Hardcore Heroes: Episode 46

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== Synopsis ==
Malakai arrives at the Wizard Airship flying over Dwarf County, where he transforms from a Giant Eagle into his human form and encounters gryphons and spectral guardians. Despite casting invisibility, the guardians remain aware of him. He introduces himself and, guided by Daisy the Transmuter, explores the ship, including its control room, library, and laboratory. Malakai learns about the ship’s security, the importance of the library, and the airship's resupply methods. He conducts research on various magical items and the Shadow Plane, discovering information about portals and spells. He interacts with other passengers and wizards, learning about their backgrounds and purposes. Malakai then teleports back to Bon' Theris, checks on his laboratory’s security, and prepares a letter to Queen Vuularia Wikk, seeking resources for further research.
==Recap==
===23rd January, 1511===
Malakai arrives at the Wizard Airship as it flies over Dwarf County. From the airship come four gryphons, who launch 2 from starboard and 2 from port and fly to intercept. The airship stops moving. As a Giant Eagle, Malakai dives at the deck of the airship and transforms back into his human self. The gryphons circle the deck from above. Malakai casts invisibility, but it has no effect somehow.
3 wraith-like-people phase-out of the deck of the ship. The first appears to be a male human 6'0" 160 lbs and 80 yrs old, the second appears a male human to be 5'3" 151 lbs and 75 years old, the third appears to a female human 5'7" 133 lbs and 100 years old. The 3 wraiths stand and watch Malakai.
Malakai greets the ancient guardians and introduces himself as Malakai the Mage here to consult the wisdom of the fabled airship. The 3 wraiths nod, then phase back below deck.
Malakai looks around, it looks like he is standing on a 200-foot long long deck of a regular ship with 3 masts along with an aftcastle at one end and a forecastle at the other end. On top of the forecastle is a telescope. On the main deck is an expensive mahogany long table. On the deck of the ship, there is no wind. The ship starts to move again, the Gryphons perch back under the ship again.
Malakai knocks on the door of the forecastle and a Halfling on Stilts comes out and declares that she doesn't know Malakai and Malakai admits he is new and admits he was the giant eagle. The Halfling introduces herself as Daisy the Transmuter. She returns into the forecastle and Malakai follows.
The forecastle is a control room is full of pipes that appear to lead to nowhere and the front is a massive glass wall. The stilts allow Daisy to look over the dash of the control room, as she turns the ship's wheel. Daisy sets a coarse, pulls a lever, then offers to give Malakai a tour.
Daisy leads Malakai to the Aftcastle and it is a library full of books, appearing bigger on the inside. There is no place to read the books inside the library, and you are expected to read somewhere else on the ship. Everyone who visits the ship is expected to add to the library. Daisy wants that anyone who steals from the library will be hunted down by the spectral guardians, and no one has ever survived stealing from the library. Those who are killed by the spectral guardians turn into something like them and are "put down below", which Daisy will show Malakai later.
Daisy then takes Malakai to a ladder near the Forecastle down below deck to the First Deck. The sound of wind gives away to the sound of gears and steam. The first room is a lounge of some sort, with comfortable seating and tables, Daisy calls it "The Common Space". There are decorative candelabras which are needed since everything appears to be continually lit. Daisy says there are a few visitors to the airship but they appear to be sleeping right now. She dims the light by clapping, then opens the double doors at the aft, showing Malakai the Bunk Bedroom. Room for 12 people to sleep, and there are a few people inside sleeping. A female elf and a male gnome.
Malakai and Daisy go down some stairs to the Second Deck. Malakai finds himself in the laboratory. On each wall are herb garden with a long table in the middle with alchemist and other devices along with it. In the laboratory is Daisy's husband, Harold is watering some of the plants. At the aft of this section are the kitchen and storeroom.
The kitchen is restocked by someone going down to the ground, buying what they need, putting it in a portable hole, then coming back up. Daisy says that the spectral guardians won't hunt you down for stealing the portable hole, but the wizards on the airship will. There is a tracking spell on the portable hole so anyone in the control room can hear and see what you are doing while you have it.
Malakai is told there is a 3rd Deck, but that is the Gryphon Aviary, and it is better not to go down there. The spectral guardians take care of the gryphons.
Daisy demonstrates the spectral guardian's defences against hostile spells. She says the first few syllables to Magic Missile when the female spectral guardian appears and moves her hands to strangle Daisy. Daisy stops casting and explains she just showed Malakai about the security measures. Daisy says her goodbyes and returns to the control room, with the spectral guardian following her.
Malakai talks with Harold the Diviner. Malakai tries to talk with Harold about the politics down on the surface, but Harold doesn't want to talk about that stuff, like Dragon Armies or Demon Invasions or Civil Wars. He and Daisy have a home in the south of Eridon. Malakai then notices that Harold is growing Starleaf.
Harold says the Gnome on board the ship probably would like to talk about surface politics. The other guest is an elven lady named Solania. Malakai asks about Venlen but Harold doesn't know him but says that he and Daisy aren't on the ship all the time. Malakai gets some Starleaf from Harold.
Malakai goes into the library and starts looking for information on the Crown of Domination. In Encyclopedia Magica: From Boot to Hats and Everything Inbetween, Malakai finds Appila's research notes she used in creating the crown, and that people have their free will back once a command is over, so may just take off the crown.
Malakai looks up his Cloak of Arachnida, and there is nothing new about it, but he learns there are at least 5 of them in Arcadia. It was made by a wizard who was obsessed with spiders.
