Tickled by a Cool Breeze

Fine Branch and Cathance, full of energy from chasing that Silver dragonborn and his shadows over the last few days, headed up to Damakaios' office.  The door was open and the Pungarehu hanyou leader of the Freelancers waved them in.  With nobody else present to inspire acting out, Fine Branch sat in the chair near the front & center, and Cathance sat nearby in a halfling-sized chair.

Damakaios pulled 4 pieces of paper out of his drawer and set them in front of him, hesitated, then pulled out another pile of less organized papers and set them to the side.  He started with the fancier papers.

Two missions from House Hadid:  phase spider venom & silk, troll blood & teeth.  Pay is according to items.

Next:  Follow on to monastery issues.  The High Abbot wonders if there is a missing person issue in Ripa Daneo, and wants Freelancers to check.

Cathance:  why not, uh, well, who would check?
Damakaios:  the Abbot would send monks, but Freelancers are here
Cathance:  I meant like, city guard.
Damakaios:  there isn't a citywide org.  Neighbourhoods have watches, rich houses have guards.  There's the Thieves Guild in the Below.
Fine Branch:  why aren't there turf wars?
Damakaios:  so the city is ruled by the Council of Houses, which governs that sort of thing.

Fourth mission:  check out Waypoint Tickler for Daystar lotion.  250gp/person, from Tempest Addis of Church of Storms.

At this point, Damakaios stacked the papers neatly to the side, then picked up the other pile.  He set them out in front of him, pondering.  "I have these potential missions," he mused, "I need people to check them out.  Are the people trustworthy, can they pay, will they double-cross."

Cathance and Fine Branch looked at each other.  They'd not been asked to vet missions before, and that was intriguing.  On the other hand, it also just sounded like a lot of interviews, and maybe not that exciting.  The monastery issue also sounded similar.  Meanwhile the Waypoint could be a chance to get the new state of the Daystar cult.

"We'll take the waypoint," Fine Branch said.  Damakaios nodded, then put most of the papers away, and got out other items.  Cathance asked, "Anything new we should know about Daystar people or this waypoint?"

"No?" Damakaios answered, "you've talked to the newest people from Arnari, right?  They turned into elementals," his voice slightly incredulous.  They all rose and he came around the desk, and handed them papers and a Church of Storms token.  "You'll be on the Traviscarter, a fire elemental airship under the Maker gnome Captain Anjanette."

"What about Waypoint Tickler?" Cathance persisted.  Damakaios grabbed the paper and looked, then set it back.  "It's in the lower section of the outer reaches," he informed them, "so long days, cold & windy, boreal forest.  Near a shear wall."  He added, "Don't advertise you are Freelancers there for Church of Storms unless you have to."

They'd heard this before, and nodded as they headed out to get ready.  The outer reaches!  Neither of them had been there before.

The trip to Waypoint Tickler was going to be 14 tags <Narrator voice:  day is skylith-local, tag is 24 hours, and merely happens to match Commerce day>, and it was only that short because Waypoint Whim was well-positioned to shorten the transfer orbits.  The trip to Waypoint Whim was very pleasant; the Traviscarter's navigator selected an orbit that passed between weather fronts, and they enjoyed clear skies until the half-day before approaching the waypoint, at which time the cloud cover increased until they were in light fog.  Cathance and Fine Branch, having never been to Whim, watched for it curiously.

They saw a small skylith, with a bulbous inward side, but the top was split into a couple lobes that made for steep hillsides.  The grey of the rock was clearly visible, and a smaller lobe seemed to end in a sheer wall.  The parts that were not steep were covered in greenery.  At the end of one of the lobes was a flat part which had been cleared, and grooves cut in the edges for airships to take off.

As the Traviscarter landed in one of the grooves, the Freelancers saw a set of buildings; warehouses, a large tavern, long low stables, a dormitory.  The airship was secured efficiently and a crew of humans, Rocklit dwarves, and various dragonborn, came to assist with unloading under the watchful eye of Captain Anjanette.

"We'll depart in 12 hours," the Maker gnome told the Freelancers.  They nodded and once it became convenient with the unloading, they took out Nighthawk and Jigsaw to get some exercise, and look around the waypoint.  They noticed a lot of guards around the airships and warehouses, but not terribly tense, and then they were flying above the hillsides.  Close up, they realized the greenery was assorted laurels and podocarpus, either too steep or too dense to land and explore.

