You can see a group of worgs and riders approaching at a gallop.

Druaz: Lying there, not moving. Death Save:5 One save, two fail.

Xial: 16 - Xial draws a knife and jumps off the gangplank, trying to skewer the worg. Attack: 5 Damage: 3 

Worg2: 16 - Dies as Xial's knife plunges into the base of it's skull.

Orc2: 15 - Lying there, motionless.

Worg1: 14 - Takes a defensive stance in front of the fallen orc.

Kembe: 13 - Not visible from your vantage point. 

Orc1: 13 - Trying to stabilize the fallen orc.

Cinnabar: 11 - "Four more incoming! Get back on the ship, get back on the ship!"

"I will once someone helps me!" she yells back stubbornly at Cinnabar.  Then seeing Druaz's condition worsening, she'll attempt to staunch the bleeding one more time.

• Action: Medicine Check - 1
• Bonus Action: - Stealth - 10
• Reaction: If hit, in her shock, she'll subconsciously use her Skirmisher ability to get away from the enemy that attacked her

Druaz: Lying there, not moving, but stabilized.

Xial: 16 - Xial picks up Druaz and puts her on the gangplank.  

Worg3: 16 - Running into the scene.

Orc3: 15 - Throws a javelin at Theena (who has half-cover from Xial being in front of her, factored into the roll already). Attack: 23 Damage: 13   

Orc2: 15 - Lying there, motionless, but with a makeshift tourniquet. 

Worg1: 14 - Still guarding the fallen orc.

Worg4: 14 - Running into the scene. 

Kembe: 13 - Starts to pull Druaz up the gangplank. 

Orc1: 13 - Get's back on the worg and throws a javelin at Xial: Attack: 14 Damage: 7

Orc4: 12 - Throws a javelin at Cinnabar. Attack: 7 Damage: 5

Cinnabar: 11 - Dumps a pot of water over the side, on to the fire.

Theena followed Xial onto the gangplank and back towards the ship, covering for the Elf as he dragged Druaz's body back onboard.  (As she used her skirmisher ability on her last turn, she shouldn't have received any Opportunity Attacks as she moved this turn)

• Action: Readied Action to fire at anyone who attempts to attack her, Xial or Druaz - (Attack: 21 (Advantage (if applicable): 7), Damage: 9, Sneak Attack (if applicable): 7)
• Bonus Action: - Stealth - 22
• Reaction: If hit, she'll use her Skirmisher ability to get away and hide from the enemy that attacked her

The ship starts to rise.

Druaz: Lying on the deck, groaning.

Xial: 16 - Moves to the side of the gangplank.  

Worg3: 16 - Howling at the ship in general.

Orc3: 15 - Throws a javelin at Xial (who has two-thirds cover from the gangplank at that angle, factored into the roll already). Attack: 16 Damage: 9   

Orc2: 15 - Not in view. 

Worg1: 14 - Not in view.

Worg4: 14 - Not in view. 

Kembe: 13 - Trying to tend to Druaz. 

Orc1: 13 - Throws another javelin at Xial (who has half-cover): Attack: 12 Damage: 9 

Orc4: 12 - Throws another javelin at Cinnabar (also in half-cover): Attack: 4 Damage: 9  

Cinnabar: 11 - Rolls back toward the center of the deck, bringing himself out of line of sight from the orcs.

As the ship rises into the clouds the orcs and worgs can be heard yelling, and a javelin or two bounces off the underside of the ship to no effect. Xial, having been dropped by the last hit they took, is lying on the deck, being attended to by Doctor Cinnabar. They and Druaz are awake, and the crew have been quite for the last few minutes. The sky is overcast now, with the tiniest bits of snow starting to fall.

Druaz is the one to break the silence, "So... did we get anything?"

After a pause Kembe ventures, optimistically, "A story to tell?"

"Nothing." says Cinnabar, flatly. "We accomplished nothing."

A few more moments pass in silence, accompanied by a cold wind. Again it's Druaz who breaks the silence. "Xial, you dead?"

"No." Xial responds quietly, staring upward.

"Well, you are atypically quiet."

"I'm thinking."

"And?"

"We're in a lot of trouble." 

"Yeah, because we apparently suck as pirates."

"That's not what I mean... You have to close a drop-hopper."

"...yeah?"

"Or else the ship keeps falling."

"...Ok..."

"I didn't."

Kembe looks around, "So, wait..."

"If the other elf is missing, I'm the only one who knows how." There's a stillness to Xial's voice as they continue, "And who got the ship to ascend? I was busy bleeding."

"Who-" Kembe gets cut off by Xial, still lying on the deck. "I'm going to venture a guess; None of you shoveled any coal into the fire at any point did you?"

The crew looks at each other, and Cinnabar says, "I thought you were doing that."

"Not once Doc. How are we in the sky?"

