#4 - Melee Amidships (Part 1)

After the previous fight, the PCs spent some time looking around on the lower deck, which they now had a free run of (maybe?) since Magnus broke open a door. Meanwhile, Rendar d'Tharashk had already used his Mark of Finding to locate one of his weapons: straight up above on one of the decks above.

Halbazar chose this moment to try speaking with the lone human prisoner, deciding he must be Aundairian, aristocratic, and mentally unhinged. He deduced that the airship itself belonged to this man, and was named the Sky Talon. He was also able to coax out the rest of the man's "rhyme":

While the Kingly Eye glares

And the Sentinel hides

Blood from the secret folk

Of the Elder Court is given

Five the count of three

And with the emperor's key offered

The first of the seven opens

The PCs guessed that the Kingly Eye referred to Nymm, the yellow moon (that was even now full in the sky), and that the Sentinel referred to Olarune (which they did not see). Cypher knew that the "secret folk" probably referred to gnomes.


Wenrick, his tongue removed by the cultists and deeply anguished, was yet able to communicate—with Doongul's help—with gestures and written words. The PCs asked some questions about what he saw above. He conveyed that whether the amulet, the "emperor's key" had any true power or not, what mattered was that the cultists believed it was vital in some prophecy. He recommend that the PCs used the decoy amulet that Halbazar had swiped from the Bookmark Inn.


While exploring the lower deck, the PCs also discovered crew-members' cabins (empty), storage rooms (half empty), a magically warded door that Cypher believed to be the elemental binding room for the ship, and a swiveling ballista-and-seat at the bow side of the cargo deck. But it wasn't long before conflict was renewed as a canister of sleep gas was tossed down another flight of stairs. The PCs brought the battle up to the middle deck. Although still wounded from their trials, they had not found the cultists to be overwhelming in number; while certainly dangerous, the warriors were no match for them. Either their captors were not numerous, or simply not powerful enough to simply storm down the stairs and quell the defiance coming up from the cargo hold.


But in the concealing smoke of another alchemical trick, Magnus was the first to face off against another aberrant creature: a dolgaunt! Pale-skinned, hairless, eyeless, its body covered with writhing celia and a pair of massive tentacles at the shoulder, the dolgaunt moved silently, swiftly, and gracefully. It pummeled both Magnus and Halbazar with both hands and tentacles before slipping away....


Resting only briefly in the "safety" of one of the empty passenger cabins on the middle deck of the ship, the PCs then readied themselves for a final fight against their captors. Interrupted by a dolgrim who demanded "the key," they slew the monster, then split into three groups. It was time to ventured at last to the top deck for a possible final showdown with the men who shanghaied them on this night sky voyage....