Session 57

Brown Falcon Down

Date: Wednesday, 16 June, 2021
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 2.5 Hours (Total: 187.5 Hours)

Game Time 21st of Sowmeadow, 6:05 PM
To
22nd of Sowmeadow, Midnight PM
Game Locations:
Just outside of Valtaska

The wreckage of the airship smoldered in the crater carved between the trees. Among the wooden ribs, assorted debris, and the small flames, the dead lay as a macabre smear of gore and blood.

Above, slowly fading to the horizon, the sandstorm drifted away, losing form and dissolving into the clear skies. A gentle breeze the only disturbance to the otherwise still skies.

A small rodent crawled from a hollow of roots and grass. It was barely aware of the disturbance of the ship crashing, but the smell of blood drew its attention. An opportunity for fresh meat before other, larger scavengers come along was too good a chance.

Rushing forward, the small creature dashed over debris and past small flames until it reached the opened chest of human baring a confusing array of wounds across its body. It took it's chance and grabbed a bit of flesh, tearing it away with tiny teeth. It sat there, listening for a moment, then began to feast on the meat quickly. Enjoying the find while it could.

Another grab, a moment of waiting, and more bites. The rodent slowly filled its belly.

Greedy for as much as it could consume, it grabbed another bit of flesh, but this time, as it waited to ensure no other predators have arrived, the chunk of flesh in its tiny paws dissolved, dropping to the ground into dust and sand. Unperturbed, it reached up to tear another bit, but as its paws touched bloodied flesh, the whole of the human's form fell to the earth in shifting beige.

The rodent dashed away, leaving this strangeness to other, larger creatures to contest with.

In the wreckage of the airship, a humanoid form lifted it, small in stature, composed of the sand its old form dissolved to. It looked abound, confused, angry, and in pain. Nearby, buried under wood, another sandy form rose up.

The wind began stirring again, and as it blew, flecks of sand mixed in with it. From the same hollow it came from, the small rodent huddled down as the ground before it fell to shadow by the large foot made of sand stepped before it, then moved on in search of vengeance.

