11.2 Skyway to the Danger Zone

SESSION DATE: March 08, 2025
PRESENT: Rory, Kemurial, Lim Dul, Freya

Deep Dive

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Adventure Photos

Adventure Song & Lyrics

![[Skyway to the Danger Zone.mp4]]

World Anvil Journal

sooo... kimiweel thaid we shud git a dithgithe or thomethin in caith we r beein fowwowed and im wike yah thath a gud ideea but dum dum dint think tho. i wint and got thomethin to help me dithgithe mythef jutht in cathe i need it.

thin we wint bak to tha emberwaik tavrin and thaw vaywin ther andtho we talkd to him abowt evwything we thaw in tha cult pwathe and how we tuk care of evwything ekththept valthor got a way fwom uth. heth wike o man thath not gud but thankth for wookin into that for uth. kimiweel gaiv him tha noteth abowt nurgel and that theemd to maik him kinda uneethy cuz he thaid nurgel ith bad and if tha thkavin awe wurkin with him thin thath bad nooth and thay mite be twyin to maik a pwayg or thomethin that dont thownd gud.

he towd uth that he hath a wewawd for uth and bwingth owt a bokth with a buncha gowd in it and a fwying cawpit that we can wide awownd on thath vewy cool.

thin heth wike o yah thereth thomethin elthe u cud help uth with if u want and were wike wat ith it and heth wike well u thee wev herd abowt a ekthdepitin... ekthpidshin... peepel goin on a big advenchir to tha caoth wathteth. dum dum thaid he herd tha thame thing and they tawkd abowt it fow a bit. thowndth wike there tawkin abowt the thame thing. ther r thome dorfth going up ther to find a powrfel wepin or thomethin. the mane dorf name ith bowek fowkbeerd who ith weedin it. he thaid he can taik uth to bowekth nefyu calld vawik vawikthin and he can tell uth mowe abowt it tho were wike weth do it.

tho we go meet with vawik vawikthin and heth wike im thowy u had to wait tho wong but hear i am now and he akthd uth wat we no and thtuff and heth wike wow u no mowe than motht peepel tho thath gud. thin heth wike well im not goin and the onwy weethin im hear ith to git ur word that u wont tell n e body abowt wat ur doin and abowt the dorf hithtowy and thtuff and were wike yep thowndth gud and heth wike alwite cool and that wath abowt it.

he tuk uth to meet with the dorfth at thome ethtate owthide of the thitty and we tawkd abowt wat wath goin on and wat we ath gonna do and wong thtowy showt we r gonna help them on there advenchir and help them git that powrfel wepin and thtuff. bowek thaid that we mite wanna figer owt how to bweathe up there and a dorf cald mawaki makithin or thomethin bilt a areship cald tha thpiwit of gwugni that wil taik uth there wich thowndth cool to me. im wike r u shure ith gonna be thafe and mawaki wath wike yah ith a definit mabee cuz we got thith guy naimd makth who put a buncha majik on the ship to pwotect it fwom all tha bad air and thtuff and he wath wike he nothe wat heth doin tho im jutht wike okay i hope ur wite cuz it thowndth dajeruth but im goin n e way.

i did go and git won of those nekwatheth of adapshin wike fwaya got jutht to maik shure i can bweathe and thtuff and i pikd up a cupple more poshinth of thpeed jutht in caith i need thothe to.

thin we wint to a big ol cory wookin pwathe and there wath a buncha dorfth workin and thtuff and wile we wath walkin tord it we herd a horn and all of a thuddin a big dor opind and we thaw a HYUGE ARESHIP WIKE WOW ITH THE BIGETHT WON I EVER THAW within up outta tha gwownd. im jutht wike wow ith that r wide and there wike yup.

we meet up with mawaki with hith gogelth and spiky owanje hare and tatooth and thtuff he wookth thuper cool. he thaid he wath finishin up hith final chekth and thin we wud be on r way. he thaid if we r thucethful on thith advinchir we wud be cald a fwind of tha dorfth tho thath altho cool.

