Ep. 97 Trollanport by Air

## Watch

Trollanport by Air | Khyber Shards #97 | D&D 5e Actual Play

—Zilargo gnome

The group sets sail with Malcolm d'Lyrandar. They meet Sam, the resident behir of the ship. Esri makes attempts to figure Demise out, with Ari taking peeks into her mind. Pog and Shade enjoy the clear skies.

When they arrive, the Zil gnomes make a thorough inspection of the ship—including kindly giving copies of the documents they take. The group splits up, with Demise heading towards her contacts near the Karnathi embassy, and the Stryke Force heading for the Aundarian one. There they see a masquerade ball is taking place, and Pog steals some of the invitations for entry. They head towards a fancy dress store for the appropriate attire.

## Synopsis

The team is on their way to rescue Mina. Demise is ready to go with a bag and a crossbow. Ari magically peeks into her mind—only surface thoughts, so she won't know what he's doing. He picks up some resentful, and a hint of envy, regarding Esri.

There are a series of piers that stick out at the top of the cliff that form a makeshift airship dock. Standing at the landward end of one is Malcolm.

They walk onto a small airship. The crackling ring of an air elemental swarms around the hull. Malcolm welcomes them to the hammocks below. He says the trip will be about three and a half days, so get comfortable.

Shade is disappointed that she can't meet the Duchess, seeing as how she doesn't speak primordial. Malcolm tells them Sam is probably okay since he's already been fed. Sam is for taking care of pests on the ship, like a cat.

They go below decks, and feel the ship lurch forward. There's a big, open hold, and another set of stairs leads down into the hull of the ship, where there are food stores and similar things. Slung from the roof and between the ribs of the vessel are hammocks. Under each one is a small shelf with space underneath for storage. At the extreme front, where the vessel narrows, is a gigantic pile of empty sacks, old blankets, and various other detritus of smuggling all hoarded up against the walls. They hear breathing from the pile.

Shade offers the pile some jerky. She notices her arm fur standing up when she gets near. After a moment, a long, sinewy arm with clawed toes and iridescent blue scales slides out, gropes around, and pulls the jerky in.

Demise puts her bag a few spaces away from everyone else's. Esri puts his stuff right next to her. He asks if Lady Uruvai purposefully sent her, or it just leaked. Demise suggests Uruvai would not approve of him insinuating that she would *accidentally* leak anything. Esri expresses how they feel about betrayal on this, and Demise says she's been committed for a very, very long time. Ari uses detect thoughts on her and feels dislike of Esri, and scoffing at the idea that he's more dedicated to this than her.

After sundown, Malcolm's voice rings out. He's retiring for the night.

Ari plays a sad boy tune on his lute, trying to make Demise feel something. She doesn't seem to come out of her shell at all. Behind Ari, the big pile of blankets shifts as the music progresses. Gradually, a big, long, scaley snout emerges from under the blanket, followed by a long head with two glowing blue eyes and a couple of either horns or frills on the head, going down the neck. It has a long, sinewy neck. Scaley, three-toed legs appear, six sets in total. The creature walks up the wall. The serpentine body is about fifteen feet long. Its mouth occasionally flickers with electrical discharge. Esri realizes its a small behir. It glares when Ari stops playing music in shock, and then retreats back into the blankets with a hiss when he resumes.

Shade asks Kael if he can speak to Sam, but Kael says behir is draconic in nature and neither Kael nor Shade knows draconic. Shade is concerned for Sam's wellbeing, but Kael thinks if he was upset he might have eaten them.

Pog goes up on deck. It's truly dark, unlike the city that he's used to. The Ring of Siberys and several moons are clear in the sky; he's higher up than he's ever been. He pull Shade up so she can see. She lays on the deck, taking it in, and they sit in peace for a while.

No one is eaten by Sam throughout the night. Early the next morning, Malcolm gets them up on deck. He says if Sam eats anyone, he usually does it on the first night. Over the next couple days, they travel over the Thunder Sea. At the beginning of the fourth day, the coast is in sight. The ship starts descending. Malcolm hopes they haven't brought any sensitive documents, but it doesn't matter either way; they'll just be unhappy. Everything is going to be searched very thoroughly. Ari tries disguising the note from Thora, but knows it looks bad, so he reads it to be able to reproduce it later down the road. It's utter nonsense.

Malcolm tells Sam to make themself scarce, and Sam goes into the corner, spreads against the wall, and the kobolt blue of the scales shimmers and fades until it perfectly matches the wood grain of the hull. The sparkling eyes seem to float in nothing, and then they close and Sam is seemingly gone.

Malcolm says his excuse is good for a couple days, and if they go past that they'll need to find him.

A group of gnomes greets them at the docks. After permission to come aboard, they inform him that all possessions will be searched. A couple of gnomes with hand carts go into the ship. About an hour goes past, and they come back up. They're welcomed to Zilargo. Ari inspects the note, and sees that they've returned a copy to him.

As they leave the ship, Malcolm tells them to shout down to Sam if they get back before him—he doesn't like to be startled.

Ari suggests they split up, and Demise says her people will probably be near the Karnathi embassy. Ari tells her they'll be near the Brelish embassy, at the Bucking Broncho. Demise says she'll find them there. They leave Esri's communicator with her, and she leaves.

The group is confused on how they'll meet her at a bar Ari made up. He heads towards the Aundarian embassy.

*"I am very confused about this plan."
—Pog*

They find a map of the city, with a "you are here" map that moves with them. They arrive at the embassy, and see that it's all done up and has a line of guests with masquerade masks. Guards are checking invitations.

*"Do you think they let foxes in?"
—Shade*

Ari finds a fancy dress shop not far off. Esri notices the guards are taking the invitations, looking at them, and setting them in a basket to the side. Occasionally, someone will come in with a military dress sword, and that's being taken and checked as well. Pog goes invisible and creeps up to steal invitations. Ari helps by using minor illusion as a distraction—someone singing *Wonderwall* on the street corner. A soft voice whispers in Ari's ear, saying that better be a harmless prank, and not disturbing the peace on Zil soil. He assures the voice that it *is* just a silly prank.

Esri changes his armor to look fancy. Pog returns with the invitation; the invite the recipient to a gala, to celebrate the fortieth birthday of the queen. Masks are required. They head for the fancy dress shop.

## Locations

* Shargon's Teeth
	+ Three-Barrel Cove
* Zilargo

## Spells

* **Ari**
	+ Detect Thoughts on Demise
	+ Minor Illusions
* **Pog**
	+ Invisibility

## Quotes

"You know, the only time I was on something like this, I crash-landed it pretty immediately."
"Well, I take that as advice not to let you pilot."
*—Esri and Malcolm*

"I was hoping we could meet."
"She's not really talkative."
"Awesome!"
*—Shade and Malcolm, about the air elemental*

"I'm gonna let the Duchess take us from here for the rest of the night and get a little shut-eye. Y'all scream if anything terrible happens."
*—Malcolm*

## References and Footnotes

1. ↑ From her tone, they *better* be there.