Planeshifted Chapter 3

The sand sailor glides across the sand; The Floating guy powering it effortlessly.
Kulsalth : (Formally Floating Guy): My lord, I would like you to call me Kulsalth.
Hector: No problem
Duran: Kulsalth eh? Nice meet ya suppose.
Hector: The sand is different than I am used to. Can't say I like it.
Duran: Aye, makes me unbalanced and sick to me stomach.
Several hours before you had left the village on the horizon, the sand sailor cut effortlessly through the desert. Around high noon a small black dot could be seen quickly approaching from the south.
Hector: Katrina, do you know what that could be?
Duran: It’s getting closer captain!
After a few more minutes of smooth sailing the party notices that the object is pulling even and closing...it’s another sand sailor.
Hector: It’s another ship. How large is it.
Duran: About the same size, captain.
The boat starts to quickly close in distance.
The party notices a large red shield leaning against the mast.
Katrina: I think we may be in trouble…that is a vengeance knight crest.
Hector tries to steer the ship to avoid the other ship, but the other vessel pulls even with Hector.
Duran: Ram her it’s that woman from before, Cordelia!
Duran: Should I attack her?
Hector: See what she does first but ready yourself.
The lady steps up on the side of the ship, her blazing trident raised high.
Kulsalth: Master, you do have two more wishes.
Hector: Nevermind…Fire at will. Kulsalth I wish our ship had a ballista.
Kulsalth: Granted
Hector throws an acid flask at the opposing ship but it is only carried off in the powerful winds. Cordelia raises her flaming trident and hurls it forward at the main mast. The trident buries itself into the mast. Hector runs over the the ballista and fires it at the opposing ship. The bolt buries itself in the hull of the ship.
Katrina: What are you fools doing? She is going to capture us!
Hector: What? Giving up already.
Sir Duran curses in dwarven.
Katrina: She is a vengeance knight...we cannot take her! And she will stop at nothing to get what she is tasked with finding.
Calimport can be seen on the horizon, a wall of sun dried sand blocking the path to the party’s safe haven.
Kulsalth: Fleshlings humor me.
Cordelia throws a grappling hood at the boat. The grappling hook buries itself into the boat, linking the vessels together.
Cordelia: I will bring you back to my employer willing or not. Heading towards calimport will not save you, and I have means to pass on the shining sea. You are trapped like the vermin you are!
Katrina: Our only hope is to find a way into Calimport! She will kill us all if she crosses. We either ditch this ship or do something so outrageous she will hesitate to follow..I have an idea for both (sarcastically) valiant savior.
Hector: Kulsalth, be ready the guide the ship and crush her between the boats if she tries to cross on the grappling hook.
Kulsalth: Okay, master.
Kulsalth pays close attention to cordelia. Hector starts to reload the ballista.
The wind guiding the ships strengthens considerably as the woman tosses a bag between the boats...the vessels double in speed within seconds, almost causing the party to lose their balance.
Duran: As your attached you shall splatter as well!
Cordelia: You think I would not plan ahead for this fool!?
Hector: Everyone, get ready to jump out of the boat right before we hit the wall.
Katrina: (Flatly) ...master, at these speeds it will feel as if you landed atop thousands of pieces of glass...Either...we jump the boat....or we jump the wall. I am able to aid at the second task.
Hector: Then do it.
Duran: I don’t like this one bit.
Katrina: As you wish.
Katrina falls into a meditative state chanting in an unknown language.
Kulsalth: The wall is getting close, master.
Duran: Balls!!!!
Cordelia: Fools you have nowhere to run!
Katrina raises her arms as her chanting comes to an ear splitting halt, the sand before you suddenly raises upwards to form a massive dune.
Katrina: (Smiling) I would advise grabbing onto something.
The boat races up the dune cresting it at unbelievable speeds barely clipping the top of the wall (and removing the entire bottom of the vessel) and soaring hundreds of feet across the desert before descending upon the city of Calimport, coming to a brutal halt as it slams into the hard stone ground shattering apart the wooden boat and throwing people and debris in every direction. Hundreds of people gather around the wreckage, talking hurriedly in a language the party cannot understand. There is no sign of the vengeance knight.
Hector: We have a way of attracting attention.
Duran: Balls that hurt!
Most look human with darker skin while a few have strange features like hair that seems to blow in nonresistant wind; others have coal like eyes or earthen plates on their heads.
Katrina: I think we better find a place to find before to many get our features remembered.
Duran: What are they?
Katrina: Those are genasi. Humans gifted with elemental blood.
Duran: What now, women.
Hector: Let’s get out of sight
Katrina: This is Calimport. You have to remember the normal laws do not apply here. Pasa's run this town while the real king lives above them even...there is no law here only what serves the pasa's interest. If we plan to escape we will either have to talk to a pasa, find someone with a lot of renown and connections, or....try to find a way onto a boat into the shining sea...however you need a passport for that which is only given out by the pasa themselves.
Katrina leads the party into an abandoned building.
Duran: Don’t suppose it’ll be easy to do any those, eh?
Katrina: No...Even asking for information here will cost you a lot of gold...or worse.
Hector: What does it take to get a passport from a pasa.
Duran: I knew it.
Katrina: We need a passport. We could steal a passport. The knight, Cordelia, said she had one.
Duran: Balls. Stuck between a stone and a bigger stone. Could we sneak onto a ship.
Katrina: Stuck between a stone, a knife, bottomless water, and a hard place. We could try but the docks are beyond another wall and we don’t have another ship to launch over it.
Hector: The knight said that she would stop at nothing to get us to her employer. Maybe we could set a trap for her, lead her to us, and get her passport. That is if she is not splattered all over a sand wall.
Katrina: I am pretty sure she is not....she had a bag of winds which means she is well connected...she most likely had a portable portal too...
Duran: Hmm I’m pretty good at drawing attention maybe I could draw her out?
Katrina: Trap it is then...I guess it does make sense to try.
Hector: Do you know any...magic...that could help us.
Katrina: Some...but I fear magic would give our plan away…but I think I know the right place to lay a trap...Harrax the Necropolis . Never mind...an undead crypt might not draw her in.
Katrina: I do have a plan though...we could lure out one of her old employers and known associates. The Black Scorpions are an assassin guild that she gets information from...we managed to trap their information gatherer and get him to lay the trap for us...That should help cover our goal and make the trap more believable...but if you want to try Harrax we could…
Duran: what ya think, kulsalth.
Kulsalth: Kulsalth does not know what to do...I cannot enter Harrax...it is in the calim desert and I will not enter a tomb dedicated to an ancient of my race.
Hector: I like your plan, but I don’t like the sound of working with a group of assassins.
Katrina: Not working with us. Kidnapping their informant and making him give her false information. I specialize in illusion magic...I can the informant do as we wish without much effort.
Duran: (To Kulsalth) I understand, big guy, tombs aren’t my people’s favorite place either. (To Katrina) So that’s how you tricked me, tits.
Duran goes to pinch Katrina’s butt. Katrina smacks his hand away.
Katrina: No...I am not a powerful wizard; I only have a limited amount at my disposal.
Hector: First, we need to find one of these assassins.
Katrina: Well we won't be doing that in the middle of the day...oh ya...stay out of the sewers.