"Captain Reigns!? Your gourd gone mush?" Plogz yells, "Cliff jumping like some suicidal squirrel! Any inklings to what’d happen if you’d missed the lifter!?"

"My guess? Crod wouldn't go hungry tonight." I hear Kryst chuckle.

We only dropped a few inches before the gears catch once more, but I’m fairly positive that my fingers will need to be pried free of the dents they have undoubtedly made in the rail; thanks to the hydraulic vice press of force I've exerted onto it.

The woman stalks forward, completely ignoring Cinnamon and I, along with Plogz's flabbergasted protests.

"What is this, ey!?" she shakes a parchment in his face so close and fast that I see his eyes bounce back and forth to either side of the sockets in an effort to keep up.

"What are... I can’t-- Still your phalanges, confound it!" Grabbing her wrist to slow the movement, Plogz snatches the papers from her hand. Snorting out a grumble he holds them still, the wind threatening to rip them from his fingers.

I take her in as she stands glaring at Plogz, one hand resting on a cocked hip, the other hooked into the wide belt at her waist.

Up close she is just as ravishing as I first believed, and from the air of confidence this Captain Reigns exudes, she definitely has quite a few points in Presence to go along with her high Allure stat. Her white, off the shoulder silk shirt, is tied above her navel, showing off a delightful display of creamy-light mocha skin and a toned stomach. Black hair, long and loose, billows in the breeze and cascades down to pile around her shoulders and back. A few small braids drape to her collar bone. Decorated with beads and brightly colored feathers they peek around a slender neck adorned with gold chains and necklaces, each of them festooned with small circular pendants and assorted talismans.

"This wasn't under any G.U. sanctifications!" Plogz blurts when he finishes reading, “Damn that Karabos and his finagling!”

Karabos? I make mental note of the name and the way that Plogz practically spits it out. He must be the guy at the root of all the troubles. I give an internal snort. With a name like that he may as well just have a sign above his head saying 'villian.'

"Then it is you who also have problem.” The Captain says, bangles and bracelets jangle along her forearms as she crosses them under her breasts. “You know all of my payments is made at full, Mr. Plogz, and I will be the damned if my ship falls from sky because of some bureaucratic bunta dés plita!"

Her words fire off at a machine gun tempo and it takes me a second to catch up to her strange, clipped but 'oh so sexy', rolling R's laden accent.

"We pressed through night to make port, under pretense that fairies would be waiting to replenish our roost." she says.

"Pretense?! Now, you wait a ticky tock, Capt--"

"Then how would you have it put, ey? The scant few fairies we have will give but a trickle to recharge our crystals. By time we have power enough to leave the port, dock fees and tariffs will have all but drained away at my funds. Including, my standing credits..."

A darkness crosses over the woman's visage and I see the corner of her mouth twitch in fury. One hand strays toward the blade at her hip as she points accusingly at the goblins face. Jewels sparkling in the rings on her fingers.

"We have had fair dealing for a long time, Mr. Plogz, but if this is an attempt to try and lay claim to the Phoenix with a legal scheme due to inadequate payments..." She hisses.

A mirrored look of livid anger flashes across Plogz face at the accusation and I see him take in a breath of air, eager to launch back in righteous indignation.

"Whoa, let's not be rash." I step in between the both of them before he can fire off his verbal salvo and cause the confrontation to escalate any further.

“Who is you, ey?” The Captain turns her smoldering gaze toward me. Sparkling grey-green eyes, the color of the sky on a stormy day, travel up and down my body. She takes me in with a look that that causes me to involuntary swallow with nervousness.

Be gentle with me, Mamacita.

I give myself a teensy internal chastisement, even if I was entitled to be a bit sexist and non-politically correct within the confines of my own man brain. She wasn't quite what I would necessarily call Hispanic, but with her tan skin and fiery, feisty demeanor, it was the closest correlation that I could come up with.

“You are with Union, ey?” she asks, and I notice that she is looking down at my hand. I too glance down to the ring that has caught her attention.

“Yes?” I stutter, and glance to the goblin and then back to her. “I mean, yes! Indeed I am.” Emboldened, I nod to Plogz then extend my hand toward her, “Brian Brantley. And if I heard correctly you are, Captain Reigns?”

She continues to stare at me for a few breaths, then quickly takes my hand in her own. “Yes. Captain Isabella Ravena Reigns.” She shakes it firmly and looks up toward the underside of the airship at the end of the dock. “My ship, the Priya Phoenix.”

I smile and let out a little chuckle, attempting to cover up the way her very heavy accent tickles my libido when her ‘yes’ sounds like ‘jess’ and ‘ship’ like ‘sheep.’

There was definitely some strong South American inflections in the way she spoke. Not that I was any kind of expert, being that I barely squeaked by with a passing grades in my high school Spanish classes, but I had heard enough in my time to know it was way wrong though. Overemphasized, it sounded more like...

Wait? That’s what it was! It was something about it that made her sound like a person mimicking a thick accent. It was a common thing to do at the game table to demonstrate a different language or racial diversity. Was language here some kind of strange derivative offshoot of ‘in character’ gamer speak?

Deduction: Success!

