Chapter 1 - Leaving Dunova

As he’d mentioned in his ramblings, Pinion has enough experience already to know his way around the engine. Roughly. With impressive natural insight, and a deft hand, he keeps the mana flowing enough that the chief engineer can feed some to the flight systems. The ship lurches, and its descent slows considerably.

"Not bad, kid." The chief engineer climbs back down the scaffolding, and gives him a grateful clap on the back. He looks like he’s about to say more, when the pair hear a crash.

They turn to see where part of the pipeline has collapsed, due to the fire. The two engineers trying to deal with the open blaze are trapped. One is unharmed, but can’t escape, the other’s leg is stuck under the fallen pipe.

"That’s something we can’t deal with right now." He looks back at the flightstone. "Someone needs to keep an eye on the pressure levels. I’m not sure it can be you, do you know the numbers?"

He doesn’t have any accusation in his voice, more concern. It’s clear he’s conflicted, but he doesn’t want to risk anything else. He looks at Pinion hopefully, but the choice is his to make. Barely a second later, the door swings open again and Jezlyn stumbles in.

It’s hard for her not to understand the situation.

---

Out on deck, Huxley, who arrived with others from inside, has taken charge. She’s directing anyone she can spare to a series of hot air balloon lifeboats. By this point the tops of the tallest trees are pushing up past the edges of the deck, and every now and then the crew hear a groan or snap as the bulk strikes one of them.

She calls out to Ail and Nieli "We’re out of time. Get to the lifeboats and get free."

It doesn’t look like she has any intention of following her own advice. Not yet.

Ail grips the ropes, his muscles straining, but he manages to gather them and stop the sails from causing more problems. It requires all his considerable strength to keep them pinned though, so he knows if he goes for the lifeboats they’d fly free. Someone has to keep a hold of them while the others escape.

It could be him, or it could be one of the stronger deck hands.

  "Lifeboats??!" the skald thinks to herself as she charges towards the navigator while grasping every rail or rope on the way to stay on her feet. "Tell me what to do here and get on the boat!" Nieli almost yells at Huxley as she tries to get the captain's daughter moving. By the rhythm of trees striking the ship, she guesses now that the fall slowed down considerably. It doesn't take an engineer to figure out that if they were still falling at the same speed, there would be just one strike, the one when their airship would hit the ground. "I am from Kirin! I've been through worse!" the rogue fury tells the slender girl firmly. "Move!!"

"Once everyone else is safe!" Ail yells out in reply Huxley and Nieli through gritted teeth from the effort to hold the ropes. Once everyone is safe in the lifeboats he plans to make a mad dash across the deck. While he wasn't primarily an acrobat he did pick up a few tricks over the years in the circus and he's sure he'll make it.

Pinion says excitedly; "Oh, Jezlyn! Did you finally get Leon to try your tea? No wait, ignore that. Can you help me monitor the pressure, while the engineers try to free their companion over there?"

"The lifeboats are on the far side." Huxley points to the starboard, a short way back. The bulk of the bridge blocks them from sight, but from there Nieli can already see the balloons of the lifeboats being pumped up. "We’d need to cross the deck, the ladders to the inflated balloons would be a straight shot."

She protests when Nieli tries to shuffle her on. "I can’t go just yet, essential personnel have to be the last to leave!"

From the look in her eye, Nieli can tell she’s aware that she wouldn’t be considered essential personnel but she has no intention to leave yet. She looks as stubborn as any of the other members of the crew, which only gives Nieli a few options if she wants her off first.

The rest of the crew on the top deck are beginning to thin out, and the evacuees from the lower decks have already gone. Thankfully, the amount of crew the airship had wasn’t enormous, so it didn’t seem that much of a logistical nightmare to get everyone to safety. Not that Leon or the engineers have appeared yet.

  Nieli grabbed Huxley's shoulder and spoke to her in a strangely low, soulful voice, staring into the stubborn navigator's eyes. "Have you seen torn limbs? Caved in skulls? Faces burned to the bone?!" she asked. "And I've seen it," she continued. "I'm sure, that is what happens to people when airships crash, too. Do you think your parents would want to witness anything that awful happen to you? Or would they rather see you live a long and happy life?" As she spoke, despite her grim expression, a tear appeared in the corner of the skald's eye. She took a short pause and then continued with an emotional, commanding yell, releasing the girl. "GET! TO! THE! BOAT!"

"Why not both?" Jezlyn responds as she hurries to the engineers. "That stubborn mule still won't try it! Here, here, move out of the way. I don't know what is the ideal pressure for an airship so one of you go and monitor it and I'll lend you an extra set of hands." Jezlyn cracks her knobby knuckles as she prepares to help out.

Strong Ail's muscles strain as he holds the rope. Looking around he sees the deck starting to empty and as soon it looks like everyone or almost everyone has gotten to the lifeboats before he makes a mad dash towards them himself.