There's only so much circling around an uninviting forest one can do, and the fog wasn't helping either; so the two Freelancers headed back to see what the tavern had to offer.  The tavern had bread bowls with a choice of stews, and a surprising selection of drinks.  As they sat there, they listened to the chatter around them between Waypoint personnel, passengers, and airship crews.  Most people were talking about the weather, and trade, and routes.  Cathance overheard some bards at a table boasting about going to Waypoint Fame.  The bards were hoping to see a silver dragon at Carnivale there, like they'd heard.

As the sky darkened, the fog cleared.  Kizil was visible in the sky, and it really was a pleasant view.  A few hours later, Traviscarter was ready to go, and launched from Whim in the dark of night.

The navigator continued to make good choices and again the airship stayed in pleasant weather between fronts as it spiraled to the outer reaches.  On their 3rd day out from Waypoint Whim, the Captain called out, "All hands on deck!  Maneuvering!  Be careful!"  The airship shifted and accelerated, passing over a skylith perhaps 500' across.  It had tall grass, bird nests, and flowers; shrubs and bushes were on the sides.  The roar of the fire elemental startled the birds, who flew up and swirled around their home.

The trip was otherwise uneventful; the temperature at night got colder, and the gravity increased slowly but steadily.  To pass the time, Cathance persuaded Fine Branch to work with her on learning Primordial.

The 14th day out from Commerce was Periastron, which Cathance found ominous.  They saw Waypoint Tickler ahead, and turned slightly to starboard to approach on a converging track from the north.  The skylith was bigger than most waypoints: perhaps 10 miles across, with rolling hills and boreal forest.  A hill sort of jutted out eastward, almost like a prow, with a beacon tower.  Cathance and Fine Branch got out their hippogryphs, intending to exercise them soonest.

The Traviscarter crossed the boundary, and as it slowed to approach the docks, the captain started swearing.

The crew shouted in fear, then 2 large, angry, air elementals swarmed over the side of the airship.  One of them blasted a nearby crew member, who arc'd off the bow, screaming.  Another threw a rope fast enough for him to grab, so he was not lost to the skyways.

The air elementals fell to, prying up whatever was tied down on the deck and throwing it off the sides.

• They did not blast any other people, but were declaring angrily in Primordial, "Smash!"  "Go away!"  "This is our place, now!"

Fine Branch shouted in Primordial, "You need to find a different place!"

• She cast guiding bolt at the air elemental that had punted the crew member off the bow.
• She summoned a spiritual weapon in the form of a fan between the two elementals.  It swiped and missed.
• She mounted Nighthawk.

The other passengers ran belowdecks.

• The crew near the bow was swearing and trying their best to prep for docking.
• Cathance and Fine Branch hesitated, looking at the captain.
• Captain Anjanette told the Freelancers, "I don't know, just get rid of them, holy crap!"

Cathance mounted Jigsaw, and looked at the other ships at the docks.  They appeared to be undergoing a lot of maintenance, paused of course for Periastron.

• She cast an uplevel'd chromatic orb at the same air elemental, which settled on cold before it struck.
• Then she flew to bow starboard; the Traviscarter had slowed enough for docking that Jigsaw could keep up.

The hurt air elemental followed and tried to slam into Cathance twice, but perhaps overestimated her size, and totally failed.

The unhurt air elemental moved to Fine Branch and slammed her.

• The second slam attack was a critfail, and the air elemental found itself spinning in place harmlessly, unable to slam.

Fine Branch had Nighthawk attack the spinning air elemental, but the hippogryph missed.

• Nighthawk backed away 5'.
• Fine Branch cast guiding bolt at the spinning air elemental, which burned it with holy radiance.
• Then the spiritual weapon fan whacked it with force.

Cathance, face-to-face with an air elemental, had Jigsaw attack it.  Jigsaw missed with his beak but his claws weakly slashed the ele.

• Jigsaw flew up and the air elemental slammed him hard.
• Cathance cast ray of frost at it, and the cold slowed the air elemental.
• Then Jigsaw flew up to the Traviscarter's bow.

The spinning air elemental couldn't slam, but since it was spinning anyhow, it produced a whirlwind, which caught Fine Branch and Nighthawk.  The only reason Fine Branch wasn't flung away was the saddle holding her in place.

The slowed air elemental was still very fast, and moved up to Cathance and Jigsaw, to the halfling's extreme displeasure.

