Drifting into Littledrift (7/10/2023)

## Exploring the Wreckage

It's late afternoon as the party sorts through the downed airship. Alluin, smoking away, casts magical repair on as many of the broken components as he can. He is able to repair most of the physical damage, including the balloon, and the airship achieves some lift. One of the engines however seems to be malfunctioning. Xofren observes all of this from the outside, untrusting this technological marvel. Talek, Ryafyrie and Dandelion wander inside and find a number of rooms. What was a banquet area has been smashed, all of the food ruined.

Talek finds a room with wooden walls and a strange device in the center. The device has multiple backlit panels and an onyx disc in the center. There are a large number of bookshelves that hold more onyx discs in envelopes. While Alluin has been repairing the ship, the lights suddenly turn on in this room and the device comes to life, the onyx disc spinning and emitting a scratching noise. Ryafyrie enters and watches Talek handling the discs roughly, trying new ones, and generally not understanding how to use this device. Ryafyrie immediately recognizes the musical properties here and correctly inserts and plays one of these discs. As the energetic music plays, everyone feels suddenly refreshed. Alluin grumbles but can't stop tapping his toe to the beat.

Exploring further, Talek locates what appears to be the engine room and a large number of realm shards. One of them appears to be powering the cannon of the ship, which is very clearly illegal. The party quickly discovers that the cannon is no longer functional. He locates another room with a footlocker made of steel. "Bard, can you open this??" he yells to Ryafyrie. Having no lockpicks but an abundance of confidence, she inserts one nail and the lock easily pops open. Inside, there appears to be roughly 4000 gold value in golden bars. Talek handily announces this to the entire party and suggest sharing, much to Ryafyrie's chagrin.

Alluin, frustrated with the broken engine, enters the airship to inspect from the inside. Fen follows along, writing down "notes" on a piece of paper. Just before leaving the deck, Fen spies the controls of the ship and sneaks off, leaving Alluin to investigate alone inside. On the ship's controls are two primary levers, a dial, and a large number of buttons. No clue how this thing works, he pushes one of the levers all the way forward and the ship lurches at high speed forward, throwing most of the party to their feet with the sudden movement. Alluin looks around and notices Fen has left and sighs. He deftly leaps back towards the deck, seeming to defy gravity, reaches the controls and stops the ship. He then proceeds to cast a Web on Fen, holding him in place. Fen accepts this fate and uses a magical hand to procure his jug.

The group descends back downstairs to attempt to repair the engine. They are able to determine that this engine is likely responsible for vertical lift which is why the ship will only hover 5-10 feet from the ground. While this is happening, the Web wears off and eventually Fen wanders back to the controls. He performs some very methodical trial and error (pushes every button) and gets a rough idea of how to maneuver the ship. He also locates a mic...

"Guys, WE'RE GOING TO LITTLEDRIFT!" is heard booming across the ship as it once again lurches forward, this time a bit more smoothly. All the party is aboard as the ship makes great pace towards Littledrift. The party is able to get some rest, lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the ship.

## Arriving at Littledrift

Dawn arrives as the airship proceeds on its journey. Alluin and Fen are at the helm, trying to locate a suitable place to hide a giant airship. As they approach, they see the unofficial border between the dwarves and the halflings, where over-mining and deforesting has taken a toll on the landscape. They are almost upon a small village that is about an hour's ride from Littledrift. There is some discussion about possibly being subtle here, but instead they blast full speed, music blaring, across this village. Many confused and shocked looks are seen from halflings in the village.

Knowing that blasting directly into Littledrift might be a bit much, they scan for a good place to set this ship down. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to actually "land" the ship. Fen remembers from his childhood that his father has a small realm-shard powered boat. His father used to "land" the boat by gently increasing speed just before setting down to kick the front of the boat up and prevent damage. He attempts this maneuver with the airship and with some success is able to nestle it to a stop in some mature trees in the forest. As the ship jostles to a halt, his elbow knocks a small button that was previously unnoticed and landing gear grips the trees, holding the airship in place. "I knew it was that one!" he proclaimed.

Mysteriously, Hadrian appears out of thin air, wings majestically spread wide. He makes a dramatic landing on the deck of the ship. As most of the party descends from the ship, Leaf and Hadrian (the most able bodied) agree to protect the ship and ensure it is not stolen while the party hunts for Eldrin and visits Fen's family.

As the group walks towards Littledrift, Talek asks Fen about his home life. Fen proceeds to talk about the ins and outs of brewing fine ales, boring everyone greatly with the amount of details. Talek, knowing that Avandra favors the halfling people, is listening intently as he dons his Avandrian robes, preparing to help the halfling people learn more about Avandra. Fen informs Talek that there is an Avandrian presence here and they also make a fine ale.

Entering Littledrift, it is a small metropolis of Halfling homes and some larger tree house buildings. Most of the businesses are built into large trees, while residential homes are built into green mounds. In the center of town is a statue that looks suspiciously like Fen with extremely prominent side burns. Fen informs the group that this is his great-great-great-great (maybe more greats) grandfather, founder of the Brewer's Guild. Fen leads them to his family home and attempts to enter and finds that the door is locked, which is odd. They instead use the large golden knocker and hear a number of deadbolts being opened. The door is cracked and a halfling peers out, ale in hand.

"By the sun and stars! Hey family! Fen’s Home!"

The group is ushered inside as a small army of halflings all talk to them at once.

## Elevensies

They arrived just in time for what appears to be an early lunch. The meal laid out before them is very extravagant. Talek provides a blessing to each family member and for once no one finds it odd. Fen's mother stares at him silently. "We're waiting for you to introduce your friends...". Introductions are made, starting with Alluin who they assume was met through the Wizard Guild. Alluin smoothly plays along with this while Talek loudly announces "I thought you left the Wizard Guild??". Through some deft maneuvering they cover this one up and continue with introductions.

