(057) Dawn Patrol

[Eris]

Olaf grins and shouts, "Woo hoo! This is great!"

He seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself with no thought to the danger of being so high in the sky.

To Josiane he shouts, "Look down there! See those things that look like bugs? I think they are a herd of antelope or perhaps wild horses, but from up here they look soooo small!"

[waysoftheearth]

The flight of hippogriffs work to gain altitude as they turn more or less eastward. The cold, dark air is rushing loudly all around you--your fellows bobbing up and down on their own beasts 20 or so yards to either side.

Before long the sky is greying in the east, and then blurring toward orange and then blue as the sunlight begins to peek over the jagged black silhouette of the roughland horizon. It is a most magnificent sight to behold!

By the sun's position--slightly to your left of straight ahead--you deem the hippogriffs are veering toward a south-easterly coarse. They are flying in a V-shaped formation with one of the guides at the apex, and the other trailing somewhat behind and above the rest...

As first light begins to wash over the misty landscape below you are already many miles from Southwatch. Travel on the wing is speedy indeed!

| Ref rolls for the possibility of an aerial encounter; d6=4 |

All the sky seems to be yours and you tear through light patches of misty air toward your destination. The ground below appears ridiculously tame--an fawn-ochre menagerie of heath and grasslands rolling for miles and miles toward the ecru slabs of jagged rock that must be wretched hinterlands themselves. It all looks so small!

By mid-morning you have spotted the abbey--a tiny speck on the side of a vast slab of terrain--and begun a long, spiraling descent. The terrain grows ever more rugged and daunting as you get nearer, until ultimately you land--one by one--a shuddering impact compared to flight, and hastily dismount so that the beasts can get airborne once more. Eventually, everyone has their feet on the earth.

"Fare well!" wave the elves, and launch themselves into the air once more and head westward.

And then you are all alone on the side of a rocky plateau. It is somewhat before noon on a mild, still day. Your surrounds seem eerily quiet after having air rushing past you all morning. Now, you don't even hear a breath of air.

The forlorn abbey lies about a mile or so to your south.


What do you plan to do?

[Tonneau]

Gustave, still shaking visibly, digs through the pile of gear until he locates a flagon of wine, hastily popping the cork and taking a long draught.

Casting a steely eye at Highbough, he collapses to the grass, and mutters "Just my luck to be saddled with an insane, half-blind, senile stunt rider"

[doctorx]

Josiane's face during the flight is one of pure ecstasy as Hoot circles around her in an enthusiastic display of aerial acrobatics. To be aloft, borne by such magnificent creatures... Surely this is as close as she has ever come to Heaven!

She is sad to return to the ground if truth be told, and raises a hand to their steeds and guides in a reluctant farewell.

Bu then she turns her gaze on the Abbey and a steely look enters her eyes. She has unfinished business in this place...

Josiane has memorised Bless, The Righteous Evangelist and The Supplication of Medicant Requite.

[ehiker133]

Desmond casts a sideways glance at Josiane and notes the determined look on her face.

Having already "forgiven" her the question about Mondes, Desmond steps up next to her and says, "Let's finish what we started for once and purge all of the evil from this place. Looking back at the rest of the party, he says, If someone would venture to carry our spare suit of mail and steel helms, we can scout ahead in a quiet-like manner and make sure the way is clear..."

Without waiting for a response, Desmond drops the large sack containing his mail and helmets and, quiet as a mouse, slips into the brush ahead. Almost immediately disappearing from view, the two-headed fighter-turned-sneak scouts their path.

[flightcommander]

Armando, quite unused to hours of flight astride hippogriffs at great altitude over open country, attempts too-jaunty a dismount and lands in a jumble at the foot of the noble beast. He tastes the dust, and his stuff clatters about him, etc.

Watching as the last of the hippogriffs departs, Armando turns a bloodshot eye towards the site of the Abbey far away. "At this distance, we might perhaps locate some advantageous perch from which to espy the Abbey compound, and formulate our next steps in relative quiet."

Armando has memorized (in translation) an Elven paean to the futility of mortal endeavor.

[Olroda]

Without ceremony, Beringar pulls Armando to his feet. Despite being unsteady himself, he'll attempt to get their equipment in order as quickly as possible.

[Eris]

Olaf waves to the departing Elves and Hippogriffs, "I really enjoyed that!" he shouts to them, "Let's do it again sometime."

Turning to the others with a grin he says, "Let's get organized and down to the Abbey. If we can get down to the hidden area we found we can store our supplies and get on with our work before we loose the day entirely."

He turns and looks across to the Abbey, is its true appearance still hidden, or is it's shattered isolation in plain view?

[mushgnome]

"Olaf and I know a way in over the rooftops," volunteers Highbough. "Does anyone fancy a look from up above?"

[danhem]

Ulric sighs as the hippogriffs take off and leave them so far from their goal.

"I had hoped for a more direct insertion into the abbey," Ulric says with mild disappointment.

"We certainly won't be able to just knock on the front gate this time," Ulric says in a businesslike fashion. "If there is a way to climb over the walls we should all take it and get inside as quickly as possible."