he showth uth awownd the ship and thtuff and the hole tiem we can feel all the majik that makth put on tha ship. wile getin tha tor we meet with makth and tawk to him abowt all the pwotekshinth he put on it and heth wike u hav nuthin to wory abowt thith thing aint goin down. he thaid heth done evwything he an to pwotect the ship and he handth uth a nekwathe to were and thaith to keep it on in cathe we need it. i sho him the nekwathe i jutht bot and heth wike ooh thath a gud won but u can uthe both if you want and im wike okay thowndth gud tho i put it on with my other won altho. makth thaid he cud altho giv uth a enchant on are gear but onthe ith uthed up thath it tho we gotta be caweful with it. i akthd if he cud maik my awmor tho i cud uthe the sheeld thpell wike fwaya and heth wike yep no pwobwim. we here a horn wettin uth no ith tiem to go tho we go bak to are woomth for the twip.

but jutht ath we r liftin off we here anuther horn and thith won gitth evwybody up and wunnin awownd. thomethinth goin on and we r towd to git in thethe fwying thingth cawd jywocopperth or thomethin. iv never bin in won of thethe befowe much weth no how to fwy the thing but hear i am in the dwiverth theet of thith wittel thing. ith got a thteem gun on tha fwont and bomth on the bottem and im feewin wike thith ith gonna be fun if we thurvive thith. we pwetty much git pushd owt and now we r fwyin awone. dum dum and kimiweel dwove the doomweel tho they mite be abel to handel thethe thingth ethier than me but im gonna twy my betht n e way. i figgur owt how to maik it go up and down and weft and wite and ford and bak and i thee a cuppla buttinth. wom of them hath to be tha gun thing and the other hath to be tha bomth tho it cant be that hawd wite. wong. i can barley keep contwol of thith contwapshin tho i go fwyin all over tha pwaith and win i twied to dwop a bom on tha thkavin bewow i endid up hittin tha towr that the areship wath jutht conectid to and it cowapthd but at weatht it fell onto tha thkavin and took thome owt win it bwew up tho that wath nithe. n thin i thaw thome of the thkavin goin for the dorfth on tha gwownd. i turnd the masheen tord them but inthted of bwowin up my fwindth with anuther bad bom shot i jutht tuk owt my thord and cut em up that way that theemd to do beter. n thin i wint to do another wun on tha thkavin but i cudnt thee n e thing tho i jutht wint down low. i thaw thome thkavin that wookd wike thay got hear wate tho i turnd to them and wath wike nope ur not gonna wanna come thith way and i uthed the thteem gun on them and tuk owt thome mowe of them. thin i thaw a wite come on the contwolth and new ith wath tiem to git bak to the areship cuz i wath wunnin owt of fyul.

i maid it bak by dojing all the areshipth caninth and thtuff and wanded the copter bak were we tuk off fwom. kimiweel and dum dum were wite behind me. win we got bak we wookd down and thaw all tha wetht of tha thkavin wunning away tho ith wookth wike we did it.

mawaki met uth and thaid gud job and we evin impwethd fwaya. im wike u shuda joind uth cuz with all that fier that theemth wike ith wite up ur awwey. mawaki wint to chek on the wetht of the cwew. fwaya thaid evin if she uthed up all her power she doethnt think she cudda done that much dethtwukshin but it wookd fun. im jutht wike IT DEFINITWY WATH FUN I KINDA WANNA DO IT AGIN.

thin we herd mawakith voithe athkin for the mewthinawy gwoop to come to tha bwije and im wike i think heth tawkin abowt uth but i dont thee a bwije. did we we bwow it up by akthidint. th wetht wer jutht wike fowwow uth tho i fowwowd them.

we fownd mawaki at the contwol woom of the ship and he towd uth he dint no how tha thkavin new abowt tha ship or how thay new win to git hear and we dint no eether. fwaya thaid she had a thot that mabee they wer thcwyin on uth thomehow but evin then how did thay git thuch a big gwoop of them together wike that. dum dum thinkth there mutht be thomewon on tha inthide or we r bein fowwowed. fwaya ith wike if they r puttin thith much effert into twackin uth thin wat elthe r they capabel of. im wike welp the onwy perthon hear i no of that cud do that much majik theemth wike makth tho im wike mabee we shud then him a methage and tell him to be on a wookowt for thtuff. fwaya thindth him a methage thaying he shud do thome wetherch on that kinda majik and heth wike ya i no i kinda thot the thame thing and heth wike good wuck well do wat we can hear.

and tho we keep fwyin.

dwaugnir pweethe pwotect uth on r way to tha caoth wathteth and bak and pweethe maik shur nobody ith wachin uth thankth.