Malakai looks up the Philosophers' Stone, and finds an entry in Encyclopedia Magica: Weird Stuff. It says a lot of what Malakai already knows, it was a chip off the staff that holds up the world, but there is no idea if the staff is metaphysical or physical. Malakai already knows that a Ring of Limited Wishes was upgraded to a Ring of Wishes with a Philosophers' Stone, but Malakai wonders if he can remove the Philosophers' Stone from the Crown of Domination. There is an entry in the book of someone trying to pry out a Philosophers' Stone from a wand, but there is no recorded result. 
===24/01/1511 - 27/01/1511===
Malakai leaves the library after many hours of reading. He spots the Gnome Wizard and Solania in separate sides of the laboratory. The Gnome introduces himself and Thunderflunk of the Gunderflunk. Thunderflunk does not speak in rhyme.
Thunderflunk starts to talk politics with Malakai to the resignation of Solania across the room. Thunderflunk starts by saying Thrasher the Wise has been elected the leader of GNoME, and Thrasher is making some new fantastic inventions including a stretchable rope.
Malakai starts talking about the Demon Invasion with Thunderflunk, but he name drops Georg, which makes Thunderflunk worried. Thunderflunk knows Georg though reputation as the Wrath of the Tetherwilds and the Amulet of Malkis he recovered. Thunderflunk says if Malakai wants to know more, she should look up the Amulet in the library.
Malakai tries to talk to Solania, name dropping Luna from Episode 42. Solania just looks at Malakai quizically until Malakai excuses himself.
Malakai returns to the library to research getting to the Shadow Plane. He finds a book called Path to Planes and Places otherworldly. He finds that a portal was created to the Shadow Plane to hide an artefact of Malkis, with the portal then buried somewhere in East Arcadia to be hopefully lost forever. Malakai can't find any other established portals to the Shadow Plane, but the book does mention the Shadow Dragon of the Shadow Mountains which can move between planes. There is a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire in central Drekis. 
Malakai researches how to make his own gateway to the Shadow Plane. He first needs a physical gateway made of materials that are both very solid and magically linked to the Prime Material Plane. The gate itself needs to be made of some sort of medium, like water, sheets of paper or sheets of lead, some sort of flat 2D plane to pass through. Malakai remembers the portal near Shirebrook's medium was some sort of shadow. The third step is some sort of spell to link to another plane, like Gateway or other Astral Spells. Malakai considers using Demi-Shadow Monsters as the material for the medium using the spell "Major Creation". But he needs a Permanency Spell on top of all of this, which is beyond his level.
Malakai finds entries in the books from the Major Creation spell. A Caldonian Queen was a powerful spellcaster who had the spells, and her books are in the library in the capital city under the castle. 
Malakai looks up Mohamda & the Staff of the Magi, again finding a copy of "The Greatest Wizards in Arcadia". This copy of "The Greatest Wizards in Arcadia" says she was buried in Sandashar, not noting her tomb was moved to the Red Desert. It doesn't note if she was buried with the staff, and Malakai thinks the leader of the Sha’zhar family has it.
There is also mention of Falstaff Haraziem who invented a method of wizard tracking in Akuba using only a sample of the wizard's blood.
Malakai looks up for other magic staffs he can get since he lost his old one. He finds out about The Staff of Thunder and Lighting (page 1299 - Encyclopedia Magica) that is supposedly in Mistrya. It belonged to a female human spellcaster named Bledra the Invoker. Bledra was the former Count Wizard to the King of Mistrya 100 years ago. Location of burial is unknown.
===28th January, 1511===
Malakai uses the telescope on top of the Aft Castle and finds it works like a Crystal Ball. Malakai can't find Van-Healsing, Georg or Mother Ellyse. Malakai, however, is able to find Jeeves relaxing with a drink, watching a circus troop perform inside the mansion.
Malakai then scries on Captain Brad Barbo and finds him in a meeting with Wyatt during GTC episode 17 and meeting Kumo and talking about killing Colonel Tavington when he comes to Fen Den.
Malakai then tries to find Rohana and Count Song and finds neither of them. 
During the day 5 red-robed wizards arrive on the airship, 4 humans & 1 half-elf. They move together as a pack.
Below deck, in the common room, Malakai starts a conversation with them, a woman named Regina, over a cup of tea. Regina says they are from Solum and are here on the search for information. Malakai asks about Solum, and he is told about the Voraci Empire, their evil clerics and dragons. Regina isn't here to "save" the common people and has a higher purpose. She then goes back to her research, working on an extending rod of some kind.
===29th January, 1511===
Malakai teleports back to Bon' Theris. He finds Jeeves asleep in the chair Malakai saw him with the telescope. One hand on the bottle of scotch, the other in a bowl of copper coins he had been throwing at the circus performers. There is a contortionist who is in an awkward position around another chair, asleep. Malakai puts a blanket over Jeeves.
Malakai then heads downstairs to his lab and sees scorch marks on the door, the fire traps have been triggered, but the door is still locked and everything is inside the lab, including the Crown of Domination.
Malakai goes back to Jeeves and wakes him up. Jeeves sees the contortionist and tries to wake them up by throwing more copper coins at them, but misses. Jeeves says he fell asleep while the circus performers were still here and are worried they may have taken something. Malakai mentions the firetrap and Jeeves doesn't remember hearing it go off.
Malakai writes a letter to Queen Vuularia Wikk of Drekis, offering to pay for some slaves and expenses to get the books from the capital of Caldonia.
==Experience==
No Experience Given
Category:Hardcore Heroes Episodes