Aftermath 19.

The Kaldel Plains...

"Anything?" asks Gorlic the former arena fighter from the city-state of Brattonbury.
"Nothing" replies Samiel the mage as he looks across the sky towards the north.
The spellcaster who is originally from the city-state of Tuledare, then says "Seems our luck has run out".
"Seems like it" says the arena fighter who at times can be more than a little hot headed.
The two of them keep looking to the north, with the mage looking far further as he's cast a farsight spell upon himself.
They've been here in the north of the Kaldel Plains, for a day and a half now. They started a few hundred miles to the west of the villages they're based at. And steadily headed north. Though only going to places that Samiel already knows. As one can't cast a rift to a place they've never been to, or seen before.
As of yet, they've yet to spot a single airship coming south from the kingdom of Druvic, which is just a couple hundred miles further to the north.
Samiel, who has been looking more to the northeast, as that's the direction a lot of vessels coming from Druvic head, as they make their way further south across the Kaldel Plains. To get to elsewhere in the Southlands.
Says to the former arena fighter standing next to him "Might have to go way out west, to find one going in that direction, usually all the way to the coast". Which is a good fifteen hundred miles further from the western fringes of the plains.
"That's a hell of a long way to find an airship" says Gorlic, who continues with "Not to mention if we do find one and bring it down, it'll take weeks to bring the keel back by wagon, since we can't bring that through one of your rifts".
The powerful mage grunts at the prospect of that, then he says "That definitely is a disadvantage". Samiel then sighs as he continues to look away to the north, trying to locate an air vessel that they could potentially target.
Gorlic looks away to their right, and spots Sasha and Pallen heading this way from the small camp their group has set up. Which will be quickly broken down when they decide to move again.
Which the former arena fighter, who fought for nearly three years in the famous fighting arenas of Brattonbury. Suspects will be pretty soon, as it looks like Sasha has had enough in this spot.
"Anything?" asks Sasha the former mercenary who has taken out her cylindrical eyepiece and is looking through it to the north.
"Nothing" says Gorlic who answers for Samiel, who he guesses is probably sick of answering that particular question.
"No luck today it seems" quietly says the good looking, one eyed woman "Or yesterday for that matter" dryly adds Pallen the blademaster, who like his lover Sasha, is from the kingdom of Girdane.
"That's a fact" says Samiel the mage, who then looks at Sasha, and asks the former mercenary "Should we leave?".
"We should" says the former mercenary who leads the small group who goes out and finds their targets, and brings them down.
"We could stop in a couple of places on our way back" says the mage who once worked for the port authority, to be exact, the airdock authority in the city of Tuledare itself.
The powerful spellcaster then adds "Just for a short time in each, just incase our luck returns".
Sasha glances at her lover Pallen, and the blademaster, who though from Girdane, is actually a plainsman, one of just a few of them in the crew of illegal wreckers.
The dangerous blademaster just shrugs his shoulders in reply to that enquiring look from his lover.
Sasha looks back at the mage, and tells him "Okay" followed by "Just a short time in each place".
The good looking woman, who has just one eye, and a gnarly looking scar down the side of her face where the eye is missing, tells Gorlic "Have the others break down the camp" she follows that with "We're going".
They break down the camp fairly quickly, as they brought just a handful of tents with them. To offer them shelter at night, where it gets a little chilly on the Kaldel Plains. Even now, at the end of summer.
Once the camp is down, and everything is packed, Sasha gives the nod to go ahead for Samiel to cast a rift.
A few moments later and a rift starts to appear as multi coloured lights, in what can only be described as a shape that roughly resembles a door.
A few moments after that and the rift completely froms, and Gorlic is the first one through, followed by Sasha, then Pallen.
The others go through after them, then finally Samiel is the last one through the rift. Which he drops once he's on the otherside.
The otherside is about a hundred miles further east of where they just were. Not far from quite a large patch of the scrubby looking trees that can be found across the Kaldel Plains.
The entire group, all look at the sky, in all directions, before finally just looking to the north in the direction of the kingdom of Druvic. Observing the midday sky in that direction. Hoping to spot an airship which they can target.
They're all fairly quiet as they do, then Sasha glances at Samiel, and the mage from the city-state of Tuledare shakes his head no.
