2-2-2019 - Game Session: The Rift - Part 5
It’s been a few weeks now. The ship is looking better and more robust as the modifications have taken place. Hikaru, Ruby and Rolland took a stroll up a mountain with Balgor one evening, and got to see the stars above the persistent clouds we’ve had. Balgor also had a private chat with Armella and Azandar about their own concerns: Armella’s questions about the mindflayer race (and her necklace of Tarj) and Azandar’s questions about his strange dreams (and our floating island problem).
We are milling about, resting and relaxing, repairing the ship, and getting ready for… we don’t know what yet. Balgor passes by the tiefling and stops short, saying: “I have not seen your kind in this world for thousands of years.”
Mutiger blankly stares back at him. Balgor immediately approaches him, looking over him like a man looking over a piece of art. “Oh yes, quite the robust fellow, aren’t you? So, tell me, what do they call you?”
He replies in a deep voice, “Mutiger.”
“Mutiger? Fitting name. Very fitting name. And why are you here traveling with… them?”
He looks over at those nearby and says, “They are… good people.”
“Well that’s… apparent.” Balgor takes a step back. “So what do you think of this place?” He says with his arms out and a slightly ironic tone to his voice.
After a pause, the tiefling speaks. “It’s…. dangerous.”
“Oh yes, this place is dangerous. But you are also dangerous. Everyone here is dangerous. I am dangerous. The elf is dangerous…”
“Not dangerous in the flesh. Dangerous… in the mind.”
Balgor thinks on that. “True… you are not wrong. So you only travel with these people because they are good people? Quite an admirable trait. Loyalty.”
Mutiger nods.
“You don’t say much, do you?”
He shakes his head.
“That’s alright… well then. I dare say, that it is a pleasure to meet you my friend… Mutiger. I hope I will never find myself on the end of your great sword.”
“Likewise… I would not want to oppose you in battle.”
Balgor departs, patting him on the shoulder. “Come. I would like to have a meeting where I can convene with everyone.”
He nods and they make their way to the inside of his cave, and the rest of the group gathers around.
Balgor has a large stone table in the middle of his cave with several benches around it, and sits at the head of the table. “Alright… so… it has been brought to my attention that there is a floating island by our good elven friend here.”
Azandar blinks at the mention of his name and remains quiet.
Balgor gazes around. “Would you care to expound more on that, my friends?”
It’s silent for some time. “Well don’t everyone rush to talk at once…” Azandar mumbles.
“Well we… don’t really know much of the details, other than that.” Thorin comments. “Other than we saw a floating island, with a big block atop it, guarded by a metal dragon.”
Balgor thinks. “Were there mountains on this island?”
“Yes. From what we saw. Like I said, we didn’t really… get too close.”
Balgor has a shrewd look and seems content with this. “It’s been a long time since I’ve ever had hope of finding my whole crystal. This island… there is no doubt there is magic there. Perhaps that is where the rest of the pieces are.
“If I could find them…” his eyes shine, “I could go home.”
He pauses, looking around. “And possibly find a place for you to find some refuge.” We stay quiet, remembering our flight from what enemies might be pursuing us.
Ruby pipes up, “So if I understand right, you wanna go along with us on our ship?”
“I think so madam. My mind is made up. I’m coming with you. When did you last see this island? Where was it heading?”
Thorin speaks, “We saw it over my homeland, North east… I believe.”
“It’s been a few weeks since you’ve arrived at the Rift.”
“Yeah, and it’s taken just a little bit longer to get here.”
“It did…” Balgor muses. “If it is any comfort to you, I can guide you out of the Rift. I know secret paths from here, and I can navigate the mountains.”
Thorin responds with some relief, “That’s good to know.” He pauses, then tentatively asks, “Is there anything else here that can help us fight this dragon on the floating island? Weapons of power?”
Balgor thinks for a moment. “Funny you should ask… In the back of my cave, I have a trove of treasures that may be of use to you. You are each free to choose one item to help you on this trip. If you die or if this is a wild goose chase, I will kill you and take my items back.”
The dwarf pipes up after an awkward silence. “Uuuh… if... it was a wild goose chase, can we just give you the items and not… die?”
“I suppose. I like you guys. You know one time I could kill people and resurrect them multiple times.”
Mutiger muses outloud, “But not anymore?”
“There may be a few sparks left in me… you never know.” Balgor threatens, but then chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’m only jesting.”
“Suuuure….” Thorin mumbles uneasily.
