Shiro stood on the deck of the ship as it cast off, the floating island beneath them shrinking into the distance and being enclosed by the cloud cover of the planet. The shifting fog of it's atmosphere like a silk gown adorning the planet as it teased of what lay inside, revealing land masses for moments before they were swallowed again into the fog. Shiro nodded as Big Bang scampered up the main mast, acknowledging his good instincts to be alert at all times. He himself stood ready. He had done the necessary mental preparations for all of his spells and honed his blade in the tradition he had been born into Clasping the rail, he smiled. He hadn't known when he was younger that he had a wanderer's soul. Leaving a planet to voyage to another and discover newfound experiences and things was intoxicating. Shaking his head slightly, he paced the deck surveying the surrounds. While they were travelling he would be always somewhat on watch, especially with no armaments on the ship.
"ah friend the wind calls to you as well?" Izema walks up and leans on the railing, his cloak blowing in a breeze that is not there. he looks into the distance looking almost sad."not all that surprising not many people leave their worlds to travel the stars"
“Well Drakk, The stars… they truly are something aren’t they…” Ohmen says between deep breaths, with a somewhat fainter tone whilst the helm simultaneously weighs heavy, but also alleviates his consciousness. “For centuries.. All have found themselves staring up in Awe…” “I once heard that all was forged from long-dead stars… An ancient wisdom guiding us to stand under a moonless sky, some, ineffable feeling tugging at your innards… Our bodies, Our cages are born from it. And in time, they will inevitably return to it. “ “So, until then. Witness the sheer vastness, the sheer power, and the sheer peace that can be found up here In the celesta... And know that you are nothing before it, and turn to these beacons in the darkness for hope! For light is faster than anything! Or so light thought… but now know, no matter how fast it travels. It will find the darkness has got there first, and is waiting for it… Learn that there is too power in the void and face it! that even the star’s will eventually be snuffed out, in the same way I can place my hand over a candle and watch its smoke, its echoes fade away, dispersed into infinite eternities.” As his words fade there is a prompt and sudden silence in the room, Ohmen turning his full attention back to the helm. Spoiler: Quote Just wanted to put this here since I used it, Really cool quote. “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.” ―Terry Pratchett
Shiro smiles wistfully, "I never knew that I had wanderlust... but at the same time I still yearn for home... it is a curious mixture. That said, I am always excited by the prospect of a new horizon and this Kithmali sounds like somewhere we will find a lot of new experiences." Shiro looks over at the shark-man. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your race? I mean not to offend, but I don't remember encountering your kind before. You inadvertently know more about me than I would care to tell most people, but I do not know very much about you..."
izema cocks an eye brow "to be honest im surprised that you are the first to ask me that, all our companions are easy enough to place with a bit of lore craft. be me?" he laughs "my kind are not common by our very nature we are not made often, and i do not look like most of my kind" he muses for a minute "this is not easy to convey i can tell you i am idyllkin but that is no help to you, i could say i am aasimar and while more help full that is only half true... tell me shiro what do you know of the gods and the plains of the divine?"
Shiro smiles ironically, "I am more acquanited with the darkness as you are aware. The Paladins of the Eternal Order who raised me were dedicated to a very small group of elementals. The Law Elementals. I will freely admit that my education in the rest of the planes is lacking."
"then this will be a lot to take in. as many know the world as we know it is but one of many realms. we are currently on the materiel plane even now as we float between worlds all this all you can travel to threw mundane means is the material plain the sphere of mortals. out side this sphere is the ether the sphere of unbeing it is the largest of the realms and holds all the rest within it. beside us are the elemental spheres of air,fire,water,and earth this is where most elemental are from. lastly and by far the most complicated there are the higher and lower realms. along with mechanus and limbo there are 16 of these realms each tide to the moral leanings of the gods that inhabit them. the lower realms are inhabited by the evil gods and evil outsiders deamons, daemins, devils, divs, night shades and many many others. one of the lower realms is known as hell, yes that hell. they are where evil souls go when they die each degree of evil has it's realm and is a after life for those who deserve that fate. the higher realms are the realms tide to the good gods and their servants angels, azlanti, asamar, light bringers and more. one of them is heaven and in the same way as the lower plains they are where souls go when they die. when one of the outsiders good or evil mingles with a mortal their blood line is forever changed it may sleep for a few generations but the effect of it is still felt. some of the most powerful sorcerers and clerics can draw their ansesery to one of the outer beings. very rarely that blood end up much stronger in a child if it is a evil out siders descendant they become a tiefling if it is a good outsiders descendant then a aasamir. while not true half breeds they are not human or what ever their parents are they have different features be it horns or in some cases wings and display magic traits of their grand sire. far more rare are my kind and my brother races a aasamir is a diluted bloodline many generations between it's hard to tell what outsider sired them. but the children of that first pairing are true half breeds they are Angelkin, Plumekith,Musetouched....." izema pauses hear ".... and Idyllkin my mother was a cetaceal a agathion and servant of the lotus god. i was born in Elysium the neutral good higher plain... and i am far from home." saying this a weight seems to fall on izema he darkens and the light in his eyes seems to dim the whites of his eyes shrinking to a dark black that reflects the stars. but then a light. a soft glow from the pendant around his neck, he takes it in his hand and the shadow fades "but i am not forgotten"
Shiro claps the sharkman on the shoulder, feeling a sudden kinship. "Well, we are both far from our homes here brother. Let us make fare together with our comrades and make this a home away from home." Shiro pauses and his mood seems to darken. Glancing towards the helm, he continues, "I feel I should share my affliction with the others. It is not right that I would be brothers-in-arms and not give them the right of knowledge of my darkness." Shiro looks back to Izema, "Possibly friend your familiarity with the outer planes inures you to my condition. How do you advise I break it to them? Bluntness has ever been my inclination, but it has gotten me in trouble many a time..."