• Having watched its compatriot, it also spun and produced a whirlwind.  The whirlwind hurt, but Cathance and Jigsaw were adept enough not to be flung.

Fine Branch had Nighthawk back away 5' again.

• The air elemental stopped spinning and slammed Nighthawk, hard.
• Fine Branch cast a twice-uplevel'd guiding bolt at the ele, which crit.  The airy form seemed to fray around the edges from the holy radiance.
• "May you be stuck in calm forever!" the air elemental swore at her in Primordial.  "May the rain that falls on you be mud!"
• Then the spiritual weapon fan whacked it with force.

The Traviscarter was maybe 50' away from the docks and coming in.

Cathance had Jigsaw disengage and fly up to the bow.

• She cast ray of frost at the air elemental fighting with Fine Branch, but missed.

The air elemental chasing Cathance slammed her twice, missing once then hitting her.

• Cathance cast shield because she did not feel like getting slammed.

The swearing air elemental slammed Fine Branch twice, hitting her then missing her.

On the dock, a crowd had gathered.  Some were shouting, and some had weapons drawn.  The nearby airships were clearly damaged, and the Freelancers realized the armed people were waiting to attack the air elementals, not the Traviscarter.

Fine Branch cast toll the dead on the nearby air elemental, and the resonance from the bong basically disintegrated the ele.

• She glanced around, then cast a thrice-uplevel'd healing word on Jigsaw, who was again the picture of health despite multiple slams.

Cathance cried out, "Jigsaw, attack this thing!"

• Jigsaw obliged:  he beaked it weakly, but missed with his claws.
• Cathance invoked the tides of chaos to cast an uplevel'd chromatic orb at the remaining air elemental, but its effects are lost to time…
• …because Cathance immediately turned invisible and inaudible as a result of the chaos.  Perhaps tides of chaos on the day celebrating the Chaos god was a bad idea.
• She moved to Fine Branch, who looked worse for wear, and pressed her jar of restorative ointment into the nekomata's clawed hand.
• Concerned about her own health, she quaffed a healing potion.

The airship was pulling into the dock and those on the dock were yelling about the air elementals, but the Freelancers tuned that out to focus on the job at hand.

The air elemental came up to Fine Branch and Nighthawk and produced another whirlwind.

• The hippogryphs were adept enough to avoid most of the damage.
• Fine Branch was overcome and slumped in the saddle, which held her gravely injured self securely on Nighthawk's back.
• Cathance was flung entirely out of the saddle and off the port side of the airship, shrieking; unseen and unheard by anyone else.

Nighthawk attacked the air elemental again and missed, which did not do the injured and unconscious Fine Branch any favours.

Cathance the inaudible used her sorcerous abilities to cast misty step silently.

• Pulling out her magical warhammer, she used it two handed on the air elemental, casting booming blade as she did so.
• Cathance was shouting "Die!" and that's what the air elemental did.

Cathance then mounted Jigsaw, because she couldn't reach Fine Branch otherwise.  She poured a healing potion down the nekomata's throat.

The airship crew and the dockworkers were furiously juryrigging to secure the airship, since some of what the elementals had torn off and thrown over had been the pawl posts.  As soon as a ramp could be put, waypoint personnel swarmed over with weapons drawn.  They were all Cloud elves, demanding "where are the air elementals?" "we thought we got them!"

Cathance and Fine Branch looked at each other, and their cover story for visiting Waypoint Tickler evolved in real time.  We're hired to take care of the air elemental.

Captain Anjanette, upon parsing the words of the Cloud elves, was beside herself with rage.  "Where was the warning signal?!" she demanded of them.  "I wanna know why that tower" here, she pointed at the beacon tower on the promontory "did NOT have the warning signal!!"

One of the Cloud elves, a female with chin length blue hair, introduced herself to the captain with a bow.  Her name was Leste and she said, soothingly, "It looks like everyone is okay."  This statement did not sucessfully soothe the Maker gnome whose ship was badly damaged.  Nor was the attempt to be soothing helped by the sound of a Holder dwarf bellowing at another Holder dwarf at the skylith side of the dock.

Given the advent of so many waypoint personnel, Cathance and Fine Branch looked around, checking for anyone with the abnormal tan of a Daystar cultist.  They got a good look at everyone, but did not see any unusually bronzed persons.

Leste continued trying to calm the captain down. "Poor Ossier neglected the lantern, good captain, but he is hopefully learning the error of his ways."  The sound of the dwarf getting bawled out was carrying fairly well.

