Fourth Adventure 06: The Stakes are Raised

The party arrives at the edges of the desert proper and continues a short ways until the sands are on all sides, with nothing worthy of note in visual range, before Z fiddles with something in their pocket. They then turn and fold their arms, facing northeast, waiting patiently.

Only about ten minutes have passed as the party waits, eagerly searching the skies for the arrival of their contact, when suddenly the dunes of sand before you start rising. They part seamlessly, as though they were water or air, as a massive ship slowly rises from amongst the sands. There is almost no sound, save the slow hiss of sand being displaced, and a large cloud of dust blooms outwards in all directions, sending bits of sand and grit into your hair and eyes. The ship itself is still slowing to a halt as it approaches you, and the sand in front and behind it sways in and out of its way as though the ship was not even there. The entire process is eerily quiet, with the ground still as though hundreds of tons of sand and earth weren't being displaced a few hundred feet away, and the ship itself gives off no hum nor distinct pitch that some lesser Airships do. The wave of parted sand grows closer as the ship finishes its ascent and continues forward, growing within 40 feet of the party itself before coming to a graceful stop just as quietly as it had moved. The ship is bristling with weapons, looks to have very solid armor, and anyone with the knowledge in engineering to tell can see that this is the equivalent of a top of the line Frigate Airship. Several of those weapons are trained on the group.

A figure pops open a door on its edge and runs out, wielding two Maglancers in their hand and scanning the horizon, checking the area before moving aside and saluting. The next person out is clearly an officer of some kind, a Banderling woman with a decorated combat uniform on, no medals on display nor tour of duty, but the insignia of a Naverre Colonel on her chest. She marches smartly up to the group as her bodyguard follows behind. The Bodyguard still has both Maglancers in hand, ready to defend the Colonel at a moment's notice.

"now that was impressive"
Tab says as he bow's

"...It passed through the sand."

Zeiss looked impressed. It was probably the first time he saw something like that.

Even Z looks utterly astonished, the first time you can recall them showing such flagrant shock. "A... Sandship? That's..." they trail off as the implications settle in.

"it would seen that our boss know about this at the very lest"

As soon as the sand settled and his eyelids didn't have to flutter to keep the dust out, Rory's eyes flew wide open, causing a couple wrinkles to appear on his forehead. His jaw dropped and his mouth hung open as he gawked at the massive metal ship before him. Only couple weeks ago had a couple of such ships been pointed out to him in the night sky, a sight barely comparable to seeing one up close.

When he noticed the guns, he was impressed; however, mixed feelings of worry and dread followed soon after. Even as the Banderling he assumed was the "kernel" walked out, he barely recover his voice from the shock in case he was addressed directly. He wanted to crawl under a rock.

*Kezrin bows, and moves to the rear of the group. She would let the others talk. Her head was still spinning from the sleep spell.*

"(Whatever.)"

"Eruh," Snarg is still looking past the Colonel at the 'sandship', "hey. Got sum saboteurs fer ya." he inclines his head back at the prisoners and then finally looks at the Banderling. "Ain't bein' sure if 'ems Sho 'er not, but they're claimin' the be an' bein' real sure-like of it. He's sayin' ta be," Snarg points at the Burun prisoner, "Argbadh ... Hoz ... Hozjk'loron, of Thornhalla, Eightinth Divisin, fifty-sec'nd Arm; bein' goin' by Sawato recent-like; Sclavi's wit' 'em doin' this too."

"Been poisin' ya criters, an' wantin' to be poisin' ya fort, an' workin' on doin' this junk wit' some o' his gunk." he points to his missing forearm, "Sclavi says wantin' to be blowin' up ya fort wit' some Shattasticks too. Poison an' lab gunk by ya Kodo graves gettin' poofed to nothin'," he points in the direction of the Kodo Graveyard, "even bein' poofin' what we been carryin' wit' us."

