scratching of an ink pen on rice paper

‘I can fly now. Badly, but practice makes perfect. Or something like that, my commander wasn’t big on philosophy back in the day.’

surprisingly detailed sketch of the flight docent

‘Thinking ahead can suck, but it can get you wonderful toys. I’m still working on methods for keeping vampires from being sneaky bastards; spent most of the flight to Stormreach talking with the Inquisitor..something’s off about her. I like it. A city on the edge of a primeval jungle continent I’m told is larger than Khorvaire, filled with monsters, devious natives, more monsters, and cunning traps.

Oh, and loot.

I’d only seen the place vaguely from the air and when I heard that I fell in love. Seems the city itself is run by a bunch of pirates who went legit; the Elf said we’d fit right in, I was inclined to agree, and we were both right. Also discovered the Inquisitor woman has a nasty sense of humor. I had to break out a bottle of the emergency ale for our navigator; only ever saw him sober once before this, wasn’t pretty.

Funny though. Very funny.

A whole lot of my kind call this place home, or at least hang out at a bar called the Rusty Nail; kinda shocked me, but I got over it pretty quick.
Then I discovered warforged beer. Well, I guess ‘Happy Oil’ would be a better name; I love the stuff, but I lose my edge, I can’t fail The Captain or crew like that. Beat a bunch of warforged in arm wrestling, including one who shouldn’t have lost; they’ve gotten weak.

personal note: investigate Iron Watch, must talk to leader. He may know something.

The wizard actually bought a crate, and then some. I think I know what he’s up to, the squishy little spellslinger, and it almost brings a smile to my faceplate.

another personal note: get the Cannith man to make emergency induction port

Stormreach’s markets suck. Must be spoiled, will need to restock if we ever return home.

Captain has a really…unusual family. Well, more unusual than I thought, I guess. And she offered me a higher pay rate; can’t leave The Captain, but maybe mercenary work…hmm..

Discovered that the ship’s elemental is named Zax; feels good to be able to refer to a worthy being by its proper name, as opposed to ‘Uh, Ship’; Arion, Sailla, Faelh, Zax, the wizard. Works for me. Got us to Xen’drik in record time, I guess, since time goes all wobbley. I resisted the urge to ask to drop off the side of the ship(pre-wings!) to fight some giant scorpions; I bet I could sell the meat.

Investigated dig site; Emerald Claw was here, judging by the swords in the gravesite, guess they picked the site clean. Descended into crypt, wizard of course poked around and managed to find a hidden gateway.

Right into a room with a Gelatinous Cube; Navigator was concerned as I was. Damn things can eat me.

Bright idea: Flinging fireball at it. Good show wizard.

Not-so-Bright idea: Flinging fireball in room where floor is covered in oil. Check your surroundings next time.

Had to use flask of alchemical frost from utility compartments; note, buy 10, Alrik’s fond of fire. Zax helped suck air out of pit, put fire out; wish I knew what to get him in return(NEVER underestimate being nice to the extraplanar royalty with control of air).

Discovered ancient scroll of some kind; I couldn’t read it, no surprise. Neither could anyone else, bit of a bigger surprise. Further exploration discovered burial coffins with Giant skeletons, watched over by Giant spirit\ghost. Think the wizard released it from servitude; might come back to bite us in the ass(it’ll break a few teeth on mine).

Found Ancient Warforged; it’s made out of a matte-black metal I am not familiar with, is larger than even the hulking bruiser I accidentally embarrassed back at the Rusty Nail, and made out of stone, not wood. Brought it along, of course.

And I got my wings. Can I say how pleased I am with this? Wizard wants to study the body, the Elf wants to loot(can’t blame her), Arion and Faelh both seem to want to leave. Not too worried; anything squishy in this jungle I can kill, anything magical we’ve got firepower for…and anything bigger is either going to use us or kill us and the whole wretched hive of Stormreach.

So why worry?