Private Notes

• Kemurial suggests we disguise ourselves to help prevent us from being tracked by the cult. Rory agrees, and purchases a Masque Charm for 100g to help him with that.
• We head back to the Emberwake Tavern and sit down to meet with Veylin. He says "I can assume by your presence that you handled that situation." Indeed we did, however Valthor ended up getting away from us. Rory also details some of the technology we found down there in terms of the Doomwheel and the geared contraption in Valthor's room. Kemurial hands him a written report of what we found as well.
• Veylin reads over Kemurial's notes and says we've confirmed many suspicions he's had. He says not many people know about the skaven, but as we well know, as people in our position, it's a very real threat. While Veylin talks, Rory is trying to pay attention to his words and mannerisms to see if he can see if this guy is who he says he is, trying to peer past any deceptive words. Rory thinks everything is on the up-and-up.
• Kemurial mentions the warpstones we found down there. Veylin doesn't know what they do with them specifically, but mentions that because we have something connecting them with Nurgle, he figures they and the skaven are working with Nurgle to create a sort of plague.
• He says the one thing that seems to be a hallmark of skaven operations is that they infight as much as they terrorize everyone else.
• He summarizes that the important things we've found are that the skaven are helping or being helped by some kind of cult, and that they're influenced in some way by Nurgle, and they're bringing warpstone into it for ways to modify or empower whatever they're trying to accomplish.
• He says he has been authorized to award a payout for our assistance. He presents a box, and inside is 3200g and a 4x6 Flying Carpet. Nice!
• He tells us about further business we could help with. He says as of now, he thinks his men has enough info to track down further cells of the cult. Valthor is a good target for them. But there's something else that might interest us. He says we seem capable enough. He asks if we've heard about an expedition. Lim Dul says yes. He asks if we know anything about it. Lim Dul looks for Kemurial for permission to give the info he knows. Kemurial gestures that Lim Dul can elaborate. Lim Dul leans across the table and quietly tells him that before we came to this city, he met with a rogue who lived in the bowels of the city, the type of fellow who, when dealing with him, seemed to be a bit of an information broker. He pretty much had his pulse on things going on. And the guy had information detailed enough that it convinced Lim Dul he knew what he was talking about. He spoke of the incursion that's going on, but that it had to go through dwarven communities to get to here. Many of those communities had been banished or exiled to obtain an item of power that the incursion forces could use against them. Lim Dul was hoping this would be our path forward. Veylin says we seem more well-informed than most. It's disturbing we know this much, which is more than many forms of middle government. Veylin makes note of the name of the rogue that Lim Dul gives him.
• Veylin says what we've shared is accurate. There's an elderly dwarf named Borek Forkbeard who'd be considered a longbeard who is funding an expedition. He has a personal connection to some type of dwarven settlement deep into the Chaos Wastes. The Chaos Wastes consist of vast swaths of desolation and corruption at the poles of the planet. Massive waygates at the poles allow for the Chaos forces to enter into this realm/plane. There is some type of dwarven fortress in the Chaos Wastes, and there is an expedition being planned to venture there. It's Veylin's understanding that the dwarves think they can strike a mighty blow against the forces of Chaos with this expedition. He says he doesn't understand how it's even possible to venture there given the very air you breathe is poisonous. If it's something we're interested in, he can lead us to a connection, the nephew of Borek, who can take adventurers there who are willing to take on an expedition like this. Kemurial looks to the rest of us trying to glean our intentions. Rory says he's willing to go as he's fond of combat, which this sounds like it'll be full of. Kemurial says this may just be our way in to taking care of this much larger problem. Veylin asks if we can meet the nephew, named Varek Variksson, in a week's time. We agree.
• We have one week to prepare for our expedition to the Chaos Wastes.
