by The Great Nevareh » Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:02 am
Thup thup thup thup thup...
The ever-present drone of the propellors on the small airship on loan from the Baronian chapter of the Igalan adventurer's corps continues to beat as it heads, slowly but surely, from the staging point in Doma City to the island in the sky.
There were six people on that airship who accepted this duty- six people who were, quite honestly, not risking all that much for fame, fortune, and some rather dandy gadgets.
Perhaps it would be better to start at the beginning.
The island appeared in the sky in the countryside of Doma, without warning.
And it sat there, inert.
Soon, it began to drift gently south, generally assumed to be carried by the winds high in the atmosphere.
And word of it drifted very slowly to Doma City through both secret and mundane channels, to the ears of some who would very happily reap the rewards that one might find on some such artifact- this lead to a survey team going out to set up a containment ring to keep the island in one place and another group to work a teleportation spell to send a few people up there. The island drifted effortlessly out of the ring and the spell failed, sending some of the people to be sent as far away as Riva.
So, then, other groups decided that some people with magically-oriented flight skills should just zip up there and see what's crackin'. The wind currents around the island tended to redirect them gently away, or their flight spells lost power just as they were trying to breach the winds around the isle.
Some other rather innovative methods were devised, and currently the people with the high-power catapult are waiting for a volunteer to hop into their contraption for some definite adventure.
From day 1, a coalition of some enterprising, wealthy merchants or nobles in Doma have been pooling their resources and planning how to tackle the island problem- with the power of lots and lots of money to throw around, they eventually came up with a solution. Specifically, they threw money at one of the few Baronian institutions with an Airship on hand to lend it to them. And they recieved- Then they had to decide on who to send.
Being wealthy, they decided to hire some adventurers- preferably ones with qualifications, but whoever seems reasonable enough for the trip is a good idea. And these adventurers were selected from the créme de la créme of those who signed on (read: they were the first non-felons to apply).
Of course, they aren't all really hack-and-slash adventurers. Some of them probably couldn't hack and slash their way through an unmown lawn. But, because of their diverse skills (and the expediency of their agreement to sign on), they were swiftly presented with contracts that weren't technically written in any known language and asked to sign using a pen that drained their own blood for ink- Which is, of course, the best way to ensure identity.
After some shopping and a bit of suiting up, they reported to the staging ground and were whisked away in the airship that would take them all the way to the island that they are to explore.
Two hours into the journey, the passenger cabin is stuffy and a bit too warm, nobody really has gotten the chance to get to know one another, and the journey is supposed to last at least another hour.
And the propellors twirl on...
Thup thup thup thup thup...