THE GILDED THRONE: IC Thread

[Avoraciopoctules]

Yellow seems nervous as the ship lifts off and he sticks to the area farthest from the edge once he gets his air legs he takes a quick look around

The tight corridors of the airship are less crowded after launch, and Yellow sees less traffic. Most of the crew is busy operating the mechanisms keeping the vesel on course or guarding sensitive or restricted areas. Apparently the large propellers that enable forward motion and turns are powered at least partially by linked sets of pedals.

knowledge architecture/engineering what this things most flammable area yellow could conceivably hit when attacking it in the air from the ground

Most of underslung cabin is made of wood. Although some effort has been made to armor the exterior, the demands of carrying capacity keep it from being anywhere near as tough as a real sailing ship. A volley of flaming arrows or a single fireball could probably set the cabin ablaze.

From the gnomish chatter, Yellow gets the impression that the airbag is much more resistant to fire than the cabin.

also are their any weapons? and if so what kind

Yellow spots mounting stations probably meant for relatively lightweight siege weaponry, arbalests and the like. It isn't too much of a stretch to imagine that the gun Waike wanted designed would fit well hear.

There's also external balconies that would make good firing positions for archers, and he overhears some gnomes talking about how ballast can be dropped if the airship needs to rise quickly.

yellow also makes a perception check to start looking for hidden compartments or secret weapons he basses his search on his experience on a pirate ship witch had retractable weapons and kept its most valuable loot stored in hidden compartments

Yellow sees nothing on the 3 lowest decks, but the stairs up to decks 4 and higher are all guarded. Templars block the way, but he can see that the architecture definitely seems more expensive. Magical lights and varnished wood, plus fittings on the walls (for maps and charts, perhaps?).

[Whatever]

Reve and Felf remain by a window on the lowest level. Felf leans out the window, one hand holding the sill and one on the side of the window. Her knees are braced against the wall, but her feet are barely touching the floor. The wind whips through her hair, and her face is equally lit by the bright sunlight and by her broad smile. 

Reve stands just behind Felf, examining the map, and glancing outside. As the ship moves across the countryside, Reve compares what the map predicts to what Felf reports. 

[Avoraciopoctules]

Reve and Felf remain by a window on the lowest level. Felf leans out the window, one hand holding the sill and one on the side of the window. Her knees are braced against the wall, but her feet are barely touching the floor. The wind whips through her hair, and her face is equally lit by the bright sunlight and by her broad smile. 

Reve stands just behind Felf, examining the map, and glancing outside. As the ship moves across the countryside, Reve compares what the map predicts to what Felf reports. 

From their elevated perspective, the trails and roads look surprisingly accurate for something that was presumably charted at ground level. There are no contour intervals, so the elevation shifts aren't shown in the map. It's difficult to say much about how accurate the tribal territory boundaries are from this distance.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Time passes...

As the airship draws near the lake that allegedly marks the territory of a hostile lizardfolk tribe, Felf and Reve note that there's a decent-sized clearing in the forest a moderate distance away. Their map indicates that the clearing is both near a buried supply cache and connected to a trail heading back to Artume. Of course, that probably means greater odds of being seen if they set down there.

[flare22]

yellow talks to the highest ranking crew member he can access

"chances are we have been spotted from the ground i suggest you hover rather then land and we can take a rope ladder down to the clearing that is if this ship is capable of that"

[Avoraciopoctules]

Their escort nods. "That was the plan, with the caveat that you're jumping down from the ladder so we don't get fireballed. You want the clearing? Sure thing."

In a few minutes, the airship has approximated a hover several hundred feet over the open spot.

[Whatever]

"The clearing does seem best." Reve says, nodding, "But we have to all be close together for my spell to work properly. Might be easier to simply jump from the airship itself, all together, instead of falling off a ladder."

[Avoraciopoctules]

Quickly enough, oversized planks are moved off what is to eventually be the cargo loading bay. One templar idly notes that if they need extra crossbows or rope, Commander Greta has authorized reasonable requisitions from onboard supplies.

[flare22]

"unless you have a naga or lizard-folk phrase book i think im good thanks."

yellow makes sure the eggs are healthy and secure then heads down the ladder as soon as its lowered

[Whipstitch]

Valdym says "I'm going to take a quick look down there; if anything is amiss I"ll be right back."

Valdym will use the at-will Feather Fall bit from his flight hex to check things out.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Valdym hops out of the airship and plunges toward the earth. At the last moment, his magic activates and tells inertia and conservation of momentum to go fuck themselves. As his feet impact the soil, it feels no more stressful than simply taking a step.

It definitely feels warmer down here, but after so much wind-chill that's to be expected. Grass, a few flowers (none yellow, thankfully), two areas along the edge where a trail winds through a gap in the trees.

