The party waited patiently at the top of the tower for the
next airship to come. Even after travelling through the barren wasteland just
north of Mount Grimskull, they were still inland quite a bit making it easier and
quicker for them to take an airship out to a port city, and then another ship
over to Port Phishk. Nobody else was up here waiting for the airship, the only
other person was the gnome who ran the tower. Rede was sitting on Callie’s lap,
while Shade occupied the other bench with Gorgos who stood in front of her.
“How long you been working this?” Walker asked the gnome
operator.
“Oh this coming Wednesday marks my tenth year.”
Walker whistled, “Ten years? Damn. Guess it must be a decent
job.”
“It has its up and downs.” The gnome shrugged at him,
“Guards never check up here, that’s both a blessing and a curse.”
“Get robbed often then?” Walker asked him.
“Nah,” The gnome smirked, “People don’t think an airship
tower operator is gonna have a lot of money. Do have trouble with people stealing
free rides though, refusing to pay me.”
“But I suppose it does let you swindle some extra cash out
of your customers.”
The gnome laughed, “That’s not how I find it a blessing, but
yea. If the customer’s being a dick I totally charge them more.”
“What’s so good ‘bout it then?”
The gnome tilted his head towards Rede and Callie, “Check
out your couple of friends over there. Tell me they aren’t getting bored and
wanting to have sex.” Walker glanced over at them and quickly rolled his eyes
nodding in agreement. “I get people like that every day up here, couples,
singles, hell sometimes whole parties. I run them a deal: They let me in, I
won’t kick their sorry asses off this tower.”
Walker broke out into laughter, “If it works, it works!”
“You would not be able to guess some of the things I’ve had
sex with and done.”
Walker shook his head as he continued to laugh, “Not going
to try to, but I can see the appeal to sticking here for so long then.”
The gnome smiled at him, “Wouldn’t trade it for any other
job…besides maybe airship captain. They get to do that AND fly a ship.”
“Officially…? No, but…” The gnome chuckled, “I might have
got my hands on the wheel a time or two.”
Walker chuckled, “I grew up learning how to sail a sea
vessel. Put me any one of those and I can sail that sweetheart anywhere…first
time I ever got my hands on the wheel of one of these airships…almost killed
the whole damn crew. They handle so differently than a normal ship.”
The gnome laughed at him, “I’m not surprised! Every sea
captain I’ve met says he couldn’t fly these if his life depended on it, and
every airship captain I know would sink a sea vessel in a matter of hours too!”
Walker shook his head, “I must say though, they are
particularly handy though.”
“Sure does make travel a bit more comfortable.” The gnome
smiled, “These goblins knew what they were thinking when they built these.”
Walker’s eyes opened up wide, “A gnome complementing a
goblin?! Never thought I’d hear that!”
“And a gnome not getting angry over it!” The gnome responded
to Walker, who was also of his race, “Never thought I’d get away with it.”
Walker chuckled, “Oh I’ve made my rounds. There’s good ones
and bad ones in every race, but still, thought we were suppose to have some
invention rivalry with the goblins.”
The gnome leaned in close to Walker and whispered, “Rivalry
or not, goblin women are WAY more fun than gnome ones.” He then leaned back and
burst out in laughter.
Walker chuckled at him, “I’ll take your word for it, can’t
say I’d know.”
“Trust me pal, you gotta try one.”
Walker shook his head lightly, “I’ll keep that in mind,
but…this gnome’s taken.”
As they continued to talk, Shade took in a deep breath of
the fresh air. As she let it out she smiled and slowly opened her eyes.
Immediately his eyes popped wide open and he focused on something he spotted
across the horizon: a bird. Shade immediately recognized this bird, it was a
crimson raven, one of the rarest birds in existence. “Oh no…” Shade whispered
quietly as she stood up. She knew what this meant, and it wasn’t going to be
good.
“What is?” Gorgos asked him.
Shade glanced over at her, “Do you remember me telling you
about my family?”
Gorgos’s eyes narrowed for a few seconds as she sought to
remember, “OH! Elf-“
“Yes.” Shade quickly cut her off.
Gorgos nodded at her, “Gorgos remember.”
Shade forced a smile and sighed, “Good…good.” As the bird
continued to fly closer Shade walked out to the edge and held out her hand for
it.
“What is it?” Rede asked her as the bird slowly landed on
Shade’s hand.
“A letter.” Shade told him, by now everyone was paying
attention to him.
“From who?” Callie asked him. Shade remained quiet as he
pulled out the small rolled up piece of paper that was strapped to it.
“How did that bird know where to find you?” Walker asked
her.
Shade frowned and shook his head as he read over the note,
“Fuck!” She cursed to herself.
“What?!” Callie asked.
“Walker, I know you wanted to go to Port Phishk, but I NEED
to go to the elven capitol of Lasacense.” Shade looked up at him.
“Lasacense? How the hell do you plan on getting there, and
why?”
Shade shook his head and rolled her eyes, “The rest of you
can come with or stay behind, I don’t care, but I NEED to get there
immediately. The elven king is dying and I’m the only alchemist who knows how
to save him.”
Walker nodded at him, “I’ll come with ya on two conditions.
One, how the fuck are we to get there, and two, I want answers.”
“Same here.” Callie and Rede spoke up as one.
Shade smiled at them and quickly used a small knife to cut
into his thumb. She let the blood drip down onto the note that he had received
and immediately dropped it to the floor. As the piece of paper hit the ground
it was consumed in a flash of magic and a portal manifested itself over where
the paper would have been. “This is how we get there, and all of your questions
regarding this will be answered sooner or later. On my word.”
“Is that a portal?” Rede asked.
“How did you make that?” Callie said right afterwards.
Walker chuckled and shook his head, “Fuck it, lad. Lead the
way. I’m in.”
Shade looked at him surprised for a few seconds, but wasted
no more time and quickly walked through the portal. Before long everyone else
in the party had followed him as well. As they stepped out of the portal they
entered into a glistening forest that shone with magic. The trees where easily
20, 30, sometimes even more than 50 feet wide and climbed up into the sky as
far as their eyes could see. Shade turned around to face them and smiled
widely, “Welcome to my home,” He said holding his arms open, “The forest of
Lasacense.”
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