Balgor stands and gestures for everyone to follow him to the back of the cave.
He takes us to a door and with his touch it opens effortlessly. When he walks through, he beckons you to follow.
It’s a large cavernous room filled with items and weapons and armors of various sorts from ancient times. As you gaze at these strange, powerful, and some mundane items, you are blown away. They look ancient, but untouched, like they were picked up yesterday.
We all take turns picking out exactly one item a piece, without any information beforehand from Balgor. He seems purposefully quiet as he watches us drawn to specific items.
“Would you like to know more about what you choose?”
Mutiger holds up a cloak he picked out. Balgor turns to him. “You have selected a protective cloak. This cloak will turn the blades of your enemies as well as armor can.”
Mutiger nods.
He turns to Azandar who is holding a bladed weapon—drawn to it although he has not practiced with any sword before. “You have The Sword of Retaliation. It will assist you when foes strike you, and will bite back with ferocity. It is quick, like you are.”
He turns to Thorin, who is admiring different pieces of a whole set of armor. “You have finely metaled dwarven plate there, anciently crafted. It is light, strong, and reflects incoming energy to help you stand your ground. It will be difficult for foes to push you away.”
He turns to Armella, who—wanting to avoid anything magical—picked up a medium-sized, ordinary looking bag. “You have a bag which will hold more than you think. It is not merely a mundane bag… it is a bag of holding, and will carry 10x anything similar to its size.”
He turns to Ruby, who is clutching a beautiful silken rope, which seems to glitter with its own special light. “You have chosen a silken rope of climbing. It may only weigh 3 pounds, but can hold 3000 easily. It’s a good 60 feet long, and you can command it to move toward you, away from you, coil, unknot, securely fasten, anything you’d like. You can even have it knot itself to make climbing easier (although it will shorten a bit) and will magically heal itself if frayed.” Ruby stares down at the rope in her hands, stroking it gently. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Balgor smiles, and says, “GREATNESS.” At his voice, the rope begins to animate, slithering like a snake across the floor.” Ruby jumps out of the way with a yelp and drops the rope. Balgor chuckles, saying another word: “UNDYING.” The rope drops still again. “Those are the command words for that item.”
With that Balgor beckons you out of his cave. “Unfortunately you can only choose one item. Any more than that, aaaaand I will have to kill you.”
Mutiger grins. “Quite!”
He leads you out of the caves, where we are free to continue making preparations to leave. Within several days the ship is finally repaired and modified to its greatest asset, and is ready to fly again. Its engine is modified to fly higher, the wings are modified and sports armor plating, and it has new cannons in place of the old harpoons. It is ready to face a dragon.
“About time.” Ruby mutters. “I’ve been waitin’ to get off this bloody island.”
“Well then, let us be off.” Balgor says, coming up behind her. One by one by one, we board the ship. Balgor takes a great leap onboard, right up to the deck of the ship from where he was standing.
The ship starts up with a thrum. We have plenty of fuel to exit the rift and hunt down the floating island; it is just a matter of navigating through the mountains and crossing the ocean to intercept the floating island. It is all about timing at this point.
Thorin turns the ship, heading in a north westerly direction, hoping to cut across the path that the floating island is likely taking around Terra. The instruments, still not working due to the magic of the rift, require us to fly by sight alone and man the rigging. Balgor stands at the front of the ship, hands on his hips, ready to give orders.
Ruby stands on the side of the deck, looking for threats and enemies. Thorin stays in the helm, steering the ship. Armella and Azandar hang on the rigging, ready to help turn the sails and balloon. Mutiger helps look out to keep our direction based on the sun.
Balgor directs us to the western half of the mountains of the rift, leading us through a craggy canyon. Ruby and Mutiger see large rocks moving toward the ship, and call to Armella and Azandar to raise the sails to get some lift. The two heave with all their might to man the rigging.
Azandar leans into the ropes pulling it taut, and Armella struggles with hers. The ship lists slightly, scraping softly against the stone. Feeling the shutter of the ship, Thorin works the leavers in the ship’s command console so the ship rights itself.
The team continues to work together, moving through the canyon with a snug fit. The ship pitches and leans, but wiggles its way through. The canyon winds for miles, and after about 8 hours it begins to open. A huge natural arch runs over the center of the canyon. We pitch the ship down to head toward the water, going under the arch. Finally, fresh air and clear skies… we are no longer in the Rift.
For the next month, we continue on our way toward where we anticipate meeting the island.
