9/8/2010 – Sky Garden Found!
After taking stock of our situation following the fight, we
found the only one with any wounds of concern was Kain. He had taken serious cuts and bites; everyone
else was only bruised or nicked but otherwise okay. Twink cared for everyone anyway, doting on
Kain the most.
The ship did not escape unscathed though it was easy to
repair. Twink went on deck to clear her
head after tending the wounded and caught the scent of something on the
wind. After some urging she gets Ariadne
to agree to move the ship towards the scent of mint she has found. First though, they need to figure out how to
get free. While the saliva worked well
at first it quickly lost its potency and stopped. Frustrated, she agreed to let the crew break
open a barrel of wine and two of beer while she thought. A careless from one of the crew quickly
revealed the alcohol in it dissolved the webbing, which sadly was keeping them
trapped.
After some trial and error, they used some of their stores
to clear the webbing away and to use as a way to clear a path through the near
invisible stuff that clogged the sky they were in. The rain that came didn’t help anything. Otso, tired of it, gives Sultrani a quick
tutorial on how to drive the ship and then goes on deck to counter the rain
with magic. He is confused on how the
rain is even hitting them, since any clouds with rain are too far below them to
rain on them above them. Regardless, he combats
it with magic and then uses more spells to force the wine and beer out more
efficiently while Sultrani drives.
This works well, even though it pains everyone to part with
the alcohol. Hours later, he motions for
Sultrani to stop. Moving forward, we can
seen that he had sprayed the alcohol and dissolved the webbing and revealed a
tree seemingly growing out of the clouds.
Seeing it begged explanation, especially after Twink, our resident
herbalist noted that it was still alive and actually rooted in the cloud
somehow.
Vangtse flew and verified it, though he nearly walked as
much as he flew. Unable to contain
herself, Twink jumps with the away crew to check out the tree. Its intact, roots and all and the cloud is
firm if spongy. Twink scraps some of it
away and pockets it (she later learns that the stuff is called Cloud Soil when
she consults her books). Meanwhile,
Sultrani, concerned about her is going to join the away party when she is
stopped by Otso. He gives her a runed
(Eldarin) rock that he says will allow him to pull her back to ship if she is
closed enough. He has more for the rest
of the away team.
His timing could have been better, as in the searching,
Twink and Vangste plummet through what they thought was solid cloud
(hah!). Twink drops like a rock below
while Vangtse throws out his wings to slow his fall and then promptly tangles
in more webbing. Sultrani dives over the
side after dunking an open barrel of beer over her head. She slips through the webbing and quickly
makes her way (falling through the air) to Twink and activates the stone. They rubber band back to the ship deck but
the return is not controlled (bad roll) and they slam into the deck. Hard.
Hurt, Twink gets an earful while the rest free Vangtse. Twink finds some of her healing medicine and
feeds them both.
They are out while the rest decide to continue on. They fly, slowly through the area, noting
with amazement more and more greenery; birds are seen as well as numerous
insects. When they come across true earth
on the clouds it dosen’t seem a surprise but when they come across what seems
to be an entire colossal garden with tall trees, hanging vines and even – who
knows how – the hint of high hills or a mountain, they are agog. When night comes they decide to drop anchor
and rest. Right before twilight, Otso
had noticed wreckage from other skyships or airships. He has no desire to fight through this at
night.
Concerned about things, two people are set on watch at all
times, fully armed. Ariadne, later that
night, drawn by some sixth sense, wakes up and goes on deck. She finds that the two on watch are asleep
and covered in large insects. She grabs
torches and shoos them away. After
waking the others, they pull the two inside to make sure they are alive and
safe (they are) and then plugs up area the insects could get in. The rest of the night is spent watching
insects that carpet the ship and the night air.
Morning comes (thankfully!) and high above something huge
flies over, casting a giant shadow across the ship and the greenery spread out
before us. We move the ship a little, to
a better berth and then disembark as a group to check out the wrecks. Stopping when we did was good since we found
masses of rocks and more debris from ships.
It looks like the remnants of at least four ships, maybe more.
Vangtse overflew the area and report masses of birds,
insects and a giant thriving forest. It
seemed like a forest floating in the clouds.
He also reported a pure pool of water fed by dozens of tiny streams. We made our way to it, nearly losing Twink
along the way as she harvested one plant after another. Or at least she tried to until we dragged her
away. Reiner and Fin couldn’t resist a
swim in the pool while Sultrani escorts Twink to gather more plants. Kain broods and talks to the others.
While gathering, Twink is set upon by a wild cat of some
sort. She gets a lucky shot in with her
knife, gutting it. Sultrani finishes
it. Meanwhile, something akin to a giant
land gator shoots out from the vegetation, narrowly missing the two of
them. Sultrani grabs Twink and runs
towards the group. Twink squeaks the
whole way, raising cane. Everyone comes
running right as an albino Saurig drops from branches above the land gator and
slams it into the ground. Kain gets a
good cut in before the Saurig snaps the crock’s neck by twisting its head
around.
Unsettled by their new visitor, everyone stares at one
another for a moment before the Saurig speaks.
Runes burned into his skin glow as he talks. He explains he is out of time: throw forward
across a gulf he has no idea how to measure. We quickly find out he is from the time of the
Kthoi, one of their drop troops genetically engineered to fight on other
planets. Not that all of that made sense
to us. He was just as confused as we
were and grappled with what had happened.
He showed us a wound he was recovering from and said much of his memory
was lost, including his name. Not
knowing what to call him, we gave him the name of “Timeswept”.
The journey back was filled with Twink’s incessant questions
to him and his seemingly endless patience.
Or, perhaps amusement would be more exact. He didn’t answer everything but he did at
least address the question.
Closing upon the ship made us realize we could hear the
sound of combat. Redoubling are stride
we came to the ship rapidly. On the deck,
a huge manticore was tearing into a golden field that Otso can called into
being to keep from getting killed. Or
eaten. Three more of the beasts were
flying above and soon we were embroiled in a battle between us and the four of
them. If not for Timeswept we would
have died. Still, it was Sultrani and
Kain that turned the tide. Kain with
some mad sword skills that defied mastery (and were utterly rooted in luck) and
Sultrani by using her injured arm and finding hitting one of the manticores so
hard it broke its back and cracked the deck all in one.
Three died and one survived to fly away – the one with runes
trailing down its chest and across its shoulders. In its trail it left a dying Kain and Ariadne
and everyone but Timeswept , Sultrani, and Otos heavily wounded. Timeswept poured water from a spring he had
found on the island. It rapidly forced
healing, an act that knocked out nearly all the crew, though we gritted our
teeth and managed to stay conscious through it.
It also brought on an intense hunger and got Twink feeding everyone.
Timeswept left with Sultrani to get more of the “healing”
water. Their journey was swift: they
were among the fastest in the group. It
was not without accident. They were set
upon by the one that had escaped and obviously knew of the healing pool too as
it was healed. Their fight was short but
intense. It ended when the two of them
killed it but not before the Manticore bit off one of Timeswept’s arms.
He manages to lead her to the pool and then dives in. Sultrani gets the water and waits for him but
he never surfaces. She dives in but
cannot find him. Uncertain, she returns
to the ship.
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