"I didn't understand most of what you just said Xial." Theena began as she turned toward the wounded elf, "But if there's something I can do to help, I'll do it.  Just tell me what to do."  Her voice was forceful and determined with a tone suggesting she wouldn't take no for an answer. 

The ship lists to one side. Sails shift toward the list, and gradually, the ship turns southeast.

Xial sits up. "This ship is flying itself."

Kembe, almost in a whine, "No, th- that was the wind."

Lying back down on the deck, Xial responds, "Sure it was Kembe, sure it was."

Druaz looks back and forth between Theena and the doctor, who, for his part, looks like he's trying to asses weather he thinks that's a crazy idea or not.

"How is that even possible?" Theena asked before confirming for herself whether that was indeed the case. 

(She would be heading towards the part of the ship where the ship's direction is controlled.)

There is a captain's wheel, though no one's actually laid hands on it. 

Though she still didn't know what how these ships work, Theena spent a few moments observing the wheel to see if it was moving on it's own.  She then approached it and turned it in a random direction to see if that did anything to the ship's heading before returning to the others.

It turns freely, without resistance, as if it were connected to nothing at all.

Theena returned to the others and shared what she learned before asking Xial, "So what do we do now?  Do we need to land the ship?  Can we even do that anymore?"

Xial is still laying there on the deck. "How can you pilot without the wheel? How can you work the ballest? Or tie rigging that shifts itself?"

Druaz motions to Theena and Kembe, leaning in to speak to them. Cinnabar follows suite.

"Whatever this is, I don't want it to hear us talking about it." Druaz whispers. "And Xial is having, like, some kind of episode I think."

Kembe offers, in a whisper, "Are we on some kind of giant mimic?" 

"I don't think so." replies the doctor. "Mimics eat everything available and then go into a near-hibernation to conserve energy. It could have picked us off easily in our sleep too, no reason to wait. This thing, there's something else going on here. We didn't steer it, but, I think it did go where we intended to go."

Kembe nods, "Plus why wouldn't the captain have been gone before we even got on?" 

"Huh, good point." says Druaz. "He got eaten after."

"Eaten? Who said eaten?" Kembe's voice raises with alarm.

"Shush." scolds Druaz. "Eaten,or, like, whatever this thing does. Makes you disappear or something."

"We don't know that for sure...though I have no idea how we test that theory, or dismiss it." Cinnabar's looking down, thinking.

Theena pondered on everything the crew said before speaking.  "Well I have no idea what a mimic is but if we want to test out what's going on with the ship, can we openly talk about where we want to go next and see if the ship, or whoever's driving it, heads in that direction?" 

The rest of the crew, minus Xial, look at each other and generally come to a shrugging consensus.

"So..." Ventures Kembe, "where to?"

Doctor Cinnabar says, "I think we need to think about feeding ourselves. Unless someone has money they're willing to put forward to the group, that means hunting."

"Or just put into a port," Druaz say, before silently mouthing 'and run.'

Suddenly remembering why she originally got on the ship in the first place, Theena ventures, "How far is High Shale from here?  That could be a good place to drop the ship off and figure out what to do from there?"

(Where is the other ship currently?  Are they close enough where a possible meetup could happen?)

You are close to the southern edge of the northern planes, sometimes called the Sea of Grass. To the south is a few miles of unclaimed pine forest. South of that is the Gallows Glens. Southeast Is the Boardermarches, and east of them of are the foothills who's range High Shale is part of. Heading straight for High Shale means heading south by southeast. 

"High Shale is about a week away, and we're headed the wrong way." Xial is now both sitting up and speaking up. "We're heading west."

Cinnabar shakes his head. "The only reason High Shale isn't part of Can Tinodeus or The Iron Empire is because traveling into and out of the place is too hard for any military to have done it...although one wonders if airships will change that soon. Anyway, I'd rather put down somewhere closer to our homeland. Plus, and I know this is just my concern," he taps the wheel of his chair, "I'd rather not deal with mountains or forest if I can help it."

"Forest or planes are about as useful for hunting." says Kembe.

Well I guess I'll have to make it there on my own then, Theena thinks to herself after hearing the others.  "In that case then, staying on a ship we have little to no control of seems like a bad idea to me.  I vote to land at the first opportunity then figure out food and next steps from there!"  She then looked to the others to see what they all thought.

Sorry for the gap in posting again. As the ship moves east there's brief debate on where to put down, but once that's decided on, the crew starts trying to announce where they want to land. The ship doesn't seem to be reacting,which starts another discussion on exactly what that means and what to do about it. Over the course of the next day several options are tried without success, but you have learned;

1. It doesn't matter what language you talk to the ship in.
2. You can't just move the rigging manually (it shifts back as soon as you aren't touching it).
3. You can't tie or nail the rigging in place, as it will still move back.
4. Asking the ship nicely doesn't help, and neither threatening it or seducing it, nor yelling at it for 45 minutes at a time,.
   
   So people are starting to get desperate. Night falls, and the group ends up eating the last of their food with out a new plan.