• Soren responds saying that sounds like the best lead anyone has as of yet more than just military might. He says Gotrek and Felix would likely be reaching out to the dwarves as well, so we may encounter them along the expedition. Gotrek has a connection to the dwarves himself.
• TWGBU.
• We find the dwarf in the tavern. He's a restless and fidgety younger dwarf. He introduces himself as Varek and apologizes for the delay. He says he's been told we're talented and skilled. Kemurial says we're available to help.
• He asks what we've been filled in so far. Kemurial tells him that we know about their expedition to the Chaos Wastes to gather a powerful item. He says his uncle Borek will be able to give us more details. He says his only purpose for being here is to get a judge of us, which, judging by our appearance, we looked seasoned. But otherwise simply to get an oath that anything we hear in the meeting will not leave that room. We dwarves don't need fancy contracts than can be broken. They only need our word that the secrets of dwarven heritage and history will not leave the room or be told to anybody outside of the company. We all give him our word. Lim Dul hesitates, scratching his chin, and says if they need his word to resolve this issue, they have it. He accepts that. Gotrek has already spoken for us, but now that they have our word, they're good to go.
• Later that evening, we find ourselves in an estate a couple hours away. It's one of a very few humans living in this area. We're brought in and enter a meeting room with about half a dozen dwarves. We're reintroduced to Gotrek and Felix, and introduced to Borek Forkbeard and Snory Nosebiter. Borek shares information with us about this expedition. The tone is serious.
• 200 years ago, the lands of Chaos advanced with the armies. It has not receded. Lands that were once part of this realm and untouched by the taint of Chaos are now completely engulfed. One city that few remember is now entire engulfed in the lands of Chaos. This city, or citadel, of the most northern reaches of the Dwarvish kingdoms, is named Barak Dum. Borek says I am one of two dwarves living that I know of who made it out of Barak Dum as Chaos was pushing and invading the lands. This mission has a few goals in mind. First, we want to retrieve one of two powerful weapons. These are relics. He looks at us and says "These are secrets of dwarven power." One of the weapons, the Axe of the Runemasters, is already reclaimed on a previous attempt we made into these lands. The other is the Hammer of Fate. It was last seen in the city in the hands of the King. So our first objective is to travel the Wastes, navigate to the citadel, and find this hammer. The second, and not insignificant, objective, is the vast treasury in the city. If we can get our hands on it, we'll redeem as much of it as we can. The third objective is to discover or explore what befell our people. Are there any great demons that still persist? Has it been abandoned? We want to find out as much information as possible.
• Lim Dul asks if the weapons are necessary to defeat the armies of Chaos, or if it's more about restoring the dwarven heritage. It's mostly about restoring heritage, but the weapons' powers are vast, so much so that they could possibly turn the tide.
• Kemurial says it sounds like the Chaos is affecting the very land. He asks if the air is toxic to those who venture there. Gotrek speaks up and says that's absolutely the case, and causes them to mutate and corrupt, and doesn't think going there is achievable. Borek says he thinks they have found a way to get there. Lim Dul says getting there is half the battle, but remaining in that environment is the remaining portion of the battle. He asks how we survive there. Borek says the citadel is able to keep away the toxicity. Outside there, however, is another story. Once in the city, we'll be protected, but getting there will pose an issue as they have no means of teleportation.
• Malakai Makaisson, who Gotrek pooh-poohs, has built a great airship, one that should survive the trip into the Chaos Wastes. He has also recruited a wizard of significant renown who has protective magics, and has placed such boons on the airship. We stand a great chance of reaching our destination and returning safely.
• Kemurial says that sounds fine.
• Malakai has assured them that he has gone through the painstaking measures to protect us.
• The Spirit of Grugni, the name of the ship, is the third attempt at making such a journey. The first one, named The Indestructible, exploded spectacularly. The second, named The Unsinkable, sank quickly. This one, the third, will undoubtedly be able to make the journey safely. Who are we to doubt that claim?! Rory looks as Kemurial and suggests we might want to look into those Necklaces of Adaptation after all.