I can feel my grin grow wider with my reasoning and I’m tempted to dust the cobwebs off the old Spanglish kicking around in my noggin and give it a go.Then again, that might not be the best plan. The last thing I wanted to do was piss her off by unintentionally mocking her. For now, I decide to keep my tongue in check.

Unlock CANCELLED: Free Basic Language: Zantorish

x2 Free Basic Language Remaining

“Maybe I could help out?” I offer. “If you would allow, perhaps I could take a look aboard your ship. I can’t necessarily fix your ‘lack of fairy’ problem, but I might be able to at least suggest some solutions to get the most out of whatever resources you still have left onboard.”

I feel a little gnaw of guilt in the pit of my stomach. Sure, the idea of going on an actual magical airship, and poking around to see exactly how it works, definitely has me feeling more than a little giddy. However, I wasn’t being completely altruistic with the proposition.

"You would do this, ey?" Isabella asks.

"It would be my pleasure, Captain." I grin.

“Umm, Brian? Do you think that's wise?" To my left Cinnamon steps forward and places a hand on my arm.

"'Why? Cinni? What's up?"

At the moment, we were in a win-win situation. Any help I could offer would just put us in a better position with Plogz and the Goblin Union. As for Captain Reigns, sure, she was drop dead gorgeous, which certainly didn’t hurt, but what I was really aiming to get from her was to garner a bit of favor.

Whatever was going on with the tree and the fairy thing had certainly peaked my 'player' interest, and getting to the bottom of it to both help the city and clear our names was definitely well up there on the important ‘to do’ list. But, if things did get hairy and we all needed to hightail it out of here, having a functional airship and a Captain who owed us a favor, could come in rather useful.

What I was really crossing my fingers for however was the non-fugitive scenario. That we could solve the problems, then, should we decide to travel on and do a little world exploration, it’d surely be a lot easier, and most likely much less dangerous, by air.

Hot-stepping from town to town via the old ankle express did not sound too appealing.

“And you is, ey? I see no marks of Union affiliation.”

“It’s just, I don’t know if taking on some other task is a good idea right now.” Cinnamon says ignoring the airship captain, a strangely hostile edge to her normally soft voice. “Remember, we do have much more important matters to attend to.”

“More important than my ship, ey?” Captain Reigns says with clear agitation.

“Oh, I do apologize. Did you get the impression that I was even vaguely interested in talking to you?”

Cinnamons soft and sugary sweet delivery rocks me back on my heel. My mouth hanging open I’m locked into stunned silence and I’m positive the confused look that is plastered on the Captain face must be on my own.

A quiet "Gad-damn!" chuckle whispers from Kryst still in her leather bag hidey hole.

Captain Reigns recovers more quickly than I do and the icy glare she shoots toward Cinnamon chills my bones. I pivot on a heel, fearing how the antagonistic stance of the airship captain might distress my timid bunny girl companion.

I needn’t have worried. The dagger like stare that Cinnamon returns from under the dark shadows of her hood is sharp enough to slice paper. I feel my palms get inexplicably slick and the hairs on the back of my neck begin to rise, sending a tingle racing down my spine as neither women break eye contact in the impromptu staring contest.

“Wasting time working on her ship--"

“Wasting time?!” Captain Reigns steps forward, her nose inches from Cinnamons. “If he can do maintenance on the Phoenix while we at dock then that is least that we are owed while situation with my fairies gets sorted!” Captain Reigns turns her attention back toward the goblin, “Mr. Plogz. I expect this will be done, ey?"

Ah crapsicles. This wasn’t going the way I hoped. Cinnamon had inadvertently turned this from me doing the Captain a favor into some kind of owed task. I have to fix this somehow. I’m about to speak when another chill shoots down my neck and spine.

Drow sense tingling!

Sonofa-sea biscuit! I completely missed the signs with the perfect storm of feminine tension brewing in front of me. I look around, reflexes kicking into overdrive, senses riding a razor edge between focus and fear. The platforms on the cliff side are alive with movement, but something pulls my attention to one of the crane pallets. A shadow moves, slides ghostlike between two crates and an object flies toward us.

I throw my body forward into Cinnamon and Plogz...

Unlocked: General Combat Action: TACKLE!

Casual Strength vs Cinnamon: Success!

Casual Strength vs Plogz: Success!

Casual Strength vs Captain Isabella Ravena Reigns: Success!

...we all land in a heap on top of Captain Reigns, limbs flailing as a crack and pop of what sounds like a firecracker bursts at the back of the lifter.

“Hey? What in the hells is going on out there?” Kryst yells.

Everything happens in slow motion. Gripping the safety bar, I manage to untangle myself from the pile of soft feminine flesh, and Plogz.

The elevator shudders and I hear the squeal of gears as they twist, trembling with the strain. Metal shrieks, and the smaller cogs explode. We all instinctively duck for cover to the sound of shrapnel pinging and bouncing off the metal framework of the elevator. A few chunks pepper my back and legs but it’s not enough to cause any damage through my armor.

The elevator drops a good three feet, before slamming to a halt with a knee buckling stop, it holds for a inhale of breath, the machinery making a heavy knocking sound that sends vibrations through my joints. Another scream of steel and I see Cinnamons eyes go wide in fear and I know mine are doing the same, then my stomach leaps into my throat as the platform drops straight into freefall.