ity n he ky - art I rrival

The companions spent a few days recovering from the exertions of the trip to the Thanigoth Archipelago in an around their new house. Trimus spent a long time studying the maps he had rescued from the tower along with the notes he had scavenged from the Phoenix's cave trying to match names and places together but made little progress. Jodotha had made himself known to the guild factors so he could go about his business in town without fear of interference from local guild members. Ako paid several visits to the local temple of Normanus studying the rites and duties of the priesthood while Cain and Darkhawk exercised and sparred with each other.

They were just becoming restless when they had an unexpected visit from Rintrah. The tall blonde mage appeared at the door early one morning as they were sitting down to breakfast.
"Good morning Rintrah. It is good to see you." said Trimus after sending Madam Thuly off for an extra plate. "To what do we owe this honour."
Rintrah sat down and helped himself to a plate of fresh fruit which he peeled with a small silver bladed dagger as he spoke. "I have some information for you. I have found out a little about Adakkia. From what I have read it could be in the north west of the continent of Davania. If you had kept heading south from the tower of the spiders you would have reached it. It appears to be a loose grouping of city states in a very mountainous area."
"Perhaps we should visit there some time. Perhaps there we may find some links back to Namulas and those other mages' bodies we found in the tower, and the mystery of the tomb with the date in the future." Said Trimus.
"Possibly." Mused Rintrah, "But first I have a mission for you." he continued popping the last of a plum into his mouth. "The gnomes you helped back in the woods mentioned the city of Serraine. I would like you to visit it."
Trimus smiled a wry smile. "Visit Serraine. Now that would be interesting."
"Yes." Rintrah returned the grin briefly then his face became serious. "It has come to my attention that the nagpa Heydrech is experimenting with non magical teleportation. I want you to find out what you can, and stop him if possible."
"What is a nagpa?" asked Ako.
"They are by nature evil creatures, humanoid in form but with the head of a vulture." Explained Rintrah. "They are also magic users and Heydrech is one of the more powerful among them."
"This sounds like a difficult mission." Drawled Jodotha toying with his dagger.
"Yes." Agreed Rintrah. "But I have no doubt that it is not beyond your means. To aid you still further I have brought along a few items that you may find useful." He opened a large canvas bag and lifted a number of items on to the table. Amongst them was a serpent like armband, a wand, a well crafted mace, a round shield and a pair of potions. Cain reached forward and took the armband.
"I will donate this to my cloister on our return." The mystic said, putting the band around his arm.
"Want does this wand do?" asked Trimus lifting the length of ebony tipped with ice blue crystal.
"It is wand of cold." Replied Rintrah, moving slightly to one side as the younger mage sighted along it. "The mace is enchanted" he said handing it to Ako. This shield is likewise protected and will aid you in combat Darkhawk. Jodotha, here are two potions that may help you. They are labelled so you don't have to test them to determine their purpose." The thief looked at the labels briefly and put them on the table beside him.
"Can you tell us anything else about the flying city Rintrah?" asked Darkhawk.
"A little. It flies because of strange gnomish machines and inventions but don't worry it has been floating around for several generations now so I doubt it will crash anytime soon." Rintrah smiled at the other's fear. "Not all gnomish inventions go wrong." He continued. "Just most of them! For the most part the population is gnomish, divided into clans. There are some nagpa, some feynar, harpies, sphinx, kobolds, orcs, ogres and a few elves and humans. In total the population is some two to three thousand souls. There are inns suitable for people to stay in. They are quite accustomed to wealthy people coming to visit them. I myself have visited it briefly once or twice, but I never stayed their long. Currently I believe it is not far from here."
"Are their any guilds or warbands we should know about?" asked Jodotha.
"The Grey Front are a group of nagpa trying to gain control of the city, Heydrech may be involved with them. You should be aware that the city is armed, much like your skyship but much more powerfully." Rintrah leaned back in his chair and looked at each of the companions in turn. "I need to know as much as possible about what is going on. Keep your ears and eyes open, if you can stop the experiments, do so, but at the very least you need to let me know where it is happening and how far Heydrech has progressed. His experiments are generally not known about in the city and for the moment it is probably best that the authorities don't find out."

Rintrah waited to see if there were any more questions then bid the companions farewell and vanished. Ako visited Madam Thuly to let her know that they were going to be gone for a while. At the same time Darkhawk and Jodotha made sure that the Phoenix was fully stocked with food, water and other vital stores. They paused for a few moments as they listened to Cain and Trimus arguing over who was going to fly the skyship. After a heated discussion it was agreed that Trimus would take the controls for the take off with Cain flying the Phoenix to Serraine.

