheel beneath her.
Ashara sees the happy moment in front of her. She lifts herself off the wall, gives a roll of her eyes and walks out of the bridge. Ish Ma'el looks back out the window as Embra returns to talking to Kal about piloting the ship. Vic takes a final sip of her canteen as she lets a single drop fall to the floor of the bridge, signifying a new beginning for the "Unnamed Guild."