Cathance asked curiously, "is that what happened to these other ships?  You neglected the warning sign?"  The captain looked at Leste intently, as this question was more than a matter of curiosity for her.

The Cloud elf looked sheepish.  "They came in too close to each other," she explained, "there wasn't time."  Everyone looked over at the airships under repair.  They were still more damaged than the Traviscarter, and it seemed the Cloud elf was telling the truth.

After a pause, Cathance asked more confidently, "Are these the only two elementals?"  a male Cloud elf replied, "There have only been 2 attacking.  We thought we'd chased them off, but you appear to have killed them."

His words reminded the Freelancers that they should be doing some investigating.  Fine Branch decided to investigate the taste of another healing potion.  Cathance found air-elemental dust, and made a big show of pointedly scooping them up into vials, holding the vials up for inspection, tapping them, then putting them away.

As Cathance put on this show, Leste said to Fine Branch, "Please come with us to talk to the stationmaster and deputy stationmaster.  We are grateful you took care of them."  Fine Branch merely said, "Alright."

Leste led both the Freelancers to the Holder dwarves.  Now they were closer they realized the conversation was half in Trade, half in Dwarvish, and a burly dwarf woman was yelling at a young Holder dwarf man, while a third Holder dwarf, a woman, stood there with her arms crossed in front of her, listening.  "Your head is a thick as a shitty piece of rock!"  The younger dwarf, who was apparently Ossier, barely had peach-fuzz for a beard.  He started to slink away as she called after him, "Now go light that beacon!"

The dwarf who'd been yelling took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and inhaled.

The dwarf opened her eyes and smiled at the Freelancers and the two Cloud elves, in that way one does to invite others to speak.  Fine Branch, ears cocked, looked at the dwarf walking away, then at her, as the Cloud elves explained that these two had killed the air elementals.

Holder dwarf:  Oparapa, my partner Machelle, we run this waypoint.
Cathance:  pleasure to meet you.
Oparapa:  much thanks, your stay here is obviously free.  We will be happy to pay 200gp each for taking care of these.
<Fine Branch and Cathance bowed in gracious acceptance.>
Fine Branch:  we'll be sure that Freelancers gets it cut.
Oparapa <happily>:  so speedy!  <then she frowned, obviously counting travel days>
Fine Branch:  Freelancers has sleeper agents everywhere.  We were activated…
<Machelle frowned, but Oparapa was primed by the day's events to believe this claim.>
Cathance:  our understanding is you're not totally sure how many air elementals there are.
Oparapa:  so far, we have only seen two at a time.
Fine Branch:  I noticed you speak Primordial.  Have you heard them say anything beyond "this is our place now"?
Oparapa:  I only know swears in Terran.
Leste:  I do speak Primordial.  So far they've only said "SMASH" "This is our place now"
Fine Branch:  how long has this been going on?
Oparapa:  this is the third attack.  The other two attacks were 4 days ago.  We were able to sneak one [airship] out.
Cathance:  good that you got someone out!
Oparapa:  why don't you go with Machelle; Leste and Espirito will stable your beautiful hippogryphs.  Let's get you in the tavern and fed and some drinks; that looked like a hard fight.

Oparapa bustled off to the Traviscarter, and the Cloud elves led Nighthawk and Jigsaw to the stables.  Machelle, who'd been quiet this whole time, smiled slightly and led Fine Branch and Cathance to the tavern.  While the day was clear and bright, the breeze was brisk in a way they hadn't noticed until they'd debarked.

The tavern was warmer than the outside, and set up to be more comforting than other Waypoints they'd seen.  Fine Branch cast about for the comfiest chair, and Machelle noticed.  In the back left was a largish alcove with a fireplace and cushy chairs, and she rousted the occupants to settle the Freelancers there.  Then she had the young Holder dwarf with the peach-fuzz beard wait on them.

Ossier was abashed, and very quiet, as he brought out food and got them set up:  bread, butter, stew in a small round-bellied pot.  Finally, he apologized for letting the beacon lantern get out of oil.  Fine Branch stared at him, for once at a loss for words.  Cathance, applying butter to her bread asked, "Did you fix the lantern yet?  We have our food, go fix it now!"

