Elwood comes up behind Anneth and says quietly, "Here, let me show you how it's done." He then demonstrates a few basic knots and lashings for rigging, and how to raise and lower the sails.

OOC: As a native Thyatian, I figure it's not a stretch to say that Elwood has spent some time on ships in the past.

"I've sung on a few ships in my day," Kareth offers. "I'm not saying I'm any good at it, mind you, but I can help. Just don't rely on me in an emergency!"

The bard pitches in and raises the sails.

He lets Elwood direct his actions.

"Maybe we shouldn't raise all the sails right now," he calls out from up on the mast. "Without any water to cut our speed, we may have a hard time stopping where we want to be."

"Just a thought."

Rodrigo has no experience of sailing - in fact he's never even seen the sea - and doesn't want to risk exposing his ignorance by trying to figure out the sails. So he stays at the helm and barks out a lot of orders in nautical sounding gibberish.

"Hoist the mainsail Anneth."

"Elwood, get that forecastle shealthed!"

"Put your back into it Kareth. We need all the sails we can get. Hoist that... one, yes the triangle one."

In reply to Rodrigo (msg # 9):

Tom just watches the others as he has no knowledge of sailing at all.

06:55, Today: Tom Wolf rolled 12 using 1d20.  sailing knowledge.

It takes Rodrigo a good hour before he fully has the hang of maneuvering the ship. He is able to learn how to spin the ship on its axis, with a bit of help from the sails.

He learns that whatever magic is being employed, it doesn't alter gravity. Even though the ship is flying... floating is actually the more correct term as it has no motive power. But, you drop something on the deck, it falls to the deck. If you drop something over the side, it falls to the ground.

If he keeps the yoke perpendicular and then moves it just left or right, the ship starts to roll over. He's convinced he could turn it upside down, but people and objects would fall off if he did. He also thinks he could do it front to back, but that's even scarier!

The ship doesn't move all that fast, barely faster than a man can jog, but, of course, it isn't bothered by the roughness of the terrain below.

The estimate is that it will take about 20 hours to reach Lhamsa. That's a straight line.

He hasn't figure out how to make the ship increase in altitude, though, other than pointing the ship upward and letting the wind push it up, so for the moment, he can't actually see his destination.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:20, Mon 26 Oct 2015.

Talis laughed in delight as the ship took flight.  Having no experience with sailing he helped out those that had real or imagined knowledge as best he could by rigging sails or pulling on ropes as directed.


"Marvelous!  With such a machine we could investigate many things that have frustrated Sages for generations!"

Talis began to tick off a list on his hand "We could fly to the Sun and discover if it really is a doorway to a fiery plane!  We could circumvent the world to see what is on the other side.  We could fly up to the Moon and discover if it really is made of Green Cheese!"

The big Elf watched the seemingly chaotic mess of ropes and sails.  He noticed that there was a rhythm and organization to the process, but he couldn't figure it out.

15:54, Today: Talis Aramorn rolled 18 using 1d20.  Trying to understand the workings of the ship.

A bad week posting-wise, but I've also been waiting for others to post...


As Talis is having the time of his life, learning to control the ship in the variant winds that blow through the mountains, a particular powerful gust from the south catches the ship at just the right moment to push it northward into the adjacent valley. He's not sure if there's a way out of the valley, and considers whether he can turn the ship around or raise it up over the mountains at the end.

Then, while scanning the valley to see if he's got the room and time to turn the ship, he spots a rather strange sight: there's a minotaur up a tree!

A moment later it registers why: the tree, and therefore the minotaur, too, are surrounded by two dozen hobgoblins. They are screaming and shouting at him, waving weapons in the air, and a few are shooting arrows at him.

In reply to Mysterion (msg # 13):

Ok.  Now we have some targets.

If they are in range of my short bow I will fire a couple of arrows at the hobgoblins.

Looks like I'm still better with a sword than a bow and arrow.

18:21, Today: Tom Wolf rolled 10 using 1d20+1.  Attack with Bow and Arrows.
18:21, Today: Tom Wolf rolled 4 using 1d20+1.  Attack with Bow and Arrows.

OOC: Can Rodrigo fire his bow? Or does he need to focus on sailing the airship?

Elwood frowns at the immediate initiation of hostilities by Tom. Maybe the hobgoblins have a good reason to have cornered the minotaur in a tree. Since both parties are monsters, Elwood isn't going to assume one side or the other are the "good guys" in the conflict.

"Hold your fire, let's find out what's what before we start attacking."

OOC: Once we know which side (or both) is in the wrong down there, open fire.

Mort moves around near the top of the tree making sure that the goblins don't get a clean shot on him.  One of his hooves slipped causing him to have to regrip the tree or risk falling while he regained his footing.  A shadow from above caught his attention, he glanced upward to see what it could possibly be.  The minotaur large mouth dropped open, when he looked upon the source of the shadow.

     A flying ship.

It took several long moments before the minotaur was able to regain his composure and started waving for the ship to come closer.