* * *
Mutiger comes up to Thorin as he trains, and hands him an axe with a cougar head. “Cougar… is strong. You… are strong.”
“Thank... Thank you. I know you’ve given axes to others… I’m glad to accept it, but,” he takes it, “But if you ever want it back, just ask.”
“It is yours. You are its guardian now.”
“Oh…. Good.” He looks around to see where he can strap it to on his belt. “Is there… anything I should be aware of with this axe? Or is it just an axe?”
“It’s to remind you of your strength. Take care of it.”
“Oh, okay. So it’s a reminder. Okie dokie. Just… Decoration? Or can I use it? Is it a weapon?”
Mutiger’s brow furrows. “It is for you to guard, for you to wield. For your use, as you see fit.”
“Oh okay, I understand. I don’t want to disrespect it in any way… I know these are very important to you.”
“And you. Are important to me.”
“Awww… well thank you, Mutiger.”
During the trip, Azandar sits in his room oft, studying the sword he was given. Being a gunman, he feels unfamiliar with a martial weapon. Having picked up a few books from Osonor, he also reads through those for inspiration.
During one outing on the ship, he runs into Mutiger. “Friend,” Azandar says to Mutiger, “How are you? I haven’t talked much this trip so far. What’s on your mind?”
“You are… a good friend.”
“Nothing deeper than that? Or do you like deep things?”
“Deeper how?”
“What your life has been like, where you’re going. What we’re doing now. I think on those things quite a lot, but... I’m not you.”
“I think of them…” He pauses. “I come from tribe. They are dead.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’ve traveled. And then I met you.”
“Why did you travel? Where did you go?”
“Many places… I cannot give names.”
“Ah. Is it because you don’t know the names, or would you rather them remain a secret?”
“I do not know them.”
“Understood… well, I hope these travels with us have not been too dangerous or perilous. Although it seems you can handle yourself.”
“Danger is… relative.”
“That is true. Well, just know that if anything bad should happen, I will have your back.”
Mutiger nods. Azandar pats him on the upper back and heads on his way, up from the boiler room to the upper floors. As he goes, Mutiger calls out. “Azandar?”
“Yes?”
“The deer… is strong, is swift. Is capable. You are swift… and capable.” He pulls an axe from his belt and hands it to Azandar. “Thank you... that is a very… meaningful gift. I really appreciate it.” Mutiger nods.
Azandar opens up a loop on his belt to set the axe, and covers it with his trench coat to guard it, and leaves on his way. He heads on his way to the kitchen. Seeing a broken down automaton, he heads over to it and opens up a plate on it. Seeing inside at all the gears and clockwork mechanisms, his mind turns over the workmanship and what he needs to do to get it up and running. Figuring he can start working on repairing the automatons, he gets to work on this one.
After working on the automaton for some time, he heads up to the deck and spots Armella and Ruby by the railing. “Good day ladies.”
“Good day Azandar. Been busy?”
“Yes, doing regular maintenance on the boiler. I’m going to start working on these automations that malfunctioned while we were in the Rift. That’s what I’ve been up to, anyway.”
“Oh that would be fantastic!” She smiles.
“There is something I’d like to… discuss with you. I’m by no means trying to ask you to interpret dreams, but…”
“Oh, I’ll do the best I can?”
He tells of a dragon in his dream, turning in to an elf that looked similar to his father. That this individual told him he is in the bloodline of Vayakir. That there were twin brothers, and he is supposed to finish what they started in mortality.
He finishes his story. “What do you think of that?”
“I’m.. not sure. It’s bloody strange. Is it any different than your normal dreams?” She asks, concerned.
“Yes, very different. No flashbacks, no fright. I was just in this... plane, and a dragon fell and looked at me with golden eyes, and spoke with me about all that. Balgpr admitted to me he was no dream interpreter... Maybe I could ask Armella. I just wanted to ask you, I appreciate your opinion.”
Ruby apologizes for not being much more help, and he heads over to Armella.
“Armella, may I talk to you for a moment?”
He relates the dream sequence to her, and everything Balgor told him just the same. “What do you make of that? If it happened to you, how would you react?”
Armella chuckles slightly. “Do you know people have been having strange dreams on the ship?”
“Who else did?”
“Well do you remember... When I was glowing for a bit?” He nods.
“Well I had a dream with… a giant bear, with huge antlers, and roaming the earth. It was glowing. Then I woke up. And I started growing.”
He pauses. “That is... kind of odd, that you had a dream as well.”
