Mind If I Crash Here Tonight?

Lightholder Crossroads - Interdistrict Carriage Hub 


 * ''A small village has sprouted on the edge of the Lightholder River where the cobblestone roads from Fastheld's other prominent districts intersect, in the shadow of Caryas Hill and the majestic gray silhouette of Fastheld Keep - the seat of power for the entire realm.


 * ''Sutlers, traveling performers and other small-time merchants ply their trades along this main crossroads - competing for space with carriages hauling passengers, couriers rushing important communiques from one district to another, and the soldiers of the Emperor's Blades who regularly patrol the area.


 * ''On the northwest corner of the intersection, next to the road that twists north toward Lightholder Bridge and the palace, sits a large tavern and inn where weary travelers can refresh themselves.


 * The wagon drivers don't seem overly concerned by the night travel. However, their attention is rather drawn to a sound in the sky - a sort of dim sputtering noise in the distance, to the north, with no apparent visible source.

Lucius and Amalai stand outside the tavern.

Adaer Kahar walks up the West Path, from the river, his cloak pulled tight and a cigar in his hand, ready to light. He looks up toward the sky as he enters the crossroads. Still, he lights his cigar and narrows his eyes as he takes that first puff.

Amalai moves alongside Lucius, watching the wagons move through the crossroads. "Couldn't be me. I'd probably quite literally freeze to death," she replies, then looks up at the sky when she hears the noise. "Wha' was tha'?"

Lucius Nepos narrows his eyes. "What in the bloody Shades is that racket? I don't have my lantern on me.." The former soldier looks around briefly, and walks around the tavern, finding a socket and torch. He pulls the torch from its socket and then walks back to where he was, approaching the road. He thinks he could maybe shine some light on the source of this noise. He is most likely mistaken, though he tries in earnest to pick it out.


 * The crimson moon of Dayhunter is blotted out by the silhouette of an airborne craft of some kind, consisting of an elongated hide-covered gasbag, with a gondola suspended under the belly. It appears to be propelled by some kind of (at the moment, malfunctioning) mechanical propulsion device. The pilot seems to be struggling to keep the craft in the air, but continues to descend in a shallow spiral above the Crossroads.

Adaer Kahar, awe-stricken, backs himself away from the craft, even though he's not all that close. He looks around and spots Lucius with his torch, "Lucius, do you plan to set it aflame? What in the Light is that?"

Her eyes widen when she sees the aircraft descending. "I think it was a bad idea to come out here, Lucius," Amalai says, moving backwards toward the entrance to the tavern, though she doesn't go inside.

Lucius Nepos narrows his eyes in order to try and see better. He cranes his neck too, as if that'll do any good. And what does he see, jogging his memory? "Is that.. that's the bloody flying carriage they saw above Aegisport a few months back!" He ignores Adaer and Amalai for now, running from wagon driver to wagon driver. "Make a hole! Make a bloody hole, in case that thing comes crashing down!"


 * Slowly at first, but with increasing vigor, the wagon drivers comply with the soldier's commands, guiding their wagons off to the alleys and into the crafting square. Meanwhile, the vessel continues its descent and as it gets low enough for the flickering torchlight to reflect, one might be able to make out the slow collapse of the gasbag, which seems to be tattered in some places due to arrow impacts.

Adaer Kahar watches the craft, grabbing for Thayndor's sabre at his belt. He doesn't pull it out, but readies himself, in case he has to. As the craft nears the ground he edges himself toward Lucius. "It's going to land!" he yells.

Well, Amalai's going to do anything but just stand there and stare. She doesn't move forward to inspect further, instead she turns and looks for something to hide behind.

Lucius Nepos growls. Instead of narrowing now, the former Blade's green blue eyes narrow, taking quick note of the holes. "Bloody Watch peppered it with holes. Imbeciles!" He shakes his head at the Kahar, moving towards Amalai and pointing towards an alleyway, which he heads for. "No, it's going to crash!" Then he yells at the top of his lungs, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"


 * The strange craft doesn't crash. Well, not right away. Instead, the pilot manages to pull the vessel out of its slow descent and begins gaining a little altitude. Moments later, however, the sputtering engine in the tail section of the gondola gives a smoky POP! noise and erupts in flame. The fire quickly spreads to the hide-covered gasbag, which erupts in flame and loses all semblance of airworthiness. Suddenly, the craft is plunging toward the Crossroads like an anvil.