Rodrigo steers the ship towards the tree. "If he's being chased by hobgoblins then I want to find out what he has to say," exclaims the short elf. "Lower down a rope and bring him on board - but keep a sword pointed at him of course..."

In reply to Rodrigo (msg # 18):

Tom ties off a rope and throws it over the side then pulls out his sword to follow Rodrigo's instructions.

I hope you are right about this elf.  Tom says in a voice that suggests this might not be the best idea you have had.

"If he's not, we've got weapons...and could just let go of the rope." Anneth assists in lifting the Minotaur.

Elwood nods. "I'll keep an eye on the hobgoblins while we pull him up. This should be an interesting story, either way."

The Minotaur gives a sigh of thanks as the ship alters course and comes closer, when he sees the rope being dropped down to him, he called down to the goblins down below, "You'll not be feasting on me today, you'll need to find your dinner elsewhere"

Mort reached out and grabbed hold of the rope, and pulled it taunt making sure that it could support his weight.  Making sure that he had a firm grip on the rope he proceeded to climb hand over hand up the rope.  He only fear now was that the rope might be cut.  Mort climbed with haste to make it to the ship before they decided to change their mind.

Reaching the ship, Mort pulled himself up over the rail and onto the deck.  He sat down leaning against the rail his chest rising and falling heavily from the exertion of the climb.  He managed to get out "Thanks" as he  tried to regain breathing to a more normal level.

He looked into the eyes of those on the ship unclear as the the reception that he would receive.  The though of a flying ship, not registering with him at the moment.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Thu 29 Oct 2015.

A hand is lowered to help the Minotaur up when he was ready to rise.  His reception from Anneth could be considered "friendly enough", with a hint of "I'm not going to do anything stupid unless you do anything stupid".  "Hello, and you are?  My name is Anneth."

When it became clear that there was a flying ship in the air, the hobgoblins that had bows began firing at the ship. Most of the arrows are probably stuck in the hull now, and only a few cleared the railing to stick in the deck.

Hauling the minotaur up would have been difficult, but fortunately he was able to climb himself.

Rodrigo turns the wheel and points the giant flying ship back towards the north and Lhamsa. "Welcome onboard, minotaur!"

He turns his head to one side and whispers to Tom. "Maybe you are right. Keep a sword on that beast!"

Aaron joins his old friend Tom guarding the beast with his sword drawn.

"My grandpa used to tell us kids stories of these creatures," muttered Aaron quietly to Tom, "How they feast on the flesh of man."

Then, to the Minotaur, he loudly demands, "Well, out with your story!"

Finally catching his wind, "Firstly, I would like to say thank you from rescuing me from the goblins,  seems they were quite hungry and undeterred by my size.  They obviously though that I would make a good meal.  They ended up surrounding me and the only available option was to climb the tree that you found me in.  Quite timely of you come to my rescue."  Surprisingly the Minotaur is quite well spoken for his kind.

"As for my story, not a whole lot to tell.  I prefer nature and the open sea in general not into bashing heads for status among my kind.  So I travel the woods and tend to stay clear of small town as they seem to see me as a monster.  As far as feasting on man flesh, I'll not lie to you and tell you that I don't know what it taste like.  It taste like chicken and I'm not a big fan of chicken."

There as a pause for a few moments as he glanced around, "I'm called Mort, by those that take the time to get to know me.  I'll be of no trouble to ya, lessen you try and run me through, cause I'm not real fine with the whole dying thing." 

"Never been on a flying boat before, if you be looking for an extra hand on this vessel, I could be of use, know my way around a ship, served on a few ships before.  Otherwise, if you be kind enough to drop me off at you next port of call, I'll be on my way and bother you no more"

"Nice to meet you Anneth"  Mort made it a point to make no sudden movements or reach for weapons.  These folk might not be goblins but they did have blades drawn no need to escalate matters any more than needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Fri 30 Oct 2015.

Treed by Goblins   "Yikes"

In reply to Mort (msg # 28):

I put away my sword but keep my hands on it.

A Minotaur!  A polite one, that doesn't eat people.  He could prove to be a powerful ally.  "Nice to take the time to get to know you, Mort," Anneth says to the Minotaur, her tone friendly, but her manner towards her companions like that of a mother trying to encourage her children to play nice with other children.

"This vessel is called the Strange Magic.  There's a bit of a story behind our acquisition of it, which I'm sure the others would be more than happy to fill you in on." At this point, the Dabbler-in-Arts is just being catty.  Such is her way... Before leaving the others to enlighten the enlightened, Anneth grumbles, "Knew I liked fish for a reason..."

"I knew there was a reason I like dry toast," Elwood echoes Anneth's sentiments. "Although some fellow prisoners told me the taste was more like pork..."

"We can set sail, the hobgoblins are just wasting their ammo on our hull," he calls back to Rodrigo and Talis at the helm of the ship.

While he's still not sure the minotaur can be trusted, he'll get the rigging in order so the Strange Magic can sail on.