172: Blimp Fight 4: Skies Over Miami

## Summary

Hurtling towards the ground, Will attempts to incapacitate Kee so that he can cast *Fly* again and save himself, but accidentally kills her just as Captain Clockface swoops to the rescue on Sheila the hippogriff. Dew skilfully reels in the escaped envelope with an arrow and Captain Ool heroically steers the airship into a controlled crash landing in the forests of Beartoggle. When the dust settles, the castaways set their sights on the faint music and lights of a nearby settlement.

## Synopsis

Ricardo Ulysses ducks under the swing of Batthwack's blade and says *"Haha, your blade that you swing at me, I am like the wind in that it is impossible to hit me because I have no corporeal form!"* and then he bends over the neck of the hippogriff and drives it forward, putting all his effort into getting as far away from Batthwack as he can.

Will is falling through the air (his *Fly* spell having been dispelled by Kee, who is also falling), *Messages* Batthwack to warn him to get back to the airship in case his ability to fly is also lost. Realising he's out of options, Batthwack turns back towards the airship.

Dew, concerned about the rate at which the airship is descending, fixes a line to one of his arrows and shoots it through the severed envelope. Having anchored his end of the rope to the airship, he can begins climbing up towards the envelope.

Raphina climbs up to the top of the cabin and sees what Dew is doing. She's come to check on Eba, and discovers she has cast a fresh bonfire under the remaining envelope. *"Oh, thank goodness Eba. Thank you very much. How are you feeling? Do you need me to heal you anymore?"* *"I think I'm okay just now"* replies Eba, in Raphina's head. Raphina tells Eba what Dew is trying to do with the severed envelope and Eba calmly turns her attention to helping with that. Raphina blows on the bonfire just to give the flames a little boost, then slides down the outside of the front wall of the cabin to land in the captain's area. She finds Dew's Kirby there and he heals her.

Will is flailing around as he falls, trying to catch a glimpse of Batthwack to see if he's made it back to the airship. Instead, he sees a large, dark shape moving down towards him at great speed. It is the remaining hippogriff, Sheila, hurtling in his direction. Will turns and tries again to knock Kee out with an *Eldritch Blast*, but the blow is too strong and she is killed. Meanwhile the hippogriff has swooped down, diving underneath Will so that he lands on its back behind Captain Clockface, who is clutching on tightly to the neck of the hippogriff.

Batthwack is back at the airship, in the captain's area. He'd seen Captain Clockface jump on the hippogriff and dive away and so having settled back down to the floor of the airship, he peers over the edge to see what's going on.

Meanwhile Dew has climbed all the way up his rope and reached the envelope. He is able to secure it and begins to haul himself and the envelope down towards the airship.

Raphina is also watching this drama unfold with Batthwack and tells him to fly down and get them, which of course he does. Raphina then heals herself and Captain Ool with Kirby.

Batthwack greets Will and Captain Clockface on their way up. They land on the captain's deck at the front and Will wastes no time in getting off. Batthwack hovers down in grandiose style and Will says *"You know what, I'm never gonna cast fly on you again."* Batthwack's armour feels very heavy now that the *Fly* spell has stopped.

By this time Dew has reeled in the envelope. Ool tethers Sheila back onto the airship. The passengers are discovered hunkered down in the bunk room, all but Rochelle who is not there. Hank is with them. The passengers tell them that Rochelle got sucked out of the hole in the airship.

Raphina begins to scavenge for debris that she can use to create a patchwork covering for the gaping hole in the side of the airship, using her *Mending* spell. Dew secures the envelope back to the airship.

Will is blustering at Jocelyn, Manet and Hank for bringing Ricardo Ulysses onto the airship in the first place. Manet and Jocelyn are cowering from Will, saying they don't know what's happening. They say the last thing they remember is being in Barovia.

Batthwack offers to help Captain Ool tether Sheila the hippogriff back into her position at the front of the airship.

Raphina and Batthwack notice their money is still getting heavier.

Raphina, Batthwack and Will all discover they're missing 25 platinum coins and Will's gems worth 500 gold and his *Boots of Striding and Springing* are also missing. Batthwack gives Jocelyn and Manet 10 gold pieces each as they say they have nothing.

Dew has finished lashing down the rear envelope and Eba is keeping up with the bonfires. The envelope is not holding as much hot air as it used to, so the airship is still tilting backwards but not as significantly as it was. The airship continues to lose altitude but significantly less quickly than it was before.

The sun is setting. They are flying directly over a large river which Captain Ool suggests probably the main course of the Beartoggle River. Batthwack questions Captain Ool about his plan for landing the airship. He points down the river's course and, in the distance, they can see twinkling lights, which looks like a settlement of some sort. Captain Ool explains that reaching the settlement is his goal. He wants to set them down close to there. He says that the more vulnerable of the passengers should secure themselves, ready for a bumpy landing. He explains that once landed, he's expecting to have to abandon the ship and make his way back by some other means, to report what happened and plan a salvage mission.

Batthwack makes his way back into the cabin and takes his armour off to clean it. Dew instructs everyone to grab a mattress from the bunk room and starts moving passengers towards the centre of the airship, because the back is still hanging lower and will be the first part to hit the ground.

Will is still interrogating Jocelyn and Manet about why they don't remember anything about Ricardo Ulysses. He asks about Strahd and they say *"The guy from the hundreds of years ago?"* Raphina, having finished patching up the hole with debris, enters the room and from her experiences as a healer notices a look in Jocelyn and Manet's eyes that she recognises as the after effects of a state of mind control or mind alteration.

Captain Ool announces to everyone in their heads *"OK everyone! Get ready!"* Looking out they see that the treetops are now quickly approaching. They can clearly see the twinkling lights not too far off in the distance. It's almost full night at this point. The lights are a festive multicoloured array of reds, greens, blues, yellows, whites and pinks. Everyone hunkers down as they feel the treetops scrape against the underside of the airship. With only one hippogriff they're not travelling fast, but thanks to Dew's work on the envelope the descent is much slower. Ool's up front, standing on his chair as he sternly concentrates on guiding Sheila with the reins. He's picked out a patch that is less dense with trees, skillfully guiding the airship in. At the last moment he pulls on Sheila's reins and the airship sinks the rest of the way, hitting the trees and tilting a little bit. Finally with some crashing and breaking of branches, the airship settles to a rest and everything is eerily still.

As their ears become accustomed to the stillness, the first thing they notice is the faint sound of lively dancing music from somewhere outside.

## Trivia

* The episode title quotes Alex. Will is blustering at everyone about having crash-landed in the airship and the fact that two parents brought Ricardo Ulysses onboard. *"If there's not a blimp fight at the end of this speech that I made, I will be very disappointed."* Alex says *"A blimp fight is a thing."* KT: *"It will be once I'm done here. It will be. Will is going to invent blimp fights."* Eric: *"It's a series of DVDs. Blimp Fight 4 is the best one."* KT: *"My new enterprise idea. Who's ready? Alright, everybody versus those shitty parents."* Alex: *"Blimp Fight 4: The Skies Over Miami."*

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