As the world once again takes focus your eyes adjust to the fading light as the sky is quickly dimming. You find yourselves on the edge of a great wood along a well used dirt road. In the distance some mile or so away you can see the twinkling lights of campfires and freshly lit torches of a small village. Astralgyx is once again in the homespun cowled robe that you first met him in back in Old Hrolmar. It is great to be back in the Young Kingdoms away from all that strange swirling chaos.

but... wait

In the shadow of the great moon you see long strands of gold and darkness. As your eyes follow these great chains, you see that they are anchoring themselves to large floating "islands". One side of each of these floating landmasses the Gold chain stretches towards the great moon. The dark chains anchor the exact opposite side of each chunk of rock and stretch off into the void and darkness. Looking closely you think you can see twinkling of lights on the other floating masses on the same side that occupies the golden chain.

After taking in the alien landscape, you sense something is wrong. The sinister joking nature and tinkling of bells that normally would have accompanied Astralgyx is quiet. In the fading light you think you see a moody scowl on his twisted face. "Here!" he harshly whispers, thrusting a filthy, crumpled piece of paper into the hands of Rael. He quickly looks around as if on the lookout for something. "This is a map of the royal palace of Media. It is not complete but it is the best I could manage. You are supposed to figure a way in, Find the prisoner known as the Tenatir, and bring him back to me here."

The piece of paper contains a hastily sketched diagram of the palace and a basic drawing of the interior, the other side of the parchment is some quickly scribbled notes. Pointing into the air off to the far horizon "That is Syfera, over there, it is about 200 miles away. Sorry but this is as close as we could get. Sphere alignment and all that. This happened last time I was here also."

Parchment is in the Play Aids Thread

[Private to Khazim; Rael Gol; Viktor: Following Astralgyx's finger you can make out an island shrouded in darkness. The only reason you could see it is due to the tiny pinpoints of light]
[Private to Eclair; Hraal: Following Astralgyx's finger you see nothing, He appears to be pointing into the dark void]
[Private to Eclair; Rael Gol; Viktor: It is also evident that Astralgyx simply does not want to be here. He knows he is in a VERY dangerous area and you sense that he is lying about several things by his actions and tone]

Rael took a deep breath eyes closed as he felt the world take form around him. This time it was better and although it was a minor point of light it still made him smile until he recalled the demon heart in his chest and that perhaps this was just another side effect.

He takes the map and examine it showing it to anyone who'd be interested. He smile at the fool, "Oh brave Astralgyx, I am sure a cunning man like you with razor sharp wits can find a way to set us closer to destination. Two hundredth miles are a long stretch even on a flat land... it would take us weeks to cross the gulf and would make escape afterwards even riskier."

He lean closer to the fool ear "Imagine that our whole plan would depend on where you place out... surely you'd be able to reap a nice reward from her majesty the queen."

"We shall find this prisoner," says Hraal, scanning the void, and then the parchment. He moves about to obtain a better view, and the red joints of his demon armor groan and buckle.

Eclair's eye slowly take in the strange alien landscape as her stomach slowly stops flipping. The first impression is easily of a land divided amongst forces. She frowns as the imp points into nothing and names it. She scans the other floating islands from golden end to shadowed end and frowns deeply. She had a feeling the shadowy end was not a safe place. She sighed as she sensed that the imp also felt threatened here.

If he felt threatened, she felt positively terrified of whatever lurked these lands. Still, she committed the name "Syfera" to memory and then began to adjust her armor to cover her in a makeshift fashion. She also checked her purse and noted a few coins. She didn't not know what it would take to replace or repair her armor, but that was probably not enough. She gritted her teeth. This nightmare was getting on her nerves. Why did it have to be so damned, blood real? She sighed and quickly stowed her looted gear about her person. She put the shells in an easy to reach pocket and cracked open the boomstick to see that it was loaded.

She looked at her hand and grinned, [Language unknown: "Ce I hotha p this wepo wh, tioen nteti unla ette ilwh et? Ou blenteave ilnthe U traes e ththec ome eiad'etus maitet entstrcom."] She looked around at her companions with a cheeky grin before she remembered they would not be able to understand her language or know what "Evil Dead" was. Her smile fell as she placed the crucifix around her neck and the knife on her belt. She should have checked the masked man's purse.

She looked to the imp, "If you cannot get us any closer, how about... uhmm, horses or something? What ever people used to travel here? Too bad we don't have a [Language unknown: nti]"

Khazim thinks to himself; "200 miles? That is a long journey even with good horses!" He checks his gear as he disembarks and eyes the strange terrain warily. He approves of Rael's attempt to get something more out of the strange jester but isn't convinced it will work. Assuming the team can get to the location he figures maybe he can use stealth to climb up into the palace and determine a way to sneak the others in. He knows a straight fight would be the death of them all and as a nomad hunter he isn't exactly a gem with negotiation.

Suddenly feels a little more like his old less demonic self...Rael I apologize for kicking a fallen warriors hand at you, not sure what came over me.  Now Jester unless you want to meet my little razor sharp friend here, I suggest you tell us how exactly we travel 200 miles.  realizes he still has a sack of wine and takes a big swig and lets out a loud rude belch.

A gnarled hand pokes out from under Astralgyx's sleeve. "Of course I know of a way to get you there. Just take an airship." The last part is spoken in a "matter of fact" tone. Seeing that no recognition crosses your faces he continues on. "A ship that flies through the air. It is the method of which all travel between the skylands is done. Down at that village there you can get yourselves a ticket." Astralgyx points to the small village that can be seen in the distance further down the road. Easily a good hour walk.

His hands fold in on themselves again and disappear into a fold in his robes. He pulls out a large spherical object wrapped in plan brownish paper. "A gift from Pollidemia to help you in your task. I know not it's contents, but do not worry her gifts are always strange, and useful. I'll wait here in these woods till you are done and return with Pollidemia's servant. But do not worry, I can keep an eye on you from here, so no funny business. Just get back here as soon as you can so we can leave this place." Obviously not wanting to wait around in the open anymore Astralgyx turns and begins to hobble towards the woods.

Taking a quick look at the item that Astralgyx produced you see that it is a, orange sized, crystal clear, glass globe. Scrawled on the paper are a few words FOR YOUR ENEMIES. As you take in your bearings you see that portions of the sky begin to gain a slight luminescence. In the direction that the jester initially pointed you see the slight shimmer of an island framed by, what would best be described as, Moonlight. Slowly, a somewhat terrifying thought crosses your mind, You have to fly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:27, Fri 30 Jan 2015.