“Yeah…” Armella trails off, thinking. She thinks about all the scriptures and doctrines she knows from Tarj and the conclave, and knows that there were sometimes instances where people who went through the Rite of the Alkahest had a dream beforehand, or where couples would share similar dreams. At least, before knowing what the Rite is currently about…. But people would have dreams of a heavenly place, or whole families would.
She says, “Well I’ve heard of people having similar dreams, but, I’m not sure if ours are connected.”
“Well I wonder, did this dream of yours… did the bear ever transform at all?”
“Well it was a magical bear… it did have antlers, and glowed… I don’t believe I had any transforming creatures or imagery… Perhaps it’s something where you’re growing into a… more powerful person?”
He thinks about it for a moment. “Well… that does help give me a bit more insight. I appreciate your opinion, especially with your background. Thank you both.” He turns to nod to them each. “It’s been eating at my mind and I’ve wanted to talk to someone about it. Aside from Balgor.”
Balgor calls from a far way away, as if he could hear everything anyway, “You can talk to me any time!”
“Heh, well…” Azandar mumbles, “I’ll be off.” He heads back to the kitchens.
* * *
A month and a half later, they continue steering through the clouds over the sea. Suddenly, the instruments start to clack and whir and pop back to life. The automatons start springing back to life. But as soon as they get near Balgor, they start malfunctioning again. “Maybe they should steer clear of me….”
We see it. The floating island. It’s at least a thousand feet above you, and we are currently 10,000 feet above sea level. We angle the airship upward and begin rocketing toward the floating island. Those same bugs from before start to pelt the airship relentlessly. Balgor yells, drawing his blades and sending swathes of energy, destroying almost all the insects.
Flying toward our ship in a zigzag pattern, a huge metal dragon flies toward our ship. Thorin tries to turn the ship to get it to aim its cannons at the beast, but pulls too hard and sends the ship into a slow spin. Firing guns and cannons and the dragon, it weaves around and circles the ship unharmed. It comes in, slamming into the side of the vessel in hopes of ripping it apart.
It bites down, hydraulics in the machinery taking a huge chunk of metal and wood out of the ship. Clawing ferociously, it can’t scrape past the extra armor. Mutiger steadies himself on deck, looking over the side.
Balgor, standing on deck, looks at the dragon. He folds his arms, calling out to us. “I believe in you.”
Thorin shouts orders to the automatons as the cannons jam, and the dragon lists the ship to its side. The beast starts to slip off. Armella shoots a cannon from the port side, the blast slamming with an explosion right into the neck of the dragon.
Mutiger begins to breathe heavily, muscles bulging in a rage. Recklessly attacking the dragon, he jumps to its back. He begins pummeling the metal of the beast, denting and ripping it away. The dragon lets go of the ship, flying erratically. It tries to do a barrel roll to knock Mutiger off, but he holds on tight. The dragon comes in for another pass but uses its breath weapon, hoping to mow people off the deck with its fiery tar.
Mutiger drops in front of its maw, taking the full brunt of the burning hot tar. His skin, resisting the flames licking his skin, blocks the substance from his friends as it drips down to the sea far below.
Azandar shouts from the deck in a draconic language, “LEAVE!” But the clockwork dragon ignores his plea, seemingly unaffected by any words. Cannons fly by it, occasionally making contact with its metal hide.
The engine kicks into gear as Thorin shoots up toward the island. It rushes past the dragon, who then turns and engages fiery rockets from its wings, chasing after us. Azandar rushes to the engine to help supply the extra fuel we need to outrun it.
We crest the mountains through the clouds, a shot from a cannon smashing against the dragon’s head plate, knocking it clean off. Balgor is shouting against the fierce wind.
You hear him shouting, “DOLORRRR! IT”S DOLORRR!” “BRING IT DOWN! BRING IT DOWN, BRING IT DOWN!”
The dragon begins spiraling down toward the island. It is green, and lush, but there is not a soul in sight.
About 100 feet up from the island, we watch as Mutiger crashes down with the dragon. He leaps from the back of the beast up to the ship, just barely making it as he slams into the deck. Mutiger calms his rage, looking over at the rest of us. Looking down at all the hot tar on his body, he begins slouching it off.
The dragon crashes to the ground below. We land the ship by the ruined dragon, and Balgor immediately jumps down, falls to his knees, and begins weeping.
Thorin looks at the rest of us and asks quietly, “Why is the god of slaughter… crying? And what is Dolor?”