In a few moments, Valdym realizes that this clearing is at least partially artificial. Multiple trees bear scars from having branches trimmed away, and there are numerous fresh stumps along the edges of the clearing.

[Whatever]

"Crossbow'd be better than nothing, I guess." Felf says, as she secures her sword and shield for the drop, and straps on the heavy crossbow and bolts.

Reve, meanwhile, secures her various pockets and pouches, tying them shut or using a minor cantrip to keep them closed (Prestidigitation). "Once Valdym comes back, we can all jump down. If it's safe. Stay near me, though, for the spell to work."

[flare22]

Yellow sticks close to reve and jumps when she does making sure not to jossle the eggs

[Whipstitch]

Valdym will return and describe what he saw, speculating that it may be a gathering area of some sort.

[Avoraciopoctules]

{Assuming that there's nothing left the party wants to do on the airship, I'm gonna advance things down to ground level.}

After sharing information, the party descends back to the forest clearing. And indeed, with more eyes on site and a bit of forethought, the party finds recent tracks without much difficulty. It looks like barefoot lizardfolk were here quite recently. Drag marks suggest that they may be responsible for the felled timber.

Perhaps there was a need for fuel or construction material at the lake.

[flare22]

yellow inspects the trail leading out of the clearing as well as the drag marks made by whatever trees the were hauling Survival check do the drag marks and foot prints lead to the trail or some were else?

[Avoraciopoctules]

It looks like trees were chopped down, and the wood was dragged down the trail towards the lake. It happened fairly recently.

[Whatever]

Out of perhaps an overabundance of caution, Reve activates her feather fall spell when the group is still several hundred feet above the ground, instead of trying to time it exactly. This leaves them drifting down for almost half a minute. Felf is thrilled, but she refrains from shouting as they fall. 

When they reach the clearing, Reve starts looking for the buried supply cache, while Felf examines the prints to try to get an idea of how many lizardfolk were here. 

[Avoraciopoctules]

In a stroke of luck, it looks like the rune-marked tree that signals the location of the treasure is right along the edges of the deforested area. If this is an ongoing worksite, then Reve's clue might be gone in a week or two.

Felf's fairly sure there were at least half a dozen lizardfolk here, maybe more. She's no ranger, but one set of footprints stands out because they are generally clear of the trees and more solidly impressed in the ground. Heavy armor? A guard for the workers, perhaps?

[flare22]

Yellow takes his spade out of his pack and starts digging were reve indicated

"Who do you think put these here? I mean if somone else had the map to sell us the perosn who burried these is probably either dead or did not care enough to aviod being robbed so were probably in the clear but I'm still curius"

[Avoraciopoctules]

Yellow begins to dig. After about 5 minutes he thinks he's found a large wooden chest. It will take more time to unearth, however.

... the party is not interrupted. After more excavation, the container is totally unearthed and hauled to the surface. It's heavy, maybe a hundred pounds. The wood is stained dark, almost black, and the edges are lined with somewhat rusted iron. Though sturdy-looking, the chest is scuffed and scratched, unlikely to be very valuable itself.

Sunlight begins to fade as evening approaches. It looks like the party has only a couple of hours worth of sunlight left.

[Whatever]

Felf helped dig up the chest, since she has a shovel. Reve stood guard, watching for any incoming lizardfolk.

Reve says, "The map doesn't say who it used to belong to. Seems like it was a trading group of some kind, maybe a caravan--although they would have been far from home. Then again, so are we, I suppose. I'm hoping whatever they buried will give us more of a clue."

Once they dig up the chest, she takes a closer look, inspecting it for magic and traps (Detect Magic, trapfinding). "This is heavy. Might be a pain to drag around with us. We could open it here, but if we want to set up camp anywhere else, this is the time to get moving. I don't mind staying here, as long as we stick to the trees. This clearing is a little open for my tastes. Also, I'm trying to remember if lizardfolk can see in the dark. I think no? Well, we'll have to skip a campfire in any case."

[Avoraciopoctules]

There used to be a padlock on the chest, but it has long since corroded away. It does not detect as magical, and Reve cannot detect auras from inside of it.

The chest looks like it just swings open, but that might require a bit of force.

[flare22]

Yellow pops open the chest then take invantory of what's inside

[Avoraciopoctules]

Inside the chest are
- 17 paper packets containing sticky cakes of some black substance
- 10 days worth of iron rations
- a feather token that radiates magic
- A finely crafted light crossbow, which is designed to fold up for easy carrying.
- 10 crossbow bolts with wax seals protecting the tips.
- a humanoid skull with sharply pointed teeth, including inch-long fangs