"Next place" says the good looking woman, who lost her eye, and gained her scar from her lover Pallen, who was trying to kill her at the time during a battle.
The Tuledarian mage waits a few more moments as he continues to look north, then he casts another rift spell.  Once it's formed, Gorlic is the first one through again, followed by Sasha and Pallen, and the rest of the group. Samiel is the last one through again.
"Down" says Pallen who grabs the mage once he's through the otherside of the rift, which he quickly drops as the blademaster drags him down to the ground.
"Where?" asks the mage, meaning the threat, as he sees everyone else is flat on the ground too.
He doesn't even have to wait for the answer from Pallen, as he can already sense it. Infact it's four of them. Airships, about five miles away.
"To the north, four ships, about five miles away, heading east away from us" quietly says the fair skinned plainsman who is a blademaster, who then asks Samiel "Any spellcasters onboard who can sense you?".
"At that distance and heading away from us, not unless they're a mage, or an extremely powerful sorcerer or wizard" says the spellcaster from Tuledare, who is now holding his power within himself. Who can see the airships in the distance heading east, and south.
The powerful mage who murmurs "Hope they've got no lookouts with eyepieces looking this way". Winces when the blademaster dryly says to him "Or elves or dwarves".
"Forgot about them" mutters Samiel who watches the airships, that seem to be merchant vessels.
"Traders?" asks the spellcaster from Tuledare "Looks like trade ships" quietly says Pallen, who then adds "At least one is rigged for war".
Samiel looks at the blademaster, who nods away to their right. There on the ground a few yards away, lies Sasha, who is looking through her cylindrical eyepiece.
"One of them is armed with magetubes and ballista" quietly says the good looking, one eyed woman.
The Tuledarian mage nods, and decides to risk it. He stops holding his power within himself, and senses.
Samiel grunts, then says "The twins". The two lovers Sasha and Pallen look at him, and he tells them "Sara and Famic are onboard the third ship" the mage continues with "I can sense Sara".
The former mercenary Sasha nods, then says "Must be the buyers from Druvic" she adds "Arvelle mentioned Davon had returned from Nastell, but the twins hadn't come back from Druvic yet".
"Well there they are" says Samiel, who gets up off the ground as he adds "No one's looking back this way" the others get up too.
They're near a narrow river that runs across this part of the plains. And though there's hardly any of the scrubby looking trees around, there's plenty of the long, wheat coloured grass in this area they've come to. Which is about another hundred miles closer to the villages that the crew of illegal wreckers are based in.
"There's four other spellcasters too, one on each ship" says the powerful mage from the city-state of Vexil, the former mercenary nods at that, then quietly says "They're taking no chances" followed by "And bringing an armed ship too".
The good looking woman from the kingdom of Girdane shares a look with her lover the plainsman, then she quietly asks Samiel "How far are we from the villages?".
The mage gives her the distance in miles he thinks they're from their base. Then Sasha murmurs "They'll get there tomorrow evening i guess if they keep flying at this speed".
"Arriving at night, nothing untoward with that" says Pallen in a slightly dry tone of voice, the former arena fighter Gorlic nods his head in agreement at that sentiment from the dangerous blademaster.
As the potential buyers from the kingdom of Druvic, of magetubes they've got off the wreck of the warship that they took down, and salvaged from.
Could cause an awful lot of trouble if they arrive at night. Especially considering that one of their vessels is equipped with both magetubes and ballista.
"Do you want to go up and check things out?" asks Samiel, Sasha thinks about it for a moment, then says "No" followed by "The less they know about us, the better" she then adds "And if they don't know that we actually know about them, even better".
Her lover, the plainsman from the kingdom of Girdane, quietly asks her "You think they'll all show up?".
"We'll find out when they arrive tomorrow night" quietly says Sasha, who is more than a little cautious when it comes to outsiders they have to deal with.
They've already had a couple of bad experiences over the last year. When potential buyers of what they've salvaged from airships they've brought down. Have tried to either cheat them on a deal. Or straight out try to take their salvaged materials by force.
"But we have to be ready for anything" quietly says Sasha, who continues on with "Who knows what could happen, especially since they've got an armed ship flying with them.