The delay hopefully gives Adaer the time to run for cover. He hops past a few old men and a young boy, getting behind a building, where he pulls out his sabre, not sure what to expect.

Amalai hurries for cover to an alleyway, a string of curses flowing from her mouth. She looks up as the thing bursts into flames and covers her eyes. Now she's speaking something of a prayer, though the words aren't clear.

Lucius Nepos doesn't really appear to be interested in pulling out a weapon of any sort. He doesn't pray, but kneels in the alleyway next to his belle. Opposite of her actions too, he watches the flaming craft intently. "We must be prepared to help whoever's in there out."


 * The final descent of the unusual aircraft lasts just a few seconds. It slams brutally into the central square of the Crossroads, narrowly missing the pulsating scar of the odd rift. The gondola, apparently made of some kind of brittle composite material, shatters from the impact. The wreckage left behind is now mostly just an inferno of charring hide and bits of organic chunks. A small figure, no bigger than a few feet tall, wrapped in bundles of fur that are now aflame, crawls weakly from the debris.

Adaer Kahar peeks out from behind the building to watch the crash. His eyes narrow on the movements of the small figure. A boy, or an animal, he immediately thinks, ducking out from behind the building, sprinting toward the wreckage to get a closer look and help the boy. He puts away his sabre but keeps his hand on it's hilt.

Amalai stops whatever she's saying and stares wide-eyed at Lucius at his comment. She shakes her head and looks back up to the craft just as it crashes, raising an arm to cover her eyes, then lowers it. When she sees the small figure moving away from it, she moves out from the alleyway to assist in any way she can.

Well, you only live once. As soon as the craft has plowed into the ground and stopped, Lucius sheds his robe for the cold, cold air, leaving him in his tunic and trousers. The baronet sprints out of the alleyway, seeking the little man. "GET SOME BLOODY WATER!" He screams on his way. He spots Adaer moving to to the same objective, he says, "Have him roll around to get the fire out."


 * A barmaid rushes out of the tavern with a bucket of water, which she dumps on the burning pilot. This puts out much of the fire, and the scorched fellow tries to roll around to extinguish the remains of the fire, which has left his furs in tatters. Then he gives a rattling gasp and lies still on the ground.

Adaer Kahar stops as he nears the figure, leaning down to get a better look at the fellow. "Hey, kid," he says, "are you alright?" His brow quirks as he glances from the tattered fur to the wreckage it crawled from and back. "Oh my..."

Amalai backs up a little as the barmaid drenches the small guy with water. She leans forward after he goes still on the ground, staring intently at him. "Oh, Light. He's not dead, is he?"

"Amalai, give me my wolfskin cloak, please. He's going to go into shock if we don't get him somewhere warm after he's just been drenched with water." Lucius kneels by the little man's form, removing his furs and holding a hand out in wait for his own cloak. He observes him, bringing two fingers up to his neck where the jugular vein should be.


 * The pilot of the doomed airship is in no danger of going into shock, what with having no pulse at all. He appears to have died of his injuries and the burns sustained subsequent to the crash.

"Right." Amalai slips the wolfskin cloak from around her shoulders and shoves it in Lucius' hand.


 * The dead pilot's corpse has a scorched big dwarven beard.

"Got a pulse?" Adaer asks, Lucius. "We need a doctor, fast," he says to the barmaid with the empty bucket.

"Fuck!" Yells Lucius, an angry scowl taking its place on his face as he shakes his head at the small, bearded figure. "No, he's dead. He deserves the dignity of a proper cremation. I bet it was the Watch who shot him down, too. Come now, let's put this fire out."

Amalai rushes in and out of the tavern with some water, followed by a few others carrying the same. They all toss the water on the fire, putting some of the flames out.

Adaer Kahar stands from the body and sighs, running to assist in carrying the water, making a few trips.

They work and work, but the residents and visitors to the Crossroads eventually put out the fire completely. After all is said and done, Lucius has gone and retrieved his robe from the alleyway, slinging it once again over his body first and then over his left shoulder a few times. He walks towards the steaming wreckage, glancing around. Scorched hide bits. Some pink powdery stuff, maybe its fuel. And finally, the most interesting bit; the wrecked engine. "Look at this thing... Wow. Adaer, do you have a bottle on you? I'd gather some of that pink shite up into it. I'm going straight to the Emperor tomorrow, if I can. Maybe he has an alchemist who can look at all of this."