The heroes are actively falling from the airship in the lifeboats. Ish Ma'els bubble stops the nearby sand from entering and interfering with their fall, but they cannot see anything around it in the haze. Despite that, each of them are aware that they are dropping steadily into the forest outside Valtaska below.
Ashara specifically notes to herself: If they do nothing but let the lifeboats drift down, they will hit a particularly large, old, and gnarly group of trees and will likely be tumbled from the rafts up to 50 feet from the ground. Ashara shares her insight with the Ish Ma'el, who instructs the craft with him, Ashara, and the Queen to "LEAN!" He twists his body to the right, and Ashara tilts the queen with herself. Ish Ma'el yells the instructions to the other life raft with Embra, Victalyassa, and Kivini. Embra and Victalyassa attempt the lean and successfully complete the action.
Very gracefully, the party decend away from the patch of trees and out of the sandstorm simultaneously. They find that the whipping winds and loud noise end at the same time, as they now here is the cool drift of the wind below them. Looking up, they see a living patch of sand drift off and away into the sky above. In the distance, Ashara and Ish Ma'el can see a group riding hard from the Valtaska Barracks, heading in your directions, They are still several hours out however, and won't reach them until late into the night. Ish Ma'el looks at them through a Spyglass and notes that they are coming from one of the barracks of the Four Horseman towers.
Eventually, the heroes lifeboats make a landing through the trees, crashing down onto the forest floor. Ashara and Ish Ma'els lifeboat began landing nicely with a small bounce before it hits a branch and tumbles the passengers out violently, each taking a small amount of damage. The poor Queen is knocked unconscious as she hit a rock nearby rather roughly. Embra, Kivini, and Victalyassa had a much rougher landing as they weren't as great at piloting as Ish Ma'el. Their lifeboat hits a tree and spins around, smashing through the branches and ejecting its passengers. Embra and Kivini are thrown through the air and land into the unshaking floor. Victalyassa slow falls nicely, avoiding any damage and landing on her feet using her Ki energy.
Ashara's amount of damage activates her rage rune, and her hatred of the forest compounds this, as she immediately unsheathes her blade and destroys the lifeboat in a fit. Ish Ma'el moves away from the mad woman and heads to the Queen, popping a healing potion from her mouth and bringing her back up to her feet. "No, no, the sweet silence!" she muffles to herself as she gets up. Ish Ma'el replaces the gags, making a face that demonstrates how odd of a statement that was. Ashara takes a moment of inward reflection, recognizing that her emotions are being amplified by her rune, realizing this she is able to put herself into a simmer, that of a boiling pot. She turns and looks toward Embra and remembers the time that Embra put her down, and she holds onto that memory as to not be that weak again.
Slowly the party gathers themselves, dusting off their armor, and sharing knowledge of their experiences with each other. The temperature begins to drop as the party sits in the twilight of the forest, their darkvision making the need for a campfire unnecessary. Ashara is able to recover her health and the rage rune loses its power. Ish Ma'el bandages himself up with dusty rolls he had in the bottom of his bag because he graciously gave the queen his last potion. Vic is slumped against a tree and picks on Ashara, who is "not being chill". Embra queries how Kivini is doing, sharing bandages with him and as he is looking over his own wounds: he explains that the fresh air is nice, but the journey was exciting.
The queen sobs to herself muffled against a tree, and the party discuss. Ish Ma'el and Ashara get into a rough disagreement over whether Ashara should just kill the queen now. Embra sneaks over to the Queen and releases the gag and ear coverings to talk to the Queen, telling her to calm down. Ish Ma'el runs over to intervene, rebinding and gagging her to have the discussion with the party on the importance of delivering her to the High King. Ish Ma'el explains that the party doesn't know anything about the woman and that delivering her to the High King could be a huge piece in preventing war in the country. The discussion goes on for quite some time as the party finds this may be the first time that they had the opportunity to talk without having to move to their next location.
Midway through the conversation, Ish Ma'el stops to explain that he can hear hooves coming from the direction of Valtaska. Ish Ma'el begins to fish out the Seal of the King from his bag and tells the party that if he gives a secret word, that the party will begin combat, but not before. Embra, Kivini, and Victalyassa distance themselves from Ish Ma'el, Ashara, and the Queen, who will be pretending to be bounty hunters as Ish Ma'el explained. Embra conceals herself into a bush, nearly disappearing from the scene completely. Victalyassa had grabbed Kivini, stopping him from being tied up to look like another prisoner, and walked with him into the forest far enough away to be able to react if she had to.
In the distance, the lights of the search party appear far off in the distance, illuminating the Valtaska banners. They are riding hard to get to them, 6 guards in all riding on horseback. The individuals are dressed in light guard armor, but the leader is in heavier scale mail. As they approach, Ish Ma'el begins to butter them up and explain that they are transporting a high value prisoner, attacked, and need to get to General Threev and the High King. While Ish Ma'el is explaining the story of the fight on the airship, Ashara deigns to stay completely silent, but uses her pipe of smoke monsters to visualize the death of the pilot and the destruction from the drakes. The guards don't suspect anything suspicious and believe Ish Ma'els story, but still want to look for more survivors. As the guards begin to spit up to look for survivors, Ish Ma'el uses Message to communicate with Ashara, who is counting the odds of being able to kill the men in front of her. Ish Ma'el sends: "Wait until the signal."
"Boring" she whispers back.
The guard gets off his horse and rummages through his packs for first aid kits and other resources for them. He explains that he will send a runner for the High King when they arrive in Valtaska. Ish Ma'el hands his Seal of the King to the guard, who begins to read it.
Embra is sitting well hidden in the bushes nearby, even as another guard shines his light over her bush, looking directly over her position. Embra is rolling her eyes at the fact that Ish Ma'els words are working on the guards, and she keeps herself prepared to help if a fight breaks out. Victalyassa acknowledges that she doesn't want to interact with the guards and chooses to stay hidden as the guards approach. Kivini, sits confused, whispering to her about why they are hiding from "good guys." She explains to him that they are hiding since Ish Ma'els lie would just add more explanation, and she just wants to sit there and drink, also he's not gagged.
After about an hour, the guards that were sent away all have now returned and are collected together. The guards talk amongst themselves about finding the lifeboats, one of which was mauled and destroyed by some beast. No significant blood or bodies could be found in the area, however. The officer turns to Ish Ma'el and explains that more guards will be sent in the morning while he escorts the rest of the party to Valtaska. Ish Ma'el explains that he wants to ride with the prisoner, and two of the guards are told to ride with each other. A guard offers Ashara a ride, but she silently rejects him and jumps on the back of the horse with the lead officer, who questions the move but concedes.
Victalyassa and Kivini discuss that they will walk back and Embra thinks about her own options to head back, knowing that Kivini will be safe with Vic. Embra emerges from her hiding area after the guards are about to take off. She runs up from behind and tries to make it look like she was giving chase to the guards for a time. The officer turns around and engages with her, asking if she was with the airship. She denies and says she was attacked by bandits and lost her wagon, hoping for a ride back to Valtaska. The officer turns back to the two guards that were sent in her direction originally and berates them, telling them to take her on their horse.
Victalyassa overhears this and sighs to herself that Kivini will probably want a ride back. She has him act like he is limping and she is helping take him through the woods. They pop out of the woods and act like they are Embra's friend and uncle, coming out of the woods. The officer doesn't look as convinced from Ashara's point of view as Embra feigns excitement to be reunited with them and Kivini pretends his leg was bit by a snake and attacked by a squirrel. The officer whispers something that Ashara can't hear to the guards that ride with Victalyassa, Kivini, and Embra.
During the ride, Embra says, "It has been a while since I had a man between my legs," and she hugs him tighter. Victalysssa charismatically talks to the guard, making an easy acquaintance of the guard, hoping he could be a useful friend for later. They arrive in Valtaska at midnight on the 22nd after a long and hard ride.