" if you deem it right then just know that as of yet none of them can help you. given time omen and drakk may be strong enough to fix this until then i would simply tell them you are cursed and leave the nature of such cures to the future."
Seeing nothing for some time, Bang starts sketching a design for a new piece of ship artillery that could be useful in upcoming adventures
From a random book in Drakk's stash: Weapon commonly found upon Spelljamming hulls include the following: Common: Light, Medium, and Heavy Ballista/Bolt Thrower/Spear Chucker Light, Medium, and Heavy Catapult/Stone Thrower Light, Medium, and Heavy Jettison/Trash Launcher/Debris Cloud Maker Ram, Blunt or Piercing Ballista, Stone-Launching (light only) Uncommon: Swivel Gun (shrapnel cannon) 8, 10, 12, 20 pound cannon Ram, Claw or Grappling Double-Ballista, Light, Medium or Heavy Double-Catapult, Light or Medium Rare: Accelerator Ram, Cone, Boarding, or "powered" Gnomish Sweeper Bombard Water-fire Projector Double-Catapult, Heavy Eagle-fire Ballista, Light Ballista, Disc-launcher Lightning Cannon Force Cannon Other weapons exist, and one would be a fool not to anticipate running into something unique from time to time, but these are the most commonly seen devices. That said, remember that Tinker Gnomes are prone to modifying and designing new (horrifying) devices and should be approached with caution, lest one be felled by a weaponized foot-stool...
Bang reads over the weapons list, this is something he can work with, with of course some modifications
Lifting off from the kobold settlement, you leave Vyapor and head towards Tayrik. It does take Drakk a little to get the hang of Celestial Navigation, but since he knows where all of the constellations are supposed to be, he soon figures it out. Might not be as easy in other spheres, mind you. Nothing of any interest happens as you speed towards Tayrik. When you do finally see it, something begins to dawn on you. The Geonomicon was not joking. This is the BIGGEST planet you have ever seen! Not that you've seen a lot of planets so far, but this one is really really big! As a result, you spend almost two weeks flying around the planet, comparing the maps to the landscape below (they're close, but nothing lines up quite right anywhere) until you finally find Kithmali. Finding the small valley with the land-dock proved to be a little tricky, but you do find it. Yours is not the only ship there upon your arrival. One looks like a weird bird, another resembles a weird, green-enameled spider, and a third is a mosquito to your dragonfly. Two more of those wasp-hull ships are here as well. As you land in the designated docking space, the tall, dust-shrouded mountains close by, you reflect on the surface under your ship. It is a scrub meadow. Too poor for raising crops or sheep, barely enough sustenance for a goat. Someone obviously keeps the land cleared of brush, as there is a pile of torn-out bushes next to a large, carved-stone firepit. The docks are all stone here, great slabs of beige dolomite hauled from lord-knows-where. Wooden platforms have been built atop some of them, with cranes for loading and unloading cargo. The Dockmaster's residence, offices, and what looks to be ample warehouse space are in a tall, large, three-story building built into the cliff wall at the North edge of the valley, acting as a gateway to a pass that, you presume, leads down the mountains towards Kithmali. Other buildings nearby appear to be a shop for renting wagons and dray animals, an inn, and a haberdasher's shop for ship supplies. The crew of the ships is a broad variety of people. That bird-shaped ship is crewed by halflings, for example. One wasp-ship is crewed by the Sakkhara lizardmen, but the other is being used by humans. The green spider-hulled ship is crewed by strange figures in flowing cloaks of dark silk. They remind you a little of Ohmen for some reason, but feel more sinister. Of more importance though is the harbormaster! She looks irritated and bored, swathed in Persian-style silk robes, but no matter how you dress one up, the harbormaster is a gnoll.
Drakk walks out of the helm room as they land and approaches the Dockmaster. Offering his hand in greeting he says "Greetings! My name is Drakk and this is my crew. It is a pleasure to be in your fine city.".
