Session Log 2023-02-07

Arijat, sage of the kobold nomad village, told Klaitos of the encroaching black flame and roving warbeasts threatening to wipe out her small clan. She knew of a safe haven within the southern Blight, and could lead Klaitos to her through the oath-song bond, but needed him to figure out how to transport some 50-odd kobolds. She regretted the urgency with which she had to call upon her favor, but the situation was dire, and her village could only benefit from the dragon-slayers aid if there was a living village to claim it.

Ignis requisitioned one of the Keep's two remaining supply ships, with a large enough cargo bay to host the kobolds. The war council heeded his request, but warned him not to treat the Tortoise as disposable - though it wasn't currently in use, a ship of that size was more precious to them than any of the gilded ships of House Fireheart. He reassured them that Ekkels, not he, would be the stalwart pilot, which they took as oddly reassuring.

Ignis set about preparing rations and medical supplies sufficient for the journey - the Keep could ill afford to feed the Kobolds for more than a meal, but their larders were not so low as to deny that charity. Meanwhile, Klaitos convinced Robin to come by suggesting that there was a better-than-even chance of them simply stumbling upon something valuable enough to make it worth her while.

Ekkels flew the Tortoise well clear of the Colossus, off towards the smoky horizon of the western Torch Empire. When they reached the smog-clouds from the sea of black flame, they flew in the thin air above rather than risk being spotted below or choking within. Klaitos sat by him and guided them with the oath-song bond around his forearm.

Belowdecks, Robin and Ignis killed time with card games. Robin challenged Ignis to a wager - whichever of them won the next game could lay claim to the next treasure the other found. Robin was able to skillfully cheat a victory, but Ignis could read the smugness in her expression and knew he had been swindled. Lacking evidence, he conceded the game and pointedly busied himself tightening the ropes securing the supplies for the village.

The Tortoise arrived to find the village in as sorry a state as Arijat had described. Though the tents and possessions were loaded for travel, the variously injured and exhausted kobolds were unable to carry them any further. The impromptu campsite was buffeted by winds from the firestorm to the east, bearing choking smoke and wasteland sandstorm. Arijat, moving unsteadily and supported by a kobold child, greeted them, and warned them that they should hurry: the hunters were still afield, patrolling for war-mutants, and the sooner they were in the air, the better.

Ignis walked over and tried administering his healing liquor to those kobolds most obviously in need. Rather than getting any of them drunk, they simply passed out on the spot. He realized that only a few of the villagers were going to be able to move enough to help, and quickly organized them into moving the unconscious and injured to safety. Ekkels spotted the village's pack lizards, resting at the back of the encampment. and tried to coax them into helping. He struggled to urge the creatures into standing, but was able to corral one into dragging a carpet-load of injured up to the ship. Klaitos decided to focus his efforts on mitigating the near-constant sand and smoke. He climbed a dune and conjured an angled stream of wind, sufficient to redirect the flow of particulate away from the efforts to bring the village aboard.

Robin slipped away from what looked like hard work and settled in with the unconscious, injured, and otherwise immoble. She struck up a conversation with Arijat, appreciating the folksy trash-art sculture that adorned some of the belongings being brought inside. Arijat spoke of how it was mostly crafted with whatever means and materials avaialable, with a song-magic ritual to make up for the lack of forges, kilns, and other such tools. She offered to teach Robin a fire-magic spell-song to focus the sunlight of a bright day to a superheated point, which Robin graciously accepted.

Once most of the villagers were safely within the Tortoise, Klaitos climbed down from the dune and abandoned his efforts at blunting the weather. Instead, he gathered up as much of the villages' belongings as he could and hauled them inside, rudely knocking several kobolds and Ignis out of the way. Still, with his aid, the rest of the village was loaded in short order.

Just as the the last tent was carried inside, a cry rang out from beyond the encampment. The party rushed out, trying see what was going on through the sand stream. By focusing his senses on the churning wind, Klaitos was able to make out two large forms moving in great leaps across the wastes, headed towards the Tortoise, pursued by the hunting party.

Robin and Ekkels boarded the Tortoise. Ekkels made haste for the steerage and brought the kobold-laden ship a few yards into the air. Meanwhile, Ignis summoned flame and Klaitos readied himself to intercept the large creatures. Two monstrous, bear-sized, multi-legged creatures with skin like raw meat and claws of sharp bone emerged from the sand to pounce upon them. Ignis was knocked to the ground by one, but Klaitos managed to block the other and seize it in an unwieldy hold.

Klaitos hurled the creature towards its counterpart, but missed and unintentionally sent it and Ignis careening across the sand. Ignis's foot was pinned, but he was able to channel his fire down that leg. The creature reacted with suprising adroitness and leapt to its many feet, looming over the prone Fireheart. Klaitos, having caught the attention of the creature he missed, rushed at it and dealt it a decisive blow, destroying several artificial organ systems with a meteoric punch.

Ignis was ignobly saved by a distracting volley of spears from the kobold hunting party. He created a ring of flame around the creature as they caught up to the battle. Surrounded and uninterested in fighting so many small creatures, the thing hunched down and leapt backwards for the Tortoise. Robin, on the deck, had readied her crossbow on the creature already, and was able to sink a bolt into its mass and hamper its hold on the side of the ship. Ekkels further loosened its grip with a well-aimed fishing knife from the prow. The hunting party fired upon it, one of them using a white harp to summon an additional ethereal spear-thrower. The creature fell from the side of the ship and landed, ungainly, on its back, for the hunters to finish it off.