• Gotrek says they attempted this expedition once on land, and only two of them came back.
• Their wizard contact, Max Schreiber, is the one who has placed all the protective wards on the airship to get us into Barak Dum.
• Our companions will be Malakai piloting the ship, his retinue of engineers, and Varek, the younger dwarf.
• Since we're going on the expedition, Gotrek and Felix decide to stay back and continue their duties in Praag.
• Rory purchases a Necklace of Adaptation and two more Potions of Speed.
• We travel once again to this estate after our preparations are complete. It's owned by the Stragoth family.
• We leave the estate and head out toward an area that looks like a quarry. We come upon a gorge surrounded by stone on all sides. When we look into the gorge, we see dwarves all over the place working. Wooden risers and scaffolding abound. A horn blows and we see the largest airship we've ever seen rising out of the quarry. Ropes help guide and anchor it.
• Malakai, with his goggles and engineering equipment, also has tattoos up and down and is his hair is shaved into a bright orange mohawk. He's a member of the Slayers cult, a group of dwarves who, for whatever reason, have sworn an oath of atonement to seek out the most honorable death they can to atone for a previous wrongdoing in a way that's wrongdoing and worthy of remembrance.
• Lim Dul is worried that Malakai will take us down with him in his blaze of glory, but he's assured that won't be the case as doing so would be committing a greater sin than anything he'd previous done.
• We are taken to the airship to meet Malakai who is busy doing his final checks. He says "I see the muscles have finally arrived! Should this expedition be successful, each of you shall be named a Dwarf Friend, which is a high honor amongst our people." He says he'll meet us this evening on the Spirit of Grugni.
• Once inside the ship, we see wood and metal paneling. It's highly advanced for this time period. It's rugged. It's like a mix between a ship and a zeppelin, with a the ship suspended by a zeppelin-like bag above. We're given a tour of the ship as well to help us familiarize ourselves with its layout, mechanisms, and equipment.
• Freya detects weaves of magic around us. She can feel how magical this ship is.
• Along the tour, we are introduces to Maximillian Schreiber, who was hired to place magical enchantments on the ship to protect it and its crew on the journey. Max is who Lim Dul says was banished from the Empire. He's a surprisingly young human man. He's well educated, having studied his entire life. He's well-known for creating and selling protective enchantments. His clientele consist of mostly nobles and rich folk wanting protective charms and spells for their land and such.
• He introduces himself to us. He says "With the equipment you're carrying, I can't imagine a better force to be joining us." He says we look well prepared. He has done extensive work to this vessel. Every manner of protection that I know of, even some of my own creation, has gone into protecting this ship. It'll take powerful magic to penetrate the wards I've placed. With that, I've also given everybody one of these. He hands us each a necklace. REALLY?! It protects those who wear it for a short time, but is not meant for long-time survival. If somehow we're removed from the ship and need to get back on, it should provide just enough time for us to make it back. Rory puts this necklace on as well since it won't conflict with his own. He can use both at the same time. Max says to keep it close to our skin as possible. He says he's spent so much time layering magics that generally the magics he can produce don't conflict with each other.
• Max says he can temporarily enchant our gear for free. It's a temporary Enspelled Armor/Weapon/etc. Rory chooses to have Enspelled Armor (Shield) done to his armor, gaining him two uses of the Shield spell. Once they're used, that's it.
• We hear a horn and are taken to our living quarters as we depart.
• Later, we hear another horn, but this one sounds urgent. Banners go up, action picks up, and we're told to fly gyrocopters to help defend the ship. We enter the hangar to find four steampunk gyrocopters equipped with a gun at the front, and is strapped with bombs. Rory straps in excitedly. We're shown how to control the gyrocopters. We start the engines and begin to depart from the ship. As we leave the ship, the gyrocopters kick into a higher gear. The Spirit of Grugni has been detached from the tower and we're on our way.