The Holder dwarf's eyes opened wide, and he bolted out of the room.  Cathance and Fine Branch made a face at each other, and enjoyed their food.  Fine Branch settled deeper into the cushy chair, and closed her eyes.  Twelve minutes later, Ossier returned and checked on the Freelancers, and brought them hot spiced ciders.

Cathance:  where did the cider come from?
Ossier:  oh uh i can look it up – barrels
Cathance:  they grew apples where I came from
<Fine Branch's eyes flew open.>
Fine Branch:  go get another cider.
<Ossier trotted off and returned with another cider.>
Fine Branch:  sit down, drink that.

Ossier set the cider down, then took the round pot and put it on some metal thing so it would just sit over the fire and simmer.  He pulled a low stool and sat down.  After a sip of the cider, he started explaining where the spices in it came from, in a rambling way.  He was very shook, and took care to hide from Machelle that he was sitting there drinking a cider.

The three of them sat there talking quietly for the better part of an hour, during which Fine Branch's ebullience increased, but remained far below her normal.  The Freelancers were trying to get information out of the young Holder dwarf, but he really hadn't been on the waypoint more than a couple eighths, so his information was spotty no matter how winsome Cathance was.  Ossier mentioned that this – the air elementals – seemed abnormal to him.

"It's not normal," Fine Branch assured him, "they don't send Freelancers for run-of-the-mill shit."  She drank a long draught of cider, and Ossier looked at the two of them in awe.

But the conversation did re-ground him, and with his drink finished, he gathered the tankards and went about his duties.

The two Freelancers got Machelle's attention and secured a suite of rooms for the duration of their stay, and transferred themselves and their stuff to the room.  After that, Fine Branch rummaged through her gear, and produced two small pouches of herbs:  cinnamon and catnip.

Cathance watched as Fine Branch held these up, forehead-high, and closed her eyes.  The two pouches sworled away like smoke from a snuffed-out candle, but their scents filled the room as if they were lit incense.  After about 3 winks <Narrator voice:  that's 18 seconds, or 3 rounds> Fine Branch opened her eyes, and Cathance saw they were entirely black, with stars and the Cat Nebula within.  Then she blinked that away and scowled.

"I'm sending to Damakaios," she declared in an irritated voice, because what actually happened was: the cleric of The Cat had cast divination, and had been briefly transported to a starry sky and a view of the nebula.  Fine Branch asked The Cat, "Where, on this skylith, would I find the largest amount of Daystar lotion?"  The Nebula had sworled without losing shape, and a deep male nekomata voice spoke in a sing song, "Were wolf?  There wolf!  Warehouse?  Their house!"  Of course, given that these were spoken words, there's no way to know the actual spelling, and thus meaning, of "where" and "there".

Cathance looked askance at Fine Branch, who overcame her irritation with her diety enough to explain her divination experience.

Cathance:  does that mean it's in their house?  …the two dwarf ladies.
Fine Branch:  how did you even get there
Cathance:  …can't explain
Fine Branch: "their" can be singular or plural
Cathance:  you are overthinking it.
Fine Branch:  I desperately need some sleep.
Cathance:  did you do the sending stuff?

Fine Branch grimaced, then cast sending to Damakaios.

Killed two air elementals as Freelancers today, minimal property damage. Got paid 200. Messenger dispatched four days ago to ask Freelancers for same.  Act omniscient.

Apparently it was daytime on Commerce, for Damakaios's reply was immediate.

Good job. I will assume this is on Waypoint Tickler. Let me know if any complications with elementals or Daystar cultists arise.

Fine Branch grimaced again, then cast sending again.

Possible werewolf involvement. Proceeding with caution. Possible werehouse involvement too, if that's a thing.

Damakaios' reply was brief.

Caution excellent. Please don't get bitten. It's Periastron, start tomorrow.

Fine Branch turned to Cathance, declared "Done," then crawled onto the bed and immediately went to sleep.

Cathance stared at her sleeping partner, then went back to the tavern.  It had people, but it wasn't hoppin'; dinner time had not yet come, but with it being Periastron much of the waypoint station work was shut down for fear of Chaos interfering.

Once evening came, the Mikumwes halfling took a stroll around the waypoint, which was a larger town as waypoints go.  In addition to the tavern and the aforementioned docks, she found a repair shop for mechanical airships, a big warehouse, a stable, and various houses for the permanent residents.  The town was on a gentle slope which appeared to be carved out of a steep mountainous bit.