As you climb down the ladder to the dock, the gnoll takes notice and casts you a curious look, then whispers to one of the guards nearby. The guards are interesting. Two are gnolls like the first, with archaic-looking banded armor and ornate halberds, but the third and fourth are humans. They have more modern studded leather armor and carry long, curve-bladed sabers and a strange device that looks like a tube with machinery on one end. Dusting her robes off, the harbormaster approaches. "Well," she says, an odd accent to her speech. "This unexpected is. Kobold, but not of Silgis? Interesting! Welcome to Dolomite-Port. I, Ulathami am, Harbormaster for Dolomite-Port. What your reason for visit is?"
"We are currently in search of work! And have a shipment of gems to sell in town. We are very interested in trying to gather further information on the Scro and would be interested in any work related to hunting them down. We were attacked by them on our previous employers ship."
"Ske-row?" A confused look comes over Ulathami's face and she frowns, her hyena-like ears twitching. "I know nothing about these Ske-row. I guessing am that they are an issue up above?" she asks, pointing skyward. When you reply in the affirmative, she frowns more deeply. "Hmm. Work? This I know not of, but perhaps others you can ask. Star-day today is, perhaps an audience with the Oracle you may desire tomorrow. Guidance it may offer. Trading goods an issue is not. Welcome you will be to the marketplace no matter what your goods are. Contraband, however, I must look for. Please your goods prep for inspection." She looks over your gems, smiling, and nods. "Ah, good this is! Traders we have in plenty, but choices for stones limited are!" She pokes a citrine with one finger and her eyes gleam. "For this one, how much?"
As they became certain the landmass in front of them was, in fact, Kithmali, Ohmen carefully warps into the female human form he had employed on Vyapor. Except now he spends a little more time perfecting it, forcing it into certain expressions in order to slightly shift and re-adjust facial features if needed. Though the differences overall were mainly unnoticeable, most features had been refined. And with that, Ohmen throws the white cloak over his already primed outfit and walks to the deck. Wisdom lurking somewhere up above in the riggings, an obvious excitement in the Raven’s eyes as it stared down to the planet’s closing in surface. With a gentle, or rather somewhat aggressive thud, considering it was their first landing, onto the dock Ohmen approaches the side of the ship, taking in deep breaths of the fresh air… there was a certain, indescribable feeling, the kind you can only know by doing it when fist landing... When you first feel the wind sift through your clothing and hair, brushing along your skin.. .an utterly surreal experience time and time again. The noises too, Being on a ship for so long you get used to the strange, void silence beyond the gentle creaking and humming of the ship... But now, the noise was everywhere, overwhelming even! A thousand fluttering leaves, a dozen footsteps from every angle, voices, animals, birds… Everything! Whilst Drakk and a handful of others quickly disembark to approach the harbourmaster, Ohmen stands there unmoving, absorbing it all in, taking in deep breath after deep breath. The atmosphere of it all, swirling around him, or now, her as she calls to Wisdom. And after several moments the Raven drags its fascinated gaze from the surroundings, fluttering down to the traveller's shoulder from where it had been studying every building, person and ship. With the words ‘A fresh slate’ on her lips, Ohmen remaining face down mutters a few words to Wisdom, the bird muttering a few back in return. “You know how it goes Wisdom.” “You know what I am going to say… be curious. But not too curious. And Now fly.” A second before the word fly was able to burn in the air, the raven was up, having to fight a little harder with the immense planet's gravity to get some altitude. But now in the sky, carried high by beating wings and black feathers it soars freely no longer contained. An undoubtedly good feeling. Meanwhile, the traveller gently steps down from the ship approaching Drakk and the harbourmaster with a friendly smile and rosy expression. ‘Greetings Ulathami. I see things are going about nicely here on your port…I haven’t seen your kind for a long time, I've heard many a good thing about them though. And Yes, We are here to trade these wonderful gems, oh and the ‘Scro’ or whatever they are called, Don't worry about them… you see my kobold friend here had a small dispute with them several months back, can't seem to get over it and wants to see if he can find them and talk it out. Patting Drakk on the back, letting him know to knock it off about the Scro, Ohmen continues. His interest in the so-called ‘Oracles’, ‘Star-day’ and market waiting... “Back to the gems though, I mean just look how they shine!” The traveller gently pinches the citrine from the bag in a delicate manner. Holding it up to reflect the light in dazzling rays, its golden, amber colour illuminated and gleaming… ‘Hm, some say that gems like this have spiritual healing qualities as well, I think Citrine carries the virtues of Inspiration and self-improvement!’ Giving a friendly shrug the traveller holds it up a bit higher. ‘I mean, I'm not in a place to say if they are true or not, but very fascinating nonetheless.. You are interested in this one? You know, I'm not just saying this because, but I honestly think It would go well with your, might I say, beautiful fur.” The traveller gives another smile before her eyes go back to the gem with a deep, somewhat longing breath. “Way back from where I come they call these ‘Amber Stars’ A wonderful, and fitting name for a wonderful gem.”
Bang realizing the ship has touched down scampers down the crows nest and runs to port. He has a long list in hand. Noticing the dock master he says a quick greeting and keeps running into town for his supplies.
Drakk looks at Ohmen a bit annoyed but quickly tells the Dockmaster the one she pointed to would cost about 55gp.