Return to Vin'chi

Sakiran plots a course to Vin'chi. It is around two hours of flight away. Leoric tries to repair some of the holes in the ship and was able to find some scrap to repair some of the major breaches. He restores some structural integrity to the ship by fixing holes they would have otherwise fallen through.

As they travel, he begins to organise the cargo bay, placing large boxes into corners to make room for more cargo.

The ship shudders as it moves, descending through the cloud layer over the red-green forests of Solor. The tower is corrupted with nanophage, with parts moving around it.

On their descent, they hear a radio transmission come through. Thaunir picks up the garbled transmission. He speaks louder into the garbled radio, holding the headset closer to his ear.

They are getting lower and see people in the area in front of Vin'chi. They are waving their arms as they land, hearing a crunch then a slight explosion. They look out of the window and see everything beneath is being crushed beneath the force of their anti-gravity engines.

They hear a very angry voice on the radio as Thaunir tries to plead his case. The voice chastises them for landing next to a settlement. They are directed to a clearing in which they can land. They hear wood cracking beneath as they deploy the landing gear. It lands roughly on the ground and whining as engines spool down. Vae declares a successful landing.

The party step outside through the cargo hold. Everything around them is perfectly flattened, with a metallic taste in the air from their landing.

They are accosted by a group of people in tattered armour. One of them has a blonde beard and ragged short hair comes to them and asks what they are doing. He asks if they are a travelling circus and Leoric says they are not exactly. The man whose car was crushed tells them that he will tell the mayor and storms off.

The two guards ask how the ship flies with the big hole in it. Leoric says it's a long story and they beckon for the party to follow them.

They step over the features of the terrain. They are led into Vin'chi, seeing for themselves the crushed car. It is a bustling underground city still, hawking petty goods and the fish man still using his bucket to stay hydrated. The guard lead them in, turning to them. Leoric says it is their second time here.

The old bartender appears to be missing, replaced with a four armed snake creature. Sakiran urges Aria to stay close to her, since she has never seen anything like it before.

The party each go their separate ways. Rahim goes over to an eatery manned by an old man. He seems perturbed by an old man, though offers to buy a fish and a squid and a goodberry for each. He explains it is a berry of goodwill. The old man says he would rather have a Rand of goodwill. He turns to normal as Rahim realises it was a hallucination of a memory as a boy.

Leoric walks deeper into the spiral, searching for a workshop of some description. He finds a machine shop, covered in scrap metal for cars and vehicles. The proprietor is a Drow, similar in appearance to Sakiran but darker. They look very androgynous. The area around him is filled with people who seem ill at ease. There is a guard on every corner, more heavily armed. Hanging from the ceiling, there is a half disassembled engine. Tarp on the floor is covered with oil stains, with various tools hung up. It looks like the drow is disassembling something. They wave at him, then go back to cutting metal again. They lift up the welding mask, with flowing white hair, and a very androgynous face. They greet him and Leoric greets him back. The drow asks what he needs. He said they just came in by airship and needs some supplies. They look at him in disbelief. They ask how banged up it is. Leoric says it has a few holes here and there, obviously lying. The drow nods skeptically and asks how much he has.

Leoric says he has plenty and the drow believes him. They slam the shutters to the shop down and lock it. Leoric makes conversation, asking how long he has been in Vin'chi for. The drow said he has been here for 160 years, with more people there before. He used to work about thirty minutes underground. He said the nanophage happened and they couldn't work there anymore. They explained that there were passages underneath to the other towers, but he stayed there, but it was a very long distance.

The light blinds him somewhat, his red drow eyes adjusting to the sun. Leoric leads him to the airship. They walk towards the ship and they cover their eyes. They say they are missing half a room. Leoric says that is where he sleeps. The drow says it is a big job and he needs a port for it. Leoric asks if he can do something to patch it up. The drow looks towards the midship. Nelalwe waves from the midship. Leoric explains she is their engineer. The drow says they could patch it up a little bit and take a while. Leoric says he and Nelalwe can help.

The drow says small holes are no problem, just pointing to three that are problematic and will compromise stability. They have a weapon that might help the party, since he cannot repair the larger holes. They go back to the shop and unveil a large turret they were working on. They sigh when they introduce it as the Reaper, saying humans can't name things. Leoric nods in agreement and the drow says they can't sell it to anyone. It's useless to them. They offer it to him for 200 rands. Leoric inspects it first. The weapon is thoroughly average spec, a rapid fire heavy machine gun with -1 to hit, with a 6d6 damage potential. It is a small weapon. The ship can fit two small weapons on the front, and two small or one large on the side.

The drow tells Leoric to go to the bar and the snake man will sort him out. Leoric asks them what their name is. They introduce themselves as Steve. She tells him not to ask and ushers Leoric away towards the bar where he can find a man who can help him forge documents.

Rahim continues to offer the man berries, and the man says he must be confused. Rahim insists it is a good deal and the man asks why he doesn't eat the berries. He says he wants to share his wealth and the man says he isn't into drugs. Rahim looks around and shrugs, walking away.