Despite the brisk temperature, more people were out and about now.  Cathance talked to some local people about flora and fauna, explaining her interest in herbalism.  They told her about meadows, which were fairly well-shaded; it was nice to walk there, but not too many herbs and plant varietals grew on the skylith.  She asked if walking there was dangerous, and they shook their heads.  A few deer, rabbits, foxes & stuff, they told her.

Cathance returned to the tavern and saw the quartermaster there.  She inquired, "When is the next 'ship in?" and the quartermaster, a Cloud elf woman named Amara, informed her, "One tomorrow, two the day after, one after that."

Cathance was surprised at the frequency, but too tired to draw any conclusions from it; Tickler's day was 32 hours, and the gravity heavier than she was used to.  She returned to their suite, and went to bed to catch a full night's sleep.

Fine Branch rose early, feeling far, far better than the prior afternoon; she left Cathance sleeping and went to the tavern to have breakfast.  Breakfast turned out to be a robust affair, and delicious too, with all the fixings.

Puzzling over The Cat's words to her, she listened to the chatter around her.  She was inclined to learn the whole skylith was full of lycanthropes, but there was no chatter about wolves, werewolves, or anything like that.  <Narrator voice: Matt rolled a nat 20 on perception> The talk was all about the air elementals instead.  As the morning proceeded more people came for breakfast, they gave Fine Branch space.  The people were mostly Cloud elves and Silver dragonborn.

Some folks were discussing the need to cull deer.  Someone at that table was lamenting there were no wolves or wild cats to eat the deer.  Hearing that, Fine Branch was offended, but before she could do anything about it, Cathance joined her, because delicious breakfast is important to halflings.

Oparapa bustled over.  

Oparapa:  would you be willing to do flybys, looking for more elementals?
Cathance:  I was thinking we want to be on hand next airship comes in
<Oparapa was overjoyed at this suggestion.>
Fine Branch:  we're happy to fly around and check things out.
Cathance:  when is it going to happen?  I know today
Oparapa:  I think, an hour before noon, then early afternoon.  Plenty of time!

She bustled away, and the Freelancers finished their breakfast and headed to the stables.  The stablemaster was a half-orc named Rukaj, who was happy to see them.

Rukaj:  your hippogryphs are beautiful.  We brushed them down, and treated all the scrapes.  And, mended straps that were broken & stretched.
Fine Branch:  why, thank you!  <surreptitiously inspected the work; looked great.>
<Narrator voice:  Matt rolled a nat 1 investigation, so who knows if it's great.>
Cathance:  we're going to fly around the skylith!  Anything of interest we should be looking for?
Rukaj:  like the updrafts on the south side of the skylith?
<Cathance did that point-and-click-with-her-tongue thing, as if to say "there's where to look for air elementals">

Fine Branch took off on Nighthawk, and cast locate object for Daystar lotion.  The spell pointed to the warehouse.  She circled overhead to triangulate, while Cathance still fussed over Jigsaw and his straps.  There were no "hits" from the spell once Fine Branch was out of range of the warehouse.

Cathance finally took off on Jigsaw, and the two Freelancers started exploring the skylith, ostensibly to look for more air elementals, but really on the hunt for likely Daystar cultist hangouts.  They concluded the skylith was pretty, and had some clearing that would be nice for Daystar people.  On the south side of the skylith were nice thermals, and the hippogryphs soared.

They found a clearing there too.  <Narrator voice: Matt rolled another nat 1 on investigation> Fine Branch pointed it out, saying, "That's good for Daystar worship."  Cathance peered at it as they soared, and replied, "I'm thinkin' deer."

A deer startled just then, and took off, tail high, bounding through the tall grass.  Fine Branch, wound up because of Daystar cult and angry air elementals, started to cast guiding bolt at the deer, because its white butt was facing the Daystar.  Cathance looked at her, astounded, and she thought better of it.

Eastward, they found yet another clearing, with a brook nearby, and they landed.  Fine Branch dug out her shark teeth and threw them up in the air, casting augury.  "The plan:  act as if the only Daystar lotion on the waypoint is in the warehouse."  Cathance, taken aback that after all this time Fine Branch finally came up with a clear plan, watched as Fine Branch examined the shark teeth and declared the augury result was "weal".

Anyway, despite the thermals, there were no air elementals frolicking on the south side of the skylith.  The Freelancers mounted up and returned to the waypoint station.