"No," Adaer replies. "How about that flask of yours. Still have it?" He pants a few times and coughs, crossing his arms and standing still next to Lucius, staring at the wreckage.

Amalai doesn't say much of anything, staring down at the little corpse for a moment before she moves away to get a look at the charred craft. "What'd you say this was, Lucius?" she asks, glancing briefly toward him, then back.

"Huh. Yeah, actually. I finished my whiskey last night, so it should be dry to a bone. Looks like I'm not going to be drinking from this anymore." Comments Lucius wryly. He turns around to kneel by the pink stuff, scooping some of it into the flask - as much as he can, in fact. Sealing the top of it, he tucks the vessel away in his belt. "It was the same airship people saw floating above Aegisport two months ago. They tried to shoot it down but it was too high. I guess this time he wasn't so lucky." He motions towards the corpse.

"How do you even get something like this to fly like a bird?" Adaer says, idly wondering. "It's far to big, isn't it? Do you think it's magic or something unholy?" Adaer picks up a piece of the wreckage and examines it.

"Never saw nothin' like it," Amalai murmurs, furrowing her brow slightly as she inches in closer to it. She shakes her head and pulls the cloak in tighter. "Well, what're we gon' do with 'im? It wouldn't be righ' t' jus' leave 'im layin' here."

Lucius Nepos shrugs. "I'm no tinkerer, Adaer. Nor am I a siege engineer. Those are the two sciences that I would imagine could explain how this could fly. It could be magic, but I don't think so. I've seen magic beings fly. They are much more graceful. Look at him. He looks like a Court dwarf, except his beard.. is far too big. Court dwarves, those kept around for amusement who aren't exposed when they're young never have such facial hair. Nay, I suspect he is from the Wildlands, somewhere. This is a mechanical contraption of some sort. Look at that." He points at the wrecked engine. "I suspect that is what drove it, though I can't prove." Luc shakes his head. "No, we will need to do something. I suspect the Emperor will want to see the corpse, however ungainly and disgusting it is."

Adaer Kahar shakes his head, "I don't know if I can take something like this as my responsibility. There are men now, not us, who are to deal with things of this exact nature. You're not going to make this your problem, are you, Lucius?" Adaer drops the peice of wreckage, and it crumbles. He looks down and quirks his brow.

Amalai searches through her backpack, then unfastens the cloak from around her neck. "Here, wrap 'im up in this or cover 'im with it - somethin'," she says as she moves back toward Lucius and Adaer, holding the velvet cloak out to Lucius. She makes it a point not to look down at the corpse.

Lucius Nepos leans in to plant a kiss on Amalai's cheek, giving her a half-hug as a way to try and comfort her. He takes the cloak and pulls it over the little man, wrapping him up. "It came and made itself our problems. We are here for a reason. I am going to inform the Emperor of this come daybreak. It is my duty as a knight of the Empire." He smiles weakly. "By the way.. Amalai, this is Baron Adaer Vozhd-Kahar, of Aegisview. Baron, this is my fiancee, Amalai Pinewood. Quite the first meeting."

Amalai raises a hand to cover her mouth and nose, glancing briefly toward the body as Lucius wraps it in the cloak. She looks over at Adaer as Lucius introduces them and offers a little smile, taking her hand down from her face long enough to speak. "Despite the circumstances, a pleasure to meet ya, darlin'."

Adaer Kahar half-smiles and nods, "Quite." He extends his gloved hand toward Amalai with a smile, "Nice to meet you, M'lady. Or, soon to be Lady... Heard about the wedding. You've found a good man."

As Amalai and Adaer exchange pleasantries, Lucius snoops on over to the husk of the engine until he's standing only about half a foot away, and examines the thing. "Incredible.."

Amalai reaches out to take hold of his hand and nods. "Yeah, I like t' think so. Thanks." She sniffs lightly and crosses her arms over her chest. "Much as I'd like t' stay out here admirin' this thing, I just gave 'way my cloak to a corpse, an' I'm freezin'."

"Yeah, I have to go, as well," Adaer replies. "Nice to meet you Amalai. Lucius, I'd stay and help but we're about to head out of port. Sorry," Adaer begins to walk away from the wreckage. "See you two, soon, I'm sure." With that, Adaer's off, toward the river.

Return to Season 4 (2006)