The crowd was not satisfied until they heard the entire story of our fight. The bounty on Sidriel had gone unclaimed, thus-far, for good reason. He was a powerful foe, even without the help of his wolves, and everyone knew that.

Melinda’s Perform (Oratory) check: 1d20+48 = 67

My telling of the events went over swimmingly, and, by the end, more than one hunter had bought drinks for us as the tale was told. I had no doubt that the story would be all over the city in a flash. But that didn’t matter, since we were still in disguise.

The bounty was not something paid in gold. The amount of coin that such a bounty would be worth was not something that people would have just laying about, even in a god’s domain. Instead, the payment took the form of tokens, which could be used at any of the merchants in the city. Each token was worth ten thousand gold pieces. And there were five hundred of them!

As the crowd returned to their normal business, and we swept up our reward, a human standing off to the side caught my eye, and motioned us over. Not an ordinal human, either, but a ‘normal’ one! That was a rare sight on this plane, to be sure.

Leaning in as we approached, he said, in a hushed voice that wouldn’t be overheard, “Name’s Thancred Scionborn, and I’m the Lodgemaster here. Now, don’t be acting out, but I’ll let you know that all the staff at the Hunter’s Lodge has some means of True Seeing. We know what you are, and we don’t rightly care what your business is here, so long as it doesn’t spill back on the Lodge. We get lots of travelers from different places, looking for work, after all. Just know that if you’re found out at whatever you’re doing, you’re likely to have bounties placed on you, too.”

I stiffened slightly at the man’s words, but relaxed as he continued speaking. This was the kind of guy who was just looking out for his people, and not hopped up on righteousness. That was fine. We could work with that kind of person.

“Understood,” I said, in the same tone. “With luck, it won’t be long ere we can go, back to places where our looks don’t bring such a reaction. Given that, I don’t suppose you know a place where we might spend our well-won rewards before leaving town? Seeing how we’re well-stocked on the normal gear.”

“Aye, that I might. Garland Ironworks is where you want to go. You’ll want to talk with the guy in charge, Cid. Don’t know how you got to this plane, and I don’t care to know. Cid, though? He’s in the business of building ships. Airships, specifically. He’s what you might call a refugee from one of the Material Planes on the Great Wheel, one where weapons of fire and steel are used alongside magic. And he’s able to turn those ships into something a mite bit more portable, when you’re looking to move about in a city.”

I raised an eyebrow. Did he mean that there was someone in this world who knew about guns? “Consider me interested. Tell me more.”

“Well, Cid will be able to tell you best, but I’ll tell you that you won’t be needing to find a crew, if you get one of his ships. They’re special, see? They come with one already, bound to the ship. What kind depends on your preference. Some have constructs, others have projections and unseen servants, some have undead sailors, toiling away in undeath. And, well, some have mortal slaves as well. Don’t care for the practice, myself, but some have a taste for it.”

I decided to ignore the slavery comment, for now. No use spoiling what was looking to be a profitable conversation because of my issues. “And these crew, whatever the type, what happens when you make the ship more ‘portable’?"

“Well, apparently, they just go into some kind of ‘stasis’, and don’t hear, think, or feel anything between one moment and the next, even if that ship isn’t brought out for another hundred years. For them, it is literally a blink of the eye. Same goes with any cargo aboard. Don’t know how he does it, but even things like bags of holding don’t go boom when the ship turns into its traveling mode.”

“You know a lot about these ships.”

“Well, back before I became Lodgemaster, I had something of an exciting career, as an adventurer. You’re not the only one from ‘out of town’, as it were, you know.” He winked roguishly at me, but I could tell it was a bit of a show, and not serious flirtation. “But then I decided to settle down, with my wife, Minfilia, and take up running the Lodge.”

“At any rate, even spending at Cid’s, you’ll find that sum may be enough to finance a small fleet of ships. Or, maybe just a couple of some of his more exotic items. Apparently, the old tinkerer considers a flying island to be just a larger form of airship. Just mention I sent you.”