Upon return to the waypoint station, the Freelancers reported to Oparapa that they had looked for air elementals southward near the attractive thermals and found nothing.  But there was no time to rest as the next airship was to arrive imminently.

Everyone made ready; the waypoint personnel and three airship crews all turned out to the dock, armed if possible.  Ossier had the warning beacon lit, and the Freelancers flew aways out to flank the mechanical airship's approach.  The airship crew also had weapons out, having seen the warning beacon, and gave the Freelancers a bit of side eye as they were flanked.

But, there was no problem, no air elementals. 

The Vanverst docked, and the crew was confused about the warning beacon.  Oparapa herself came out to talk to them and their captain, explaining the situation, while the Freelancers landed and stabled their mounts.  Fine Branch ritual cast detect magic, then she and Cathance offered to help with unloading.  The Vanverst was outbound from Kizil, with fish and other comestibles for Haasje, and some pearl and coral for Grafton.

The quartermaster was happy with the unloading help; the airship mechanics were happy to not have a fourth broken airship.  Fine Branch detected nothing magical from the airship, except… the Vanverst's captain personally carried a box to Amara's office.  The box had evocation and abjuration magic.

In the warehouse, Fine Branch got some magical hits on various persons, and the office.  She noticed one or two boxes on the warehouse shelves marked with labels not matching the magical signatures.  She found the lotion crate.  It was marked from Cliffshadow, with no ship-on-to destinations marked.  Notably, it seemed dusty and moreover, she did not notice the Daystar lotion trace on any people.

Once the Vanverst unloading was done, things were quiet, and the Freelancers decided to just talk to Amara.  She was still in her office, when they stuck their heads in, and was clearly happy to answer questions from the Saviors of the Waypoint.  So they just decided to ask about the crate.

Amara:  o that crate.  I forgot about it.  It wasn't on any manifest.  Normally items are, and have clear destinations.  I'm happy to open it; maybe there's good booze
Fine Branch:  recommend you do not imbibe whatever is in that crate
Amara <confused>:  it was shipped to the waypoint; why shouldn't the waypoint use it?
Fine Branch:  when did it come in?
Amara:  ages ago.

Amara fetched a crowbar, and hauled the crate off the shelf and opened it.  As Fine Branch and Cathance expected, it had a bunch of bottles of Daystar lotion, and Glory of the Daystar pamphlets.  Amara looked at this, confused.  She picked up a pamphlet.

Cathance:  this is actually very dangerous.  We are happy to remove this second danger from your skylith.
Amara <read pamphlet>:  "the daystar"?  What?!
Cathance:  there was a recent incident on Waypoint Fame because of the makers of this stuff.
Amara:  I thought that was a show gone wrong
Fine Branch:  you're not wrong
Amara:  it's not on any manifest, if you say it's dangerous I believe you.  I wash my hands of it.

Amara put the pamphlet in the crate, and stepped back.  Then, she stepped forward again, and secured the lit on the crate.  Cathance, making somewhat of a grim face, picked up the crate and carried it back to their suite of rooms on her head.

Cathance and Fine Branch stayed another 3 long days on Waypoint Tickler, which is 4 tags on the calendar.  They explored the rest of the skylith, and drank a lot of cider, and helped when the other two airships came calling.  But there were no more air elementals and no Daystar cultists at all.

Well, other than the air elemental powering the Myriostos, which was inbound to Ripa Daneo from its home port of Filigree on Grafton.  Captain Kamwangi, a male quinametzin, was happy to take two Freelancers and their mounts as passengers.  Before they bade the waypoint personnel goodbye, Fine Branch and Cathance paid 50gp to secure 2 pony kegs of the cider, along with the herbs Ossier had mentioned, to bring back to Freelancers Tavern.

And then they were off.  The inward trip on Myriostos was uneventful, other than increasingly active weather that might have discouraged a smaller ship or one not powered by an air elemental.  Despite not having the assist of Waypoint Whim, the trip was still 14 tags, and they arrived back on Commerce as Rocha appeared to circle it in the sky.

The tavern reimbursed the Freelancers the 50gp, and Damakaios collected the Church of Storms badge and paid them their fee of 225gp on their badges.  They also gave him 20gp each, for the mission to take care of the air elementals.

"How much do you usually get, negotiating the deal?" Fine Branch asked curiously.  Damakaios smiled, then explained, "We have an understanding with the Skyguard.  But I did enjoy being omniscient with the messenger."

• Cathance → lvl7!!!