During the meal, Ryafyrie and Fen overhear his two brothers (Ben and Ken) talking about something that appears to be more serious. Ryafyrie slides down to their end of the table and sits between them.

"What's happening, Shorties??"

They find Ryafyrie generally hilarious and trustworthy and divulge that there have been some Knights from Dal Karaz in the area that have been making mention of a prophecy of an awakening Dragon and have been going door-to-door looking for someone. They proceed to get drunk, making fun of Fen and his jug while Ryafyrie eggs them on.

Fen's wacky Aunt with died hair and an Avandrian symbol has been sliding up to Talek, eventually leaning up against him and making small talk. He loudly proclaims "You know, you remind me of my dead wife!" to which she responds "She must have been very pious....". Everyone cringes.

Towards the end of the meal, Alluin quietly leaves the home and visits some of the local taverns, looking for more information about local rumors or about his brother, Eldrin. After visiting a few taverns and coming up empty, he locates a scraggly looking man with a cloak smoking a pipe in the corner. Alluin sits next to the man and speaks to him in Elvish, which the man doesn't fully understand. He switches to common instead..."Nice pipe.". Alluin learns from the man that Knights Arcana from Dal Karaz are in the area, confirming the rumors that the brothers had been speaking of and gets a lead about where they might have setup camp. As he gets up to leave, the man says

"Before you go… it doesn’t seem like you’re seeking these men from Dal Karaz. Who is it you seek?".

“I lost my brother long ago.”

He describes Eldrin and the man says he saw someone matching that description heading north, into the mountains. As he leaves, Alluin sends Darwin out scouting and using the magical earring that keeps him in touch with Hadrian informs him that the Knights are in the area and he is trying to locate them.

## Bar Crawl with my friend, Sanguen

While the rest of the party heads east to try and locate the Knights, Fen is overwhelmed by being back home and ducks into a few taverns to catch up with friends he hasn't seen in some time. He and his tales are very welcomed by the tavern-goers. There is plenty of talk of the strange Knights that have appeared and some mention of loud whooshing sounds that are coming from the mountains to the north and sometimes reach Littledrift at night.

While approaching his limit of consciousness, he spies a halfling that he very much remembers alone in a booth looking pale. As he sits down, he sees that the halfling has some blood coming from his nose and some pooled in his eyes as well. Clearly a little put off by this sight, the halfling speaks in a voice he doesn't recognize:

“Oh, I’m sorry this is a friend of yours. I’m just checking in, how’s the mission going?”

Fen, definitely three sheets to the wind, doesn't realize what this is in reference to. “Doing great! Straight A student in Wizarding and everything, making lots of friends!”

The halfling provides more detail, mentioning realm shards and the blood realm and it quickly dawns on Fen that he is speaking with Sanguen. Sanguen wants to know about the progress they are making in gathering realm shards and says he will need a show of support very soon. Fen tries to beat around the bush but divulges that they did find an airship full of shards and that the Inquisitors have been hunting for them. Time seems to stop around them as this conversation transpires.

"That’s your best asset - you have them searching so hard for you they have no idea what we’re up to."

Sanguen releases his control over the halfling who passes out at the table. Fen is pretty shook by this encounter, but leaves the halfling with a fresh ale because it seems only right.

## Party in the woods with my friend, the Knights Arcana

The rest of the party make their way east, searching for the Knights Arcana. Talek loudly makes his way through the woods as the party encounters a clearing that appears to be a camp site. 3 Knights emerge from the woods, having clearly heard all of the commotion, with swords drawn and at the ready. The swords clearly resemble the one that Hadrian carries. One of the Knights, an elf, appears to be in charge.

"Hail Bahamut", Alluin calls. “We are friends of Hadrian”

"If you are friends to Hadrian, drop your weapons".

Weapons are lowered as the discussion continues. The Knights demand to know how we might know Hadrian and that he has been missing for the better part of a year. Alluin explains the general time line and that Hadrian has returned to Dal Karaz and is there now. The Knights seem somewhat swayed by this and divulge that they are here searching for a halfling with magical powers who is part of a prophecy and poses a danger to the town and to the Knights Arcana. To the surprise of everyone, Talek boldly proclaims:

"I know that guy! That's my friend, Fen!"

After a bit more discussion, it becomes clear that the Knights may not have the best intentions towards Talek's friend. Dandelion, appearing from a previous hiding place, tries to trick the Knights and says she will lead them to Fen. They don't buy it. Ryafyrie attempts to lead them in the wrong direction, but unfortunately they notice this as well and become even more suspicious. Talek, however, has become convinced that these Knights mean his friend no harm and agrees to help them find him.

They lead the Knights back to Littledrift and start looking for a drunk halfling in a tavern. As it turns out, this is a challenge.

"He's in one of these..." Talek says, gesturing to the many taverns.

After some searching, Talek lucks out and finds Fen passed out in a booth surrounded by empty tankards. Talek sits down, throws an arm over Fen's shoulders. "This is my guy!". The Knights proceed to pick up Fen, pulling up his sleeves and revealing that his arms are covered in red scales. Throwing Fen over their shoulder, they start to leave the tavern. Fen, not actually passed out, subtly throws Talek a wink.

"Where are you taking him?"

The Knights start heading towards the door, making mention of removing the danger to the town. Just before they can exit, Hadrian and Leaf come charging in.

"Unhand that dwarf!" exclaims Hadrian

"What are we doing here??" asks Leaf, behind him, breathlessly