Grand Theft Sky ship

As I mentioned last week, the last adventure is an adaption of "Palace in the Sky" by John and Martin Szinger, published in Dungeon Magazine 16 in 1989. It took me a week to create all of the battle maps I would be using in Roll20. The players were hired to put an end to the raids of the cloud giants but I underestimated their desire for the skyship the cloud giants were using. It greatly outweighed their desire to explore the castle. They stole the ship and took off - never entering the main castle. But I am not going to let them get away with things so easily. The cloud giants will have no difficulty learning who stole their ship, the players always make sure everyone far and wide knows of their exploits. The giants have a flying castle capable of going anywhere. Tracking down the players will be easy for them.

Session 112: Stealing the Cloudship

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The adventurers have silently entered the gatehouse of the Cloud Giant’s castle, sealing most of the bugbear guards behind a wall of iron. There are only eight bugbears in a guardroom standing between them and the flying ships of the sky raiders.

The heroes open the trap door and scramble up the steps as quickly as possible entering the guardroom. The bugbears are momentarily caught off guard but they quickly grab their weapons and attack pressing the heroes back against the open trapdoor. One bugbear runs to a gong and begins striking it raising the alarm. Aldus and Eathwund launch themselves into the melee. Eathwund is slashed by swords twice as he finds himself fighting two opponents. Alrix uses his sword of dancing to keep the bugbears at arm’s length. Lakima casts summon monster and summons three orcs to help the group. The orcs attack the bugbears from behind. Domago casts silence on the gong quieting the alarm and then casts healing on Eathwund. The fight is over in less than a minute. One bugbear tries to flee to the roof up a ladder but is killed by a volley of magic missiles from Alrix. Another bugbear tries to run for a door to the battlements but is caught down by Aldus and Eathwund. The last of the summoned orcs is dispelled.

Looking out an open window in the chamber Lakima sees the flying longship and another smaller craft floating only 45 feet away. He casts a luminous bridge from a scroll and urges everyone to hurry across to the longship. As they are traversing the bridge, he yells at Alrix to fireball the small ship. Alrix casts a fireball and it explodes around the smaller ship burning the wood and vaporizing the mast but the magic of the vessel protects it from further damage. Everyone scrambles aboard the larger boat.

“How do we make it go?” Fenris yells, looking around.

Lakima casts a fireball at the small ship and the second burst of fire magic is enough to break the enchantments on the ship. It lights on fire and plummets thousands of feet to the ground below. Lakima and Domago move to the back of the ship and examine a strange wooden pillar that is covered in runes. Lakima ascertains that they are magical and Domago can see some giant language runes as well. But they have no clue how to operate the ship. Meanwhile, Eathwund calls out a warning that a cloud giant and several bugbears have been alerted and have come to the battlements of the castle. They can clearly hear the booming voice of the cloud giant.

“What is he saying?” Lakima asks Domago.

“Nothing good,” Domago replies.

Domago and Aldus busy themselves cranking and loading a ballista on the bow of the longboat. They spin it about to face the castle.

Lakima yells out that he will figure out the ship later and he summons an air elemental from the plane of air to do his bidding. A large dark cloud with lightning-yellow eyes appears alongside the flying ship. Lakima orders the elemental to push the ship through the sky to the west. The elemental grabs the bow of the ship in misty hands and the ship begins to speed through the air backwards to the west. The cloud giant castle begins to recede behind them. But after a minute, the cloud castle and its cloud begin to follow the ship. At first, the castle seems to be gaining but after a half hour, it is clear that the ship being pushed by the air elemental is faster.

The strange pursuit continues all day until the sun begins to set. The cloud castle by this time has fallen several miles behind and is no longer discernible from other clouds. Lakima instructs the air elemental to take them down until they are just above the treetops of a pine forest. At a clearing, he tells the elemental to set them just above the ground by a few feet. Lakima has had to concentrate on the air elemental the entire time to keep it from gaining its freedom and attacking. Fenris drops over the side of the ship and climbs a tall tree to keep watch. Lakima tells everyone he will need to stay awake all night to control the elemental. Late in the evening Lakima feels his concentration slip for a moment and dismisses it just before losing control.

The next morning Lakima casts identify on the flying ship and he is able to learn the command word for the longship and how it functions. With their newfound knowledge, the adventurers cautiously ascend from the ground to 1,000 feet and scan the horizon. They do not see any suspicious clouds following them so they head back to Wolford. They find that the ship is slow without the air elemental pushing it along. But they manage to improve the speed by setting the single sail. Sailing into the wind is clearly going to be a problem.

The flying ship descends down to the Ironflood river outside of Wolford. They attempt to maneuver upriver like a boat but quickly discover that the flying ship is not watertight. The ship is ascended a foot out of the water and makes its way to the bridge over the river. The flying ship causes a brief panic as locals scream about the sky raiders attacking, but they are able to calm the locals and a group of militiamen who meet them. They request that the seneschal meets with them. A large crowd of townsfolk starts to gather and gaze in wonder at the flying longboat. The seneschal arrives with a group of guards after an hour. Lakima assures him that the cloud giant issue has been dealt with and asks that the Earl of Calwell be informed. When asked if the giants are dead, Lakima only answers that the giants have moved elsewhere.

Lakima calls out if there are any sailors in the crowd. A few men wave back but when Lakima offers them employment on the flying ship only one young man is brave enough to step aboard. He introduces himself as Cowan and assures Lakima that the rigging on the ship is simple and easy to handle for someone with his experience.

Eathwund does see his father in the crowd waving his arms about trying to get his attention. But the ship soon ascends and Eathwund only has time to wave to his father and give a shallow bow.