Reluctantly, Huxley nods. She leads Nieli over to the lifeboats, where the last of the deckhands are still directing people toward the balloons. Some have already been released and are drifting into the air above and away. The deckhands turn to Nieli and Huxley, and after giving a nod they help them into the boats.

Soon after, Ail comes barrelling toward them. With an impressive leap, he dives into the lifeboat as it casts away. He’s safe from the airship as it drifts dangerously close to the ground, leaving a trail of crushed and mangled trees in its wake.

Of course the balloons aren’t designed to stay airborne forever, but unlike the bulk of the main ship they drift more peacefully and are controlled on their path to the ground.

In the bowels of the ship, the warning still sounds. The chief engineer heads to check the pressure, and the altitude metre, trusting Jezlyn and Pinion to get the trapped man to safety. Over the roar of the blaze and the overworked engines he calls out.

"Better get them out of there soon, we’re about to impact. As soon as you can, brace yourselves. It’s now or never!"

Seems like a simple fulcrum and lever solution will suffice here. Pinion says, as they work to free the crew member from under the pipe.

"Aye, get some leverage and I'll pull him out." As Pinion attempts to leverage up the pipe, Jezlyn grabs that trapped man under the arms and tries to drag him out.

Unfortunately, the group underestimated just how close to the ground they were. Right as Pinion and Jezlyn managed to lever the pipe up they hit the ground. The shock ran through the entire airship, with an ear splitting boom to match. The group inside didn't hear that as their first warning however. Their discovery was far more physical.

Before they knew it they were thrown into the air, off their feet. The feeling of weightlessness rushed over them, a momentary lapse in reality like being in a bubble. Then they crashed down again and the world spun.

The airship's weight carried it a short distance, gouging a line in the ground, until it eventually stopped at the lip of the crater. In the aftermath of the crash, those that could pulled people out of the wreckage and set up recovery stations.

Among those saved are Leon, with a few scratches, Pinion and Jezlyn, and the full compliment of engineers although not all entirely in one piece.

"Aiiiyaaa. I haven't felt this banged up since I was a teenager and that bully Martyn shoved me in an empty cask and rolled me down Hollick's Hill. Is everyone all right?" Jez pushes a few pieces of broken airship structure off of her and gingerly stands up. The world spins for a moment and her vision is a little blurry. She realizes she's lost her glasses in the crash. Now where could they be? "And can you help me find my glasses?"

Pinion stops thinking about options to stabilize a rolling cask, and brings his mi d to the present. He looks around, trying to answer either question; "I'm not sure. But let's gather who and what we can and get out of here before any number of horrible things happen. Another blast, the ship collapsing, falling into the crater, bandits coming to finish us off . . . His list goes on as he tries to help who he can exit the ship.

Everyone has gathered around Leon, having decided that safety in numbers is their best bet this close to the crater. The ground down here is densely packed, and the trees seem far closer than they ever did from above. The crater gives the place an ominous overtone, like at any moment danger could rear its head. That said, it already did with the beam of light.

From the crater’s edge you can feel the static crackle of magic, and purple light pulses over the crater's lip occasionally. It doesn’t appear to be dangerous anymore, though having the stranded airship so close to it doesn’t sit right with anyone.

Leon looks at the group he’d been charged to transport. "Well, this is a mess alright. A fine mess. At best it’ll take a few hours to fix up, at worst…" He trails off, and from his expression you can clearly see that he doesn’t want to say it. He purses his lips and looks around, then back at the ship. "If we’re lucky, the chart room wasn’t destroyed in the impact. I don’t want Huxley, or anyone, going in there alone though so I’d ask one of you to accompany her."

"We might need some firewood." Another crew member comments. "Who knows how cold it’ll get out here?"

"Might serve to keep the monsters off our backs, too." Leon nods. "Whoever goes can try and get our bearings."

"And the elephant in the room." Huxley asks, trying her best not to look at the crater directly. She seems the most shaken by the crash, having never experienced a clear life or death situation before. Her skin is still pale, though her colour is slowly returning. "What if whatever shot that beam plans to finish what it started?"

"Then we need sentries." The chief engineer’s gruff voice answers, from where he and his team are sifting through the debris. "Not for long I doubt, if they don’t come soon then they won’t later."

"So there you have it." Leon concludes.

"If we get the ship fixed, whats to stop the beam from firing again?" Should we try and disable their weapon? Pinion asks

"I think that's probably a good idea." The chief engineer agrees, then turns to Leon.

"It is, but I reckon we best get an idea where we are before anyone heads down there. I get the feeling whatever we meet down there's going to be none to friendly, but if you want to head in be my guest. I won't stop you." Leon scratches the back of his neck.

"I'll go with Huxley. What do you want us to do in the chart room? Also, someone needs to look after any injured passengers."