Sakiran takes Aria to the bottom of the spiral, seeing one of the fish people. It sputters slime everywhere and Sakiran drags her away. She can't find any trace of Louise, so needs to ask around. There are several merchants around, a bunch of urchins around. Aria holds up her paper asking why they are begging. There is a guard who looks bored.

Sakiran asks a beggar if he has seen Louise. He says she went on a trip with a pirate captain who was hanging around the bar. Sakiran picks Aria up and breaks into a sprint towards the bar.

She reaches the bar and sees the snakish bartender. He is serving drinks with his four arms. His face is a mix between humanoid and serpentine. He hands her an ale to loosen her nerves as she stammers out the word pirate. It gives her some warmth. She is standing bolt upright talking to the naga-like man. She is normally quite fidgety and loose, but she is completely stiff. Rahim notices this, and that other people seem to be okay with it. Aria seems perturbed but not scared.

Rahim sits at the bar and the bartender looks at him. Rahim orders two goat milks, making a comment on his creepy appearance. Rahim says he will take his strongest aphrodisiac and go to sleep. The bartender hands him a pink bottle and says it is 25 rands. Rahim asks if he has devilled eggs. The bartender says no, though Rahim purchases the aphrodisiac. Leoric arrives at the bar, again seeing Sakiran bolt upright as Rahim swirls around the drink in an academic interest. Aria waves at him.

Leoric approaches the bar. The bartender rises in a smooth motion towards him, asking if he can get him anything. He points to Sakiran and asks if he knows her. He says he's never seen her in his life. Aria pulls a face, but Sakiran is too scared to notice. Leoric asks what happened to the other guy. The bartender says it was an accident that no one investigates.

Leoric senses there is something shifty about him. He asks what he did before his bartender career. The bartender says he was a magic man, with multiple instruments. He says a flight of fancy made him switch careers. Leoric moves onto asking the bartender if he knows someone who can make "official documentation." Steve sent him. The bartender says he can sort him out and asks what he needs help with.

Leoric explains he needs a Gratus weapon licence, the bartender says it is not so difficult and he laughs snakishly. Leoric seems unimpressed. The bartender says he can do it for 30 rands. Leoric bargains for 20 rands. The snake licks his lips and counters with 22. Leoric accepts, and they have a deal before the end of the day. Leoric asks Sakiran if she found anything out about the girl, but she has a limited ability to speak because of the snake man.

Leoric asks about the pirate captain. The bartender says they came by a week ago. Sakiran says the urchin said 3 days ago. Leoric threatened him with blackmail, but the bartender dismisses it. He asks for five rands for information. Sakiran places them on the table as Leoric tries to haggle.

Bartender explains he had a boat that he was going to save her, saying he was lying. He says he comes down and takes them away sometimes. He takes away children from the city down below. The bartender describes his appearance as about six foot tall, with black hair and a scar up his left side and hair down to his shoulder. He dresses in all black. The bartender says he goes to one of the villages up north near the mines. He is no longer in the business of selling children.

Sakiran grips Aria tightly during the exchange and takes her away towards the infirmary. Leoric makes the bartender swear silence. The bartender promises him. Leoric asks if Rahim is coming and asks what he has. Rahim says it is apple juice. They pray and it turns pink. Leoric calls him a funny man. Rahim explains it is because he has not seen many foreigners.

At the doctors', they notice it is the only clean looking building in the city. The dwarf squints a little at Sakiran in recognition. She explains that their friend Amalius got worse and they had to "help" him. Sakiran nods and asks if she can heal Aria. The doctor takes a small sample of her blood. She gets a readout and is confused. The dwarf doctor says Aria is too perfect, with no deviation. The doctor asks her to leave it with her for a few days. Sakiran asks if she can do anything else for her. The doctor advises that she is too underweight to perform any surgery.

Leoric scans the surroundings trying to find a trace of Kemlyn. He sees a very tiny hint of Altarnie after particles, but they wore off a while ago. He keeps it to himself.

Sakiran thinks and takes Aria to a sweet vendor, where a fish person is manning the store. The confectionary looks very nice and Aria takes an entire bag, with 25 rands worth of sweets. Sakiran declares that she would like to head back to the airship, and Aria nods. Sakiran checks for Leoric and Rahim, but does not see them and heads back to the ship with Aria.

Leoric scouts the city, going towards the slums. He is scanning the area. He sees the shop where he found Kemlyn last time is now a drug den. As he goes further down, it seems to only get worse. As he reaches the bottom, there seem to be no guards anymore. He overhears that there have been a string of murders where the victims are flayed. It is not a normal killing for Vin'chi, and there have been six, hence the increased guard presence. He does not hear anything else and goes back to the ship.

As they enter into the ship, they see that the elf has sent some of her men to install the weapon. Leoric instructs them to install it on the front left.

Rahim goes up to the second floor and inspects if there is an office in which he can rest. He has a look at what needs desperate repair. He makes a note of the worst holes to inform the team. He repairs some of the damage to the ship with his magic.

Leoric drives the APC into the ship and parks it in the cargo bay. Sakiran goes into it and takes her painting supplies and bundles of fur, then leaves and goes back to her own room.