With Cowan’s aid, they get the ship moving at a good pace at an angle to the prevailing winds back to the west headed for Edgerton. The trip takes 5 days, and they steer a circuitous route avoiding mountains and tall hills. All those who are not resting keep a sharp lookout for a strange cloud or a flying castle. The ship has a high freeboard that blocks most of the wind but it is still freezing cold on board. Lakima begins planning ways to provide shelter. On the third day, they attract the attention of a flying three-headed chimera with the heads of a goat, lion, and dragon. Lakima summons an air elemental that fights and kills the chimera.

The evening of the fifth day flying through the clouds they spot Edgerton on the horizon. The ship floats down to anchor just off of the aerie where their lost hippogriff used to nest. Few in the city notice the flying ship arrive. But a company of the watch does check in on the manor house to make sure it is not a threat. Alayna meets them on the roof and marvels at the new acquisition.

“Where did you steal this?”

The next day Lakima and Aldus (his coin purse newly filled by Lakima for providing protection) head over to the Mages Guild. Lakima checks in on Rune Frost the headmaster and on the new librarian, he has hired. Then they head over to Cromly’s smithy. Cromly asks Aldus if the great sword he forged for him is to his satisfaction. Aldus tells him that it is not. He is unhappy with the balance and the edge. He asks Cromly to recommend a weapon smith with more skill. Cromly is stung by this comment and assures Aldus that the great sword is the finest in Thurmany. Lakima tells Aldus that maybe they can find a better sword in Gundamark – the kingdom of the dwarves. A stunned Cromly watches as they leave the shop.

Eathwund heads across town to Milner’s court and enters the Sign of the Purple Bugbear tavern. His tavern manager Yana is happy to see him. Yana explains that the tavern is making a good profit. He does tell Eathwund that some local merchants have asked if Eathwund would provide them protection from local gangs. Many of the local merchants are being extorted for protection by more than one gang. Eathwund’s reputation has kept all gang members out of the Purple Bugbear. Eathwund tells Yana that he will check with his friends. Yana also tells Eathwund that Wexley Windham (their partner in a copper mine in Whetwhistle) is staying at the tavern. He requested a discount on account of being a partner with Eathwund. Eathwund tells him that this is fine. Then he leaves and returns to the manor.

Back at the manor around lunch, the company gathers. Eathwund tells the group about the trouble with gangs in Mirdton. Lakima presents a convincing argument for not getting involved. Eathwund also mentions that Wexley is staying at the tavern. Lakima suggests that they return and talk to him. Eathwund, Lakima, and Aldus head back across town to the tavern. There they find Wexley seated in the tavern eating lunch. He happily greets his partners. Wexley tells them that he is in town to meet a merchant who purchases the copper they mine. He tells them about the progress at the mine. About how they have found some ancient workings and a lot of old mining equipment that is aiding them in digging out the copper.

A one-legged man arrives in the tavern walking expertly about on a cane. The man is in his forties and very roundly built. He shouts a greeting and is overjoyed to be meeting the “famous Company of the Black Dragon”. Ignoring the business that brought him to Edgerton to meet Wexley, he introduces himself as Dexter Longwood, a former adventurer. He asks them if they have ever heard of the Crimson Company. None of them have, but Eathwund nods his head politely. Dexter launches into a story about how he lost his leg which led to the group breaking up. One member, a young wizard named Norine Gayheart continued to adventure with other groups. When he was last in Edgerton he met a member of her last group – now long retired who gave him the sad news that Norine (and all her party) entered a wizards’ tower and never returned. Dexter asks if they would be willing to enter the tower and recover her body. He would like to give his old companion a proper burial. He assures him that the surviving party member told him that the tower was a short distance away on the south bank of the Dolm river. He has only 200 gold to pay them but they agree to do the job figuring it will be a quick one.

Lakima asks Cowan the first mate of their flying ship to find a shipbuilder to make the ship capable of floating on water. He also tasks him with finding another sailor and a tent to provide some protection from the elements. They then head to a weapon shop on Emerald Street a short distance from the Purple Bugbear. Dexter told them that Alda, the surviving member of Norine’s last adventure company, works at the shop. They find a simple weapon smithy. They ask the smith if they can speak to Alda and he directs them to a woman crafting a dagger. Alda is suspicious at first but when she learns Dexter sent them, she agrees to talk. Norine was part of a company of four adventurers. They entered a wizard’s tower 20 years ago and none were ever seen again. Alda was a young girl at the time and cared for their horses and maintained the camp while they entered dungeons and caves. She says she waited for a week and then sadly returned to Edgerton. She used the money the group left to apprentice as a smith. She tells them that she has a copy of the map they bought in Dolmvay showing the location of the tower, but she will have to get it after sunset when her work ends. Lakima hands the shop owner a gold coin and asks to buy Alda’s time. The shop owner agrees. As they wait for Alda they have a conversation with the shop owner. He complains about the local gangs all demanding protection money. Once he learns who Eathwund is he asks Eathwund if he would be willing to scare off the gangs. Lakima steps in and tells him that they do not get involved in guild business. Alda returns and gives them the map. Lakima gives her a few gold coins.

They leave and make plans for travelling to the wizard’s tower. Cowan has not started work on the tent or the hull of the ship. But he has hired a sailor named Dagmar to join the crew. They fly off to the east and on the first day, they see a hippogriff flying toward them. As it gets nearer, Lakima shouts at that "That's our hippogriff!". Gnomeat the hippogriff has escaped from the cloud castle and returned to them. The hippogriff lands on the ship. Lakima expresses concerns that the hippogriff might have been freed on purpose to track them, but the rope around the hippogriff's neck is frayed as if the hippogriff slashed through it to make its escape.