• We're fighting an army of skaven invading from the ground level. We have the advantage from the air. INITIATIVE!!!
  • Lim Dul makes a strafing run on a skaven ogre.
  • Kemurial circles around and tries unleashing steam on them.
  • Rory sees skaven all around, but doesn't see a prime target. He goes in for a bombing run on some skaven. He completely misses the skaven thanks to not having a good grasp on the controls yet. However, the fails the task successfully as the bomb explodes at the base of one of the wooden support towers, causing it to fall over onto a group of skaven and exploding into a large fireball. Oops, but also nice!
  • Lim Dul goes for the rat ogre again. Its forearm has been cut off and replaced with a ratling gun powered by warpstone. It's trying to fire the gun, but right as it begins firing, his bomb lands right beside him, which wouldn't normally have killed him, but it blends with the warpstone and causes him to explode.
  • After his accidental mishap, Rory swoops down to some skaven near a rallying banner. Because there are friendlies near them, Rory foregoes using the gyrocopter's weaponry and uses his own instead. Rory leans out as he flies by wielding his greatsword. He cuts down seven skaven in the attack run!
  • Lim Dul is able to take out the remaining skaven he was working on.
  • Kemurial drops another bomb on some skaven, but it's such a shallow trajectory that the bomb bounces past the skaven and skips forward near friendlies, where the bomb finally explodes, creating a bit of a trail down to the skaven below. This allows the friendlies another route to get to the battle, allowing them to take out more of them. Nice!
  • Rory turns toward a part of the battlefield that hasn't seen much action since he can't really see the forces below very well. He ends up finding a group of skaven late arrivals. Rory veers toward them, placing them in the forward steam gun's sights, and tries to send a message with the gun that they should not approach further. He doesn't get the whole lot of them, but is able to get the back half or so of them with the scalding blast of steam. He sees a warning light illuminate on the control panel alerting him to low fuel, so he makes a beeline back to the Spirit of Grugni to land and refuel if able.
  • Lim Dul fires off his remaining bombs before nearly running out of fuel and returns to the ship as well.
  • The Spirit of Grugni's own cannons continue to blast down onto the army of skaven below. Their volleys are effective. The dwarves blow their horns, signaling an advance of dwarven forces, routing the remaining skaven and causing them to retreat as quickly as possible. Combat over.
• We return to the airship in our gyrocopters. Meeting us there is Malakai, who commends us on our efforts even though we clearly weren't the best pilots he's ever seen. It sure was fun though! He says he's going to head off now and speak with those on the ground before making way.
• We see more dwarves moving about before hearing Malakai back on the PA asking for status reports and commanding the crew to do various things. He also asks us, the mercenary party, to come to the bridge. Rory says "I guess that's us, but I don't see a bridge. Did we accidentally bomb it?"
• Freya says we looked good out there, and says even if she expended all her magic, she couldn't have caused that much destruction.
• We go up to the ship's bridge. Malakai meets with us, questioning how the skaven knew about the Spirit of Grugni and how they could've amassed such an army to attack the ship. Lim Dul thinks perhaps there should be someone on the inside, or we're being followed. Freya says she's been entertaining a theory. She wonders that if they're putting in this much effort into involving themselves in an operation like this, maybe some of their higher levels, their Chaos engineers or any of their casters, could be employing some kind of scrying abilities. Who knows. Malakai says he knows the Gray Seers are capable of that level of magic, but he's never seen them implement that kind of magic before. He doesn't like to think about that level of magic.
• Rory says the only person he knows who could rival that level of magic sounds like Max, so maybe we should send him a message and have him investigate any leads to anyone who could be scrying or spying on us or the mission. Freya sends Max a message to research potential scrying and whatnot. Max comes back with "I understand. I also suspected spying leading to this adventure. Good luck. We'll do what we can here."
• We continue flying northward toward our destination.

That's it for this session!

Adventure Loot

• 3200g
• 4x6 Flying Carpet