Eberron Adventure Journal: Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (3)

Rhaan 27, YK 998

Part Four - Sky Raiders of Eberron

With no time to lose, the Wandering Wolves rushed to Docking Berth 3, atop an 80-foot docking tower where the Cloud's Destiny, a Lyrandar airship, was about to take off. When they reached the berth, they found their way blocked by gnomish warriors, clearly dominated by Lucan into slowing their progress. The airship was in the process of casting off, and the crew showed no interest in the Wolves' shouted pleas to hold the ship.

Pel managed to sprint past the gnomes, leaping aboard the ship to begin arguing with the ship's hostile captain that he should hold the departure. In the meantime, the rest of the Wolves did battle with the gnomes. The gnomes were skilled warriors who had been given orders to delay, and they managed to hold the Wolves at bay long enough for the Cloud's Destiny to begin casting off.

Finally, William rushed past the gnomes that had not been killed, and was nearing the 5-foot jump between the docking berth and the airship. The last remaining gnome, in a desperation move, charged at William and, catching him at an off-guard moment, managed to hit him in the legs and push him off the platform. William reached his arms out and tried to catch the two other berths beneath, but his heavy armor and no doubt surprise at being caught so off-guard made him miss, and he instead impacted heavily and fatally on the ground below.

The gnome that killed William enjoyed his victory for less than a second, as Lysander put an arrow through his neck, killing him instantly. The rest of the gnomes were also dealt with fairly quickly, but not quick enough to stop the Cloud's Destiny, which was now at least a hundred feet away from the berth. The rest of the Wolves watched, their hearts sinking, as Lucan got away again, this time with Pel stranded on the same airship.

Mere moments later, another airship appeared at the berth. It was beaten up, with gouges along the hull and a broken shaft at the tip of the prow, and its faded paint identified it as the Jade Fury. It's captain, a roguish looking half-elf named Captain Rarwog, bid the characters to leap aboard. They did so, and were informed that the ambassador had experienced a change of heart and engaged Rarwog's services to help them if they were unable to catch the Cloud's Destiny.

Though the Jade Fury had moved in quickly, the Cloud's Destiny was faster and had gotten a head start. It took a little over a day for the Wolves to catch up with their comrade aboard the Cloud's Destiny.

During that time, Pel shapechanged and changed clothes and did some investigation aboard the Cloud's Destiny, looking for Lucan or his sister. He disguised himself as a cook during the breakfast and tried to lure passengers out of their cabins to identify Grilsha or Lucan if he could. He also checked the storage lockers, discovering that one was an extradimensional space similar to a bag of holding, but despite casting a Detect Undead spell, was unable to locate Lucan or Grilsha. During an evening meal, he did encounter a Kalashtar named Kanatash. The two men bonded quickly, and Pel decided to engage the psion's help in his quest for Lucan.

Meanwhile, aboard the Jade Fury, the Wolves mostly kept to their cabins. They did have a visit from Rarwog, who exchanged stories and tales about Xen'drik and recognized the Wolves (or so he said) from their story in the Korranberg Chronicle. Brand offered up some vague stories, but he still managed to let a few details slip to the curious Rarwog. As it would turn out later, Rarwog's curiosity was anything but academic.

It was late at night when the Jade Fury came upon the Cloud's Destiny. A human crewman that the Wolves hadn't seen before knocked on their door and bade them to follow. He took them to an air skiff, which he and another crewman piloted, floating down towards the unsuspecting Cloud's Destiny below.

About this time is when all hell broke loose. One of the Wolves chanced to look up and saw hatches open in the hull of the Jade Fury, disgorging four skiffs filled with Emerald Claw soldiers. Brand noticed that the two crewman were piloting their skiff away from the Cloud's Destiny, not toward it. He rushed up and landed two serious blows on the crewman, and Lysander finished one of them off while Tock menaced the other with his arm blade. "Take us to the Cloud's Destiny," he ordered. The fanatical Emerald Claw soldier offered up a "Take yourself" before leaping off the skiff to his death.

Aboard the Cloud's Destiny, one of the crew members spotted the incoming skiffs and sounded the alarm. The captain declared battle stations, and told passengers to get below decks. Pel and Kanatash ignored these orders and headed up instead. Meanwhile, Brand managed to figure out how to pilot the skiff, and headed it back toward the Cloud's Destiny.

The battle was joined, with archers on one skiff firing onto the deck as the other three skiffs landed and provided a staging platform for about twenty Emerald Claw soldiers. The half-elf captain and his crew fought bravely, but they were no match for the soldiers, and most of them perished during the fight.

Fortunately, the Wandering Wolves were well-equipped and prepared to handle the Emerald Claw. Kanatash unleashed psychic missiles of electricity that blasted through groups of them, Tock tested his new arm blade in battle and Brand took up the slack in the warrior role recently vacated by William. Pel and Lysander, meanwhile, used potions of invisibility to move around and follow the Emerald Claw as they rushed below decks and began bashing open lockers, looking for something... or someone.

Pel was back on the deck, with Lysander still below, when Lucan emerged from his hiding place in the extradimensional locker and misted up onto the deck. He took one look at what was going on and, enduring a psychic attack from Kanatash, transformed into mist once again and floated away from the ship.

As it turned out, Lucan's departure was none too soon. None of the Wolves had looked up and noticed until it was too late, but the captain of the Jade Fury had seen that his forces were losing and launched a desperation gambit. The Jade Fury crashed into Cloud's Destiny, wood buckling and metal screaming as the ships collided and became one. The air and fire elementals powering the ship loosed themselves and began warring amidst the falling wreckage.

With no time to lose, Brand and the rest of the Wolves on deck jumped into a skiff and took off. They waited as long as they could for Lysander, but they were unable to hold out and had to take off without him. They floated off away from the spectacular crash, and then went back to land, expecting to find the corpse of another friend.

Instead, Lysander emerged, having taken refuge in the extradimensional locker during the crash. The Wolves being mercenaries at heart, they took the time to search the locker for a few bits of treasure and then looked off at the distance to the Brelish fortress town of Sterngate. Clearly, this was their next destination.

XP: 800