Storm King's Thunder

Ink rushes over to the captain and suggests to her, "Move the ship over the space that rock flew threw - when he sees the rock finish its arc he'll adjust his aim knowing that he missed."

Ink then tells the crew, "I can only keep one of those clouds up at a time - keep an eye out for the giant. If you see it, I'll try to lay down a fog cloud in its line of sight... after I let a volley loose."

Ink gets closer to the railing, pulling a couple of arrows from his quiver as he readies his bow. 

/ Held Action - Two shots from Ink's bow and arrow (range 150/600) should Ink get line of sight on the giant. 

Having watched the crew operate the airship, Flint casts heat metal at the top of the furnace under the baloon, hoping to get it to climb faster. Flint will concentrate on that until the spell expires. // bless is down //

Flint’s mastery of the forge extends to any fire, it seems, and the sudden updraft from the furnace dramatically increases the ascension speed!

Matrix clambers back onto the ship and gets back on the Balista, "next time he misses can any of you make it sound like he hit the ship?"

Flint’s action makes your escape much more speedy. If Crownsguard and Matrix are acting together to aim and fire the ballista, you guys and Ink can go ahead and make a shot against the giant at a range of 150 feet. Success will determine whether the ship gets another rock hucked at it.

Ink sees an opening, barely, and lets loose a pair of arrows! 

/ Attack 1: 11 Damage: 8

/ Attack 2: 11 Damage: 12

"Here's hoping this works!" As the boulder flies Matrix will let the bolt loose! With a winging shot to knock the boulder prone!

Balista shot 27 for 11

"I'm not sure this will work, but I will give it a try."

//If the giant misses Dontontion will inhale deep and create a booming noise eerily close to the one when the ship was hit.

Deception: 26 

Deception: 15 

Again catching sight of the ship, the giant hurls a third boulder and watches in disbelief as a ballista  bolt from the ship strikes it midflight. The main part of the boulder continues its arc, now well short of its target and the giant hears a "boom" from the ship mocking him as he moves to retrieve the bolt. Fully chastised but unharmed, the giant watches as the ship disappears from view.

You see the fire giant bound off into the darkness, after watching your airship for some time with a futile stare. 

The report comes from below: there is a small breach in the gondola, and it will take about a month or more for the repairs, unless you hire a larger team to work on it.

Delsephine says, “That rock hit us hard, but you were able to ward off the others. I am not sure why you didn’t simply kill the giant, but it’s good to know you are capable of defending yourselves. Where are we off to now...? I thought I heard someone mention Neverwinter?”

"That giant can track us. I say we make fer  Ne'erwinter ta draw it off then put in ta Triboar  fer repairs. We got some friends there."

Consulting the stars and your map, the navigator is able to ascertain that you should arrive in Neverwinter in less than a day’s time. You have the opportunity for a long rest, should you like to take it, and such a rest would likely be welcome due to the long physical labor  of the day. 

Ink will gladly take a long rest, and rather than concentrate on scribing spells, as he has been, during the four extra hours he has for himself, he'll casually skim through the book he bought about the shadow Weave - he feels the need for a refresher. 

Don takes the rod from Ink, "I'll use it."

He sits down and attunes to it over the next hour, then uses it to find other rods like it.

Once that is done he goes to sleep, needing that long rest.

Hours pass as you sail over the quiet, moonlight Neverwinter Wood. Mount Hotenow looms in the distance, its dull glow causing the the volcano to appear as an angry scar in the otherwise peaceful sea of trees.

When Don uses the 4-foot-long, 100-lb adamantine rod to cast the locate object spell, he senses a similar rod almost 10 miles away to the east. The sensation lasts for a couple minutes, before the rod moves out of range.

It isn’t til daybreak that you notice in the Wood far below the devastation wrought by Hotenow’s eruption decades ago—swaths of trees blasted apart, creating gaps like sword wounds in the forest canopy, these wounds even now appearing blackened and burned, unhealed.

Settled on the coast of the Sea of Swords, the City of Skilled Hands itself—Neverwinter—is still rebuilding, though portions of its walls still lie in ruin, and even from this far out distance, you can tell that several neighborhoods remain demolished and abandoned on the outskirts of the city.

As you near the city, Captain Delsephine tells you, “We’re planning on tethering to the docks, but won’t be able to put her down in the water...thanks to that giant. Repair will be expensive, by the way. I hope you will be able to take care of that; our funds are basically nonexistent. We could try and press gang some civilians into service, of course...”

// Once flint can get a good look, how large of an area are we talking about that is damaged? Is it something that can be solved by fabricate, assuming we can get the lumber and tar we'd need? //

Ink comments, "There will be no pressing of any civilians."

Don will take the rod out of the bag of holding every few hours and cast the spell again. 

"Captain, let us know what you need and we will find the supplies. Your help has been very much appreciated. We'll get your ship fixed up."

As the airship descends over the docks district of Neverwinter, you are met with a high level of curiosity and scrutiny from the Neverwintans working the harbor. There are a great many boats of all sizes here in the port of the city, but yours is the only airborne craft.

The district seems bright and cheery, infused with an atmosphere of fresh energy; citizens and workers bustle to and fro, loading & unloading, boarding & disembarking, greeting & saying good-bye. Meanwhile, a contingent of rough-looking guards watches you carefully.

The crew is able to lower ladders and securely tether the vessel to the dock below, and Delsephine informs you that they will begin looking for laborers forthwith.

Through discussions with the deckhands, Flint figures out that he can use his new fabricate spell over several days to create the raw materials for the repair, although he cannot use it to directly repair the ship, since he lacks the expertise necessary for shipbuilding.

// All in all, you can spend 21 gp over 2 tendays, or double that over 1 tenday, and see the repairs done. Either of these options will allow you take some downtime in Neverwinter. //

During the downtime Don travels to the ritzier areas of town to find the sons and daughters of local nobles. Easy marks usually. He passes himself off as a wealthy traveling businessman's son. He uses disguise self to change his appearance to that of a human with short blonde hair he knew from back in the day.

Deception: 16

Dontontion decides to take some time and go do some gambling. He bets a total of 200 gold pieces.

1st Check Insight: 18
1st DC: 15

2nd Check Deception: 18
2nd DC: 15

3rd Check Intimidation: 8
3rd DC: 15

Complications Roll: 94

If 1-10 then complication: 3

After a successful week spent gambling Don has turned his 200gp into 300.