They took off a few hours before noon heading east south-east towards Darokin and as they flew over the city an hour or so later they could see in the distance another city, this time floating several hundreds of feet above the ground. As they got closer they could see many other skyships, buzzing round the city like flies on a corpse. Cain flew the Phoenix in closer and now they could make a long grey strip of stone that had other skyships taking off and landing upon it. Cain banked the Phoenix over and came into land on the airstrip. As he did so another skyship whooshed past with a gnomish pilot shaking his fist out of the cockpit window at them. Once Cain had landed the craft and a gnome with a pair of flags had waved them towards a row of skyships of varying designs and colours Trimus removed the rod from the control panel and they stepped out of the Phoenix onto the city of Serraine. They had barely shut the door when a red faced gnome with thick curly hair stormed up to them and pushed Cain in the midriff.
"What were you trying to do? Kill us?" the gnome stormed in a comically deep voice. "There are set procedures that must be obeyed, you were lucky not to be shot down." He looked them all up and down before pausing to admire the Phoenix. "This is a fine skyship though, haven't seen one as old as this in such good condition for many a long year. I'm sorry for shouting at you, but be careful next time. My name's Gilvas Lodestar of the Clan Lodestar. We have some influence in the city, you may meet some of my clan as you carry out business in the city. What did you say your business was?"
Trimus struggled to think of an answer before blurting out "We are interested in your culture. Perhaps we could get together sometime."
"I don't think so." Replied the gnome, "I work strange hours, but drop round the barracks one evening and if I have time then perhaps we can talk."
The gnome shook hands with the companions and turned to go back to his skyship. He had only gone a few paces before he turned and called out "Don't try to lie to the immigration officers, nothing makes them more angry."

Trimus and the others strolled towards the Immigration Control, a large wooden hut towards the far end of the runway. Inside they saw two elderly gnomes behind a long desk.
"Good afternoon." Said one of the gnomes, barely looking up from a large journal. "Please state your name and business."
"My name is Darkhawk, I am a Celestial Knight and I have come to pay respects to your city." Said Darkhawk in a pompous voice.
"Fibber." Muttered the second gnome looking at a crystal rod on the desk before him.
Darkhawk blushed and stammered. "I may not have been formally accepted as a Celestial Knight but I am under appraisal."
"Better." Muttered the gnome and waved the large fighter through.
Cain and the others introduce themselves without giving too much information realising that it is better to tell the truth, even if it is not the whole truth. During the introductions the gnomes flicked through the large ledger on their desk and made notes. After all had spoken the dwarf rattled the beads of a large abacus and made a final note on a sheet of paper before handing it to Cain. The mystic's face went a deep shade of purple and for a moment it appeared that the normally placid man would erupt.
"Twenty gold pieces for my armband. This isn't tax, it's daylight robbery!" He spluttered and passed it on to Trimus, who's jaw dropped at the rates he would have to pay for his collection of items, both magic and mundane. He soon pulled himself together and handed over the required amount as graciously as he could. The others did so with varying degrees of pleasantry.
The gnomes secured the coins in a wall safe then directed the companions towards the Office Of Enquiries, another wooden building a few yards along the runway. "They sell maps and will be able to help you with any questions you may have as first time visitors. Enjoy your stay." Said the gnome.

The enquiry office was staffed by two more gnomes, much to the displeasure of Cain who was still seething from his last encounter. Here there were maps and guide scrolls for sale as well as information about various events, hostelries and places of entertainment. Darkhawk bought a map of the city while Trimus engaged the other in small talk. When the young mage brought up the topic of the Nagpas, however the gnome snapped his mouth shut and waved them out of his office.

"Now that was interesting." Said Trimus to Ako. "There must be something in what Rintrah had to say after all."
"Shall we try the Sky-Chairs?" asked Darkhawk pointing to a set of gondolas, suspended from an elevated rail. "It would be a good chance to explore the city."
""Yes." Agreed Jodotha, his mind already trying to imagine how well it would reveal any loose window catches or broken skylights. "It could be very useful."
After paying their fair of a silver piece they boarded the wooden cars and begun their journey around the flying city. The streets were busy with gnomes, orcs, kobolds along with humans going about their business. Darkhawk was forever pointing things out that he spotted in his tourist guide. They saw the museum of gnomish craft and culture, tall towers, the Great Library and a number of taverns of varying quality. All to soon they arrived back where they had started and the disembarked. "I think the Glorious Second looked the best place to stay." Said Trimus as they looked for a room for the night. "It was in a good part of town and looked clean and wholesome." The others agreed but sadly there were no rooms available. Cain was glad of this as the establishment was run by a pair of garrulous gnomes. One of the merchants who over heard Trimus' request suggested that they tried the Singing Winds a few streets away.
After thanking the merchant they walked the short distance to the inn, an impressive building comprised of three linked towers. This area was much quieter, with soaring, gracious buildings set in small but immaculate tended grounds with slender silver birches contrasting with rust red maples. To Cain's relief the taproom was loosely filed with humans, elves and feynar, there were no gnomes. They asked the owner, Sarauman Aldenten for rooms, and were offered a selection on the fifth floor of the north tower which they accepted gratefully.
"I have never met any of the feynar." Said Cain as a hearty servant girl helped lug the companions possessions up the stairs. "Can you tell me anything about them?"
"They are like the elves, sir, but elves that can fly." She replied. "Very secretive they are too. They tend to keep themselves to themselves. Here are your rooms sirs. We hope you will be comfortable." She curtsied and left them. The rooms were spacious with views over much of the city. Trimus spent some time after unpacking looking out over the buildings, watching the skyships circle before making their final approach to the runway.
After their evening meal they returned to their rooms to relax and discuss their plans for searching out Heydrech.
"Perhaps we should try to approach the feynar or the gnomes directly?" suggested Ako.
Trimus shook his head. "We need evidence. We are outsiders here and I imagine Heydrech has most of the council in his pocket. He has to be rich and powerful to be able to carry out the experiments that he does." Trimus was about to continue but was interrupted by a rap on the door. Jodotha opened it and saw a young gnome in official dress standing there. The gnome bowed and handed Jodotha a scroll. The thief broke the green wax seal and read it out.

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