Connor woke up, clumsy, tired, and aching from his bed of canvas, mail-filled sacks.

“This was certainly not first-class travel,” the half-elf grumbled as he shuffled out of the main hold and up the stairs to the top deck where he was hit by a blast of icy wind.

“Union City ahead!” he heard one of the sailors shout as Connor was buffeted by the winds, surrounded by a busy airship, rolling and bobbing its way through turbulent skies.

The dark wooden decks pitched and rolled underneath Connor, causing him to stumble forward a bit. He looked to a higher prow where more of the workers in midnight blue were running back and forth, grabbing winches and spinning them to tighten or slacken ropes. Behind him, the main deck house rose up, and the man with the handlebar moustache from the night before—the captain, apparently—stood atop, shouting orders to the crew.

“Get out of the way! Stay below or at the rails!” the man bawled down at him, as a group of burly men and women skidded past to control the bucking ship in the storms.

Connor jumped to it, choosing the railings ahead instead of returning to the cramped dark of the hold below, grabbing the wood rails and suddenly seeing just how high they were.

I can’t even see the ground, he thought, as he saw the acres of sky and wispy clouds below them. Was that a flash of something darker down there? Land? Sea?

Looking back behind the Merry Piper, Connor could see no hint of cliff, mountain, or Skybridge Outpost at all.

He saw specks of black fly past, far below, and Connor assumed that they were crows or some other small bird—until he saw how long their legs were.

Are those flying people? Flying monsters? he wondered. The beings disappeared into the layers of clouds, just as quickly as they had appeared. He thought he heard a shriek, but then nothing.

“Where’s the pier?! Someone get a scope on the city!” the captain was roaring, and, driven by a panicked sort of curiosity, Connor moved, hand over hand, up the railing toward the prow.

He got his first sight of the capital city of the First Realm.

Union City sat below them and ahead, growing closer and larger as the fat little tug surged toward it. Connor saw a large, vaguely circular city surrounded by high, white stone walls, sprawling to the edge of a cliff. Multiple rivers poured through its arched gates, and cascading over the sides in spectacular waterfalls then flowing down wooded ravines before plummeting into apparent eternity below. Myriad rainbows dazzled in the spray.

Like Skybridge Outpost, the entirety of Union City sat on a promontory of rocks. Behind it, there were roads leading away, toward gentler, hillier green lands, and a range of dark-headed mountains in the distance. Connor saw peaked green rooftops of the city itself, where the buildings clustered together over cramped streets. The sky was full of small air ships and smaller, whizzing creatures that could have been birds or some other strange flying creatures.

“Pier 4! We got a flag!” One of the sailors shouted from the forward prow, eye firmly attached to a telescope. Connor felt the entire Merry Piper shift as it surged toward one side of the City, where a couple of short and fat stone piers extended from the city walls, forming landing platforms atop the battlements.

“Easy now! The up draft—” the captain yelled from atop, as the fat-bellied tug suddenly lurched downwards, and then swung crazily as it cut through the sprays over the waterfalls.

“Loosen that side sail!” He was shouting, as Connor turned to see that, on the sides of the Merry Piper were two large, wing-like sails, made of branched sailcloth, fanning and shaking with the sudden turbulent airs.

As Connor watched, he saw the side-sail shaking violently, and a sudden tear rip through its top side.

The entire airship suddenly surged to the left, careening closer to the waterfalls and wooded ravines. Connor was suddenly drenched by the spray.

“She’s pulling us toward the rocks! Close that side sail!” the captain shouted.

As there appeared to be no one else nearby Connor jumped forward, grabbing a hold of one of the large winch handles.

Strength 9 insufficient to close the sail. Strength 16 required.

“Help!” Connor shouted, trying ineffectively to stop the handle from turning as the wind grabbed the torn sail beyond him, threatening to dash the entire boat into the rocks.

He roared, as the winch lever slowly, inevitably, started to slip out of his grip. He jabbed first one boot, and then the other against the wood at the base of the winch, leaning back with all of his might.

The winch pulled back, and the side sail answered, collapsing just a little.

But it wasn’t enough. There was a terrible scrape and the sound of splintering wood as the airship scraped the edge of a rocky outcrop, pulling away at the last moment, only because the wind shifted.

Come on! Connor snarled, throwing himself backward again as he pulled the winch. It creaked just a little bit and the sail closed a little more.

It wasn’t enough, though. Connor’s strength was on the verge of giving out and he knew he couldn’t close the sail completely.

“We got you!” Suddenly, two sets of arms were there, one around Connor’s waist, and those of the next post sailor latching onto the winch lever beside Connor’s own.

Combined strength exceeds 16 and is sufficient to close the sail.

“Heave!” they shouted, as the Merry Piper shook, and the wind started to fill their rebellious side sail once more.

“Heave!” Another voice shouted from above. All three men grunted and growled, and the side sail suddenly snapped close, and the entire airship rolled out and away from the rock walls, swinging to safety.

“She’s alright! We’re clear!” the captain called as Connor and the other men relaxed their grip a little but didn’t leave the winch—just in case. All three were sweating and looked around nervously, awaiting another disaster. Suddenly the winds subsided as they rose over the lip of the cliffs, and they were rising up to where their pier was waiting for them.

Connor heard tense shouts and taut words from the crew, but there was no denying the relief that they felt, too, when the ropes were thrown over by the Union City wall guards. They were quickly secured and pulled in snug to float besides the pier. Finally, with shaking limbs, Connor collapsed to the deck, panting.

“Every journey an adventure!” one of the sailors beside him grumbled, before letting out a howl.

“Yeah, welcome to Union City,” the other turned to Connor, and grinned.

Your group has been awarded 300 Experience Points for saving the Merry Piper.

Experience points will be divided amongst all participants.

Connor smiled weakly at gaining more experience, and the next message widened it into into a full-face smile.

Congratulations! You have advanced to Level 2. You have been awarded two attribute points and one skill level advancement to be allocated as you choose.