The good looking, one eyed woman with a gnarly looking scar down one side of her face, says "Best we get back and inform Arvelle of this" she then adds "The sooner he knows, the better".
Samiel the mage nods in agreement to that, and after observing the four vessels in the distance for a little bit longer. The powerful spellcaster from the city-state of Tuledare creates a rift.
The otherside of the rift is in the house that Samiel is using in the village they're based at.
They all walk out into the main room of the house, with the mage coming out of the rift last, which he then drops.
Sasha dismisses the others, then she Pallen, Samiel and Gorlic head to the village green. And the two storey house just off to the side of it that Arvelle uses.
The leader of the illegal wreckers is in the room just off the kitchen, at the table looking at maps of the Kaldel Plains with his offsider Mac the dwarf.
"Anything?" asks Arvelle the plainsman once they're all in the room off the kitchen, and he's sent his lover, one of the local plainswomen outside.
"Nothing" is the reply of Sasha, who after a slight pause adds "Kind of".
"Oh?" says the leader of the crew of illegal wreckers, who though slightly disappointed the group led by Sasha couldn't find another suitable target. Is definitely interested in what else she has to say.
"Though we didn't find another target" says the good looking woman with just one eye, who continues with "We did spot four airships flying together, heading right here".
Both the plainsman, who is tall and has a shaved head. And the dwarf who is a former shipwright from the Cascades. Lift an eyebrow in interest as they look at the former mercenary from the kingdom of Girdane.
"Buyers from Druvic" says Sasha, who continues with "Samiel sensed Sara onboard one of them".
Arvelle nods his head, then says "They're due" followed by "So that isn't that much of a surprise".
Sasha nods to that, then says "One of the airships is rigged for combat, it has both magetubes and ballistas on it".
Both Arvelle and Mac frown when they hear that, then the leader of the crew of illegal wreckers asks "A warship?".
"No, a trade vessel built to accommodate those vessels" says Samiel the mage, who continues with "It's about the size of a large frigate i guess" the Tuledarian spellcaster then adds "Though wider of beam, and no where near as quick or maneuverable as an actual warship".
Arvelle is quiet for a few moments, then he quietly says "I don't like the sound of this" the tall plainsman, who is quite fair skinned for a plainsman continues with "Even when nobles from either Druvic or Nastell have come to us previously to buy our salvage, they didn't fly here on heavily armed vessels".
The leader of the crew of illegal wreckers once again murmurs "I don't like the sound of this" followed by "At all".
Then after a moment or two of silence, Arvelle asks "You'd think the twins would know they're up to no good".
"You'd think so" says Sasha who pauses then adds "But".
"But what?" asks the tall, tan skinned plainsman "Sara is a competent enough sorcerers" says the mage Samiel who knows exactly what Sasha is getting at.
"But she doesn't have the wits about her to figure out any intrigue" continues the powerful spellcaster who worked for the dock authority in Tuledare, when he lived in his homeland.
"Her brother Famic does, but he doesn't have the means to find out for certain" adds Samiel, who then says "Unless he overhears something being said".
Arvelle grunts at that, then quietly says "I hear you" followed by "Sometimes i wish he was the spellcaster and not her" the tall plainsman, continues with "Ah well, we can't do anything about that".
After a slight pause, the leader of the crew of illegal wreckers says "But there is something we can do if some of those buyers try some dodgy shit, and take what we've got".
Those around the table nod, then after Arvelle asks "When do you think they'll get here?" and Sasha replies with "Sometime tomorrow night".
The tall plainsman quietly says "Right this is what we'll do" followed by "Just incase they try something".
The leader of the crew of illegal wreckers then quickly tells the others of a plan he's just come with.
After they hear him out, Sasha says "Best to be safe and be ready for something" followed by "Don't want to get caught with our pants down, so to speak".
Arvelle nods in agreement with that, then he turns to his best friend and offsider, Mac and tells him "Go and check on those magetubes again, the ones still in their cradles" the tall plainsman looks at Samiel as he adds "Go with him".
The mage and the dwarven shipwright head out to the wagons lined up along this side of the village green. To check on the magetubes, specifically the handful still in their cradles. Those magetubes that can still be safely used . . . . . .