"I ain't believin' no word he's sayin'," Snarg raises an eyebrow at the Colonel, "be stinkin' o' somethin' real shady-like. Maybe mages be tellin' more 'bout what they findin'." he motions to the mages of the group.

Zeiss observed discreetly how the Burun and the Scalvi were reacting to the sandship's apparition.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

"Also Colonel in addition to what Snarg said the Burun is a high level Yellow mage, has spent a time in Sawato region recently and from what i have learned there is a... i don't quite know what it is, its kind of like a Materia but not at the same time inside his body, but it is my belief that whatever it is the Burun is booby trapped in some way and should be handled with care."

Gwydo nods respectfully to the Colonel, then, like the bodyguard, moves to keep watch on the horizon for any incoming threats.

Spoiler:

*Sees Gwydo flank the Colonel.*

"(Not sure she'll appreciate that.)"

Snarg stares at Gywdo with a very worried look as he flanks the Colonel.

Spoiler:

Hanuel was fully in awe of the airship. They had never seen one this close, let alone one that could move through the sand like it had.

The Colonel furrows her brow in thought. "What you tell me sounds like someone trying to foment war, but these actions have resources and backing beyond what two random terrorists should have. Do you have any theories as to their backers?"

Zeiss:

Spoiler:

"A theory, yes. One week ago, we were in Kheynth trying to solve the water problem. The water was contaminated by something... we called it an abomination."

Zeiss describes the strange creature they fought, what the mages learned from examining it and how it had control over an elf.

"We also found a large room with a magitek sphere that was sending information somewhere. We know that an Orc, a yellow mage, came to the cave after we intruded but he escaped using an Exit spell. The owners of this cave also imprisoned a Tusker with a magical barrier and forced him to guard the cave from adventurers. The Tusker said there were other mages and that they were coming back regularly to the cave. Only after we destroyed the source of the barrier was he able to escape. And we found..."

He paused.

"...a strange mirror. It was called the Mirror Key."

He looked at the Burun again, to see his reaction.

"the Burun may also have something to do with the murder of 8 lawmen in the town of Al-Erat 4 week's ago, they were killed by a poison that at the time we had never seen before, we uncounted that poison again today when my friend lost an arm to it, this stuff is highly corrosive and will dissolve an adult males body to nothing with in hours, this Burun clams to have invented the stuff a long time ago and that he is the only one using it but denied having been involved in the killings "

The Freelancer standing at the Colonel's side, and you know they're a Freelancer for one very simple reason; they are dual wielding the Mags, is dressed in a long, yellow and black coat done in the style of Naverre colors, which looks a lot like a duster or a trenchcoat in style. They are an Elf, have a bandana on, and what looks like a bandolier of sorts strapped around them from shoulder to waist which holds at least 8 Mag cartridges. The Elf is a female consequently, has a very serious expression on, and a large scar over one eye. She also has rather short hair, cut rather thinly

As Zeiss describes his tale he sees no reaction from the prisoners, but the Burun jolts slightly when he hears about the poison being used near Al-Erat.

Kolson held onto his hat and attempted to shield his eyes as the sandship rose from below. When the displaced sand finally settled he found himself entranced with the vehicle. He had never seen anything like it and his mind raced a mile a minute with questions about how they did it.

Unfortunately this wasn't the time for scientific inquiries. Pity.

He tips his hat to the Colonel when she approaches but he is more interested in the bodyguard with the Maglancers. He'd heard about them of course, but this was his first time seeing one. Or for that matter a Freelancer. Hmm, always thought they were mercs. Surprised she went pro.

He'd ask her about it if he ever got the opportunity.

"I'm thinkin' maybe ya askin' who's havin' the goods to be givin' this kinda gunk." Snarg says, scratching his ear several times.

Spoiler:

"I ain't havin' no idea 'bout who's been givin' that sorta stuff. Maybe ya havin' ideas, Colonel? I'm bettin' ya havin' a list, if ya be knowin' what I'm meanin'. Ya mind sharin' - likely be helpin'."