Day 33-34 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Coming Together, Continued)

Day 33-34 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Coming Together, Continued)

Ship Log of the Royal Pardon, Captain Dashing 
Alsday-Erlsday, Mycius 14th-15th - Year 867;

     My little white lie bought me one day, which really sucks, how am I supposed to get work, as a captain of a ship without a crew! 

     I spent my day searching for work, begging pleading, even willing to do some things I'd really rather not talk about, ever, to anyone. But yet in the end I didn't get squat, I literally didn't have two copper pieces to rub together. The day was winding to an end and when I returned to my ship at the dry docks of Alaspar I was greeted by several agents of the Port Authority. 

     They demanded that I undock and leave, even going so far as to tell me that I Captain Dash, the Dashing, was not allowed to come back and use the docks of Alaspar until I paid my past due payments and provided them with a deposit!

     I was in the middle of arguing with the lead Port Authority agent when a Elven Man and a Tinker Gnome walked up, literally cutting the Port Authority Agent off, mid sentence.

     "I Noticed that you need to leave, and you need to make money. My friend here and I are in need of transport to the city of Sworn, If you take us, I will find you work that will get you paid. In the meantime my friend and I will cover any punitive cost necessary to get us to our destination." said the little Tinker Gnome... in one breath, very quickly.

     With the Port Authority Agents forcing me out, the gnome and his friend seemed like my only reasonable recourse at the time, so I gave the Agent the bird and turned around. and led the two onto the Air Ship.

     "Welcome to the Royal Pardon, I don't have a crew, so I'll show you what I need you to do, and i expect you to learn it quickly, we set sail now." With that I walked over the to docking ramp, pulled it in, told the Port Authority Agent "that I was the father of his newest brother or sister that would be about in roughly 9 months, and that I'd see him later" (though to be honest I may have used fewer words than that), and disconnected the moorings.

********

     We had be flying for a few hours when I noticed Black smoke billowing from somewhere near the edge of the sea of reeds. For some unknown reason I felt that I should steer that way, and soon my suspicions were correct, there appeared to be one of the Gnomish made (read rocket powered) merchant zeppelins that the city will occasionally hire to ship out prisoners and goods. Someone had landed it right in the of the tall grass, left the rocket engines roaring away, and the ship appeared to be positively swarming with undead, no doubt drawn by the noise of the engines.

     It didn't take long, for what I knew was inevitable to happen. As more and more undead clamber into the rocket engines of the ship it soon clogged up with the burnt remains of the undead, the pressure built up and the damn thing blew up. It was a crazy sight to see, mushroom cloud and everything. At first I had thought we were far enough away to avoid any of the debris from the explosion but that proved untrue when a large chest land smack dab on the deck next to the Elf Ranvier. I was at the helm watching him as he walked over to it, opened the chest, and then start freaking out over what he has seen.

     I watched him squirm for a bit before making my way over to his side to see what was in the chest. Upon approaching I first smelled it, and assumed it was one of the undead that had somehow gotten into a chest and been flung on deck. I readied my Elven Courtblade, which was strapped across my back, and got closer to Ranvier. I could hear him sniffle and mutter the name "Mik", and upon looking inside the chest I could see the body of a large man who was not an undead. I relaxed.

     "You knew him?" I asked.

     "Yeah, he was my friend." replied the elf.

     "Well good, that means we are going the right direction. Oh Look!" I said as I pointed to the small bronze porthole on the man's chest. the elf didn't seem to get what I was pointing at so I reached over, unlatched the port and reached in. Pulling my hand out I show Ranvier, who gave a weird squeel, and I told him about how these magically treated hearts are valuable, and if they are needed to be used, they could be sold for quite a bit of money. He reluctantly took the squishy heart, holding it out on the palm of his hand like it was going to bite him.

     With a sigh of frustration I went into my cabin and found a small box, which I then put the heart into and gave back to him.

     We resolved to keep the chest for the time being as the elf wanted to have a proper burial for his fallen friend, so we closed the chest and moved it out of the way.

     We again set the ship in motion heading in the direction of Sworn from the remnant's of the zeppelin, sure that we would soon come across the Elf's missing friends.

********

     We had been flying for a good deal of time and dawn was upon us. Ranvier and Arredondo were on lookout for the party while I was at the helm, when I heard Ranvier shout "There I see them!"

     I rushed to the edge of the ship and looked in the direction that Ranvier was pointing and saw a group of people in the distance embattled with a large group the undead, and looking to the west of the group I saw a very large horde of undead that appeared to have adjusted it's direction and was moving towards the group, they would soon be overrun!

     Jumping into action I brought the ship to a hard landing near the group. I engaged my magical augmentations, flames bursting from my feet, back and arms, and flew off the ship landing next a large group of undead while bringing my Elven Court blade down on one of them, cleaving it in half.

     Looking towards the boat I saw Ranvier draw his bow and Arredondo his Musket with which they began taking out the undead.

     With the main group, we shortly finished off the remainder of the undead and I rushed them onto the ship, we took off just as the horde of undead broke through the trees and brush into the clearing.

     With the group reunited we stopped on the way to Sworn and performed a warriors cremation of Mik's body. Most members said good things about their lost friend, and the robot even said a prayer I had never heard to some "Becoming God".

     The group got together and one of their members, a dwarf took me aside. we hashed out a deal where he would pay me a specific amount for my services and that if I ever accompanied them on any of their duties I would get a certain percent share. I agreed and we made our way to Sworn, docking at the Sworn Dry Dock just as evening was coming to a close.