Siora nodded her head. “Then, it seems we’ve found our next destination. Thank you, Master Thancred. And, if you ever wish to give your Minfilia a treat (or perhaps a child), then you might look for products from Shendilavri. The Salacious Succubi’s Sourcebook is a very educational read, I assure you. And the Waters of Shendilavri is a draught that, with but a single draught, will have even the oldest, smallest, and most limp-dicked man standing straight and proud, big enough to tame an ogress, with stamina enough to spend the whole night on that task, to say nothing of what it would do to someone in your youthful condition. ‘Tis a bit pricey, but the effects are permanent.”

Thancred almost choked at those words, but he recovered quickly, despite the flush on his cheeks. “Ahem! Well, thank you, Miss Siora. I will definitely, um, take that under advisement. Not that we need that, of course.”

“Of course,” Vestele smiled. “But a gift, especially one that keeps on giving, is never out of place, is it? And the Waters have a similar, but different effect on women who drink it. Their skin becomes younger, and their body tones and firms itself, especially in ‘those places’, just like they were in their prime. Of course, you’d need another draught after giving birth, but that’s because the power drains, into the child, giving them a small, but permanent boost to their charisma.”

Thancred by now, was trying very hard to not look like a fish out of water. His eyes quickly looked around, in that way men do when they’re trying to make sure their wives aren’t around so they can’t get in trouble. “Well, um, that is very interesting. And where might I find this, if I were to check the markets? Since going to that plane itself is out of the question.”

Siora smiled. “Any temple to the Queen of Shendilavri will have them, especially in more prosperous areas. They typically run ‘services’ as brothels, you know. You simply need ask those merchants who go abroad to the Material Plane to seek them out, and they’ll be able to find such things.”

“Well, thank you for the advice. I will definitely keep it in mind.”

“No, thank you,” I grinned, “for not telling secrets. Now, I think we should go see Cid, before these two start telling you about all the ‘services’ their temple offers.” That caused chuckles from all, and we took our leave of the Hunter’s Lodge.

Seeing no reason to delay, we made our way to the Garland Ironworks. I don’t know what I was expecting when I stepped through the door, but it wasn’t this. The entire building (and it was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside) was full of metal. Gears and pistons moved, and steam spurted into the air. This was a factory! There were even assembly lines! But I could also see magic everywhere. A magical factory!

There was a loud clang as a large wrench slipped off an oversized nut, and hit a pipe, followed by some inventive cursing in a language I hadn’t heard before. From behind the machinery a man with white hair but a young face emerged, shaking his hand. When he noticed us standing in the doorway, he blinked.

“Well, seven hells. Sorry, didn’t hear you come in. I’m Cid Garland. You’re adventurers, from the looks of you. No matter the world, you all have that same air about you. So, what can Garland Ironworks do for you?”

“Well, Cid,” I said, stepping forward, “Thancred over at the Hunter’s Lodge mentioned that you might be able to help us. We turned in a rather large bounty, and our reward was in chits. Well and good, but we weren’t planning on sitting around, and we’d be hard pressed to find better gear, even here, without giving up a lot. But we’d like to learn more about the airships you make.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, Thancred and Minfilia were with me, when my airship, the Enterprise, hit an aetheric pocket, or something like it. Either way, we ended up being sucked through a hole in the sky, and ended up in this place, out in the far reaches of the plane. Somehow, we managed to make it to the capital, but by then my poor baby was a wreck, and barely holding together. The local aether, or mana, or whatever you call it, didn’t entirely agree with the way my engines worked, and getting ceruleum in a world that hadn’t heard of it was a nonstarter, so I was running out of fuel, anyways.

“So, Thancred sent you all here, thinking you could buy up some airships, huh? Well, I may have gone a bit overboard with the production, so this is a good time. Honestly, the things I could have done back in my old world, if we’d had something like those ‘Instant Fortresses’ you lot have. Such handy things. And making that magic into my magitek means storage is a lot easier than it was with the old ships!”

I nodded slowly, only understanding the vague gist of what he was saying. “Something like that. It makes sense that you’re from another world, seeing this factory, though. I saw pictures of one, long ago, but it wasn’t like this.”

“Really? In this world? Where?”

“Ah, no. Not this world. I’m a Twice-Born. The world I lived in before was one without magic, or even magitek, so everything had to be done with brute force and science.”

“Well, I’ll be! So, the stories of people dying in one world and getting reborn in another are true? I always thought that they were just fables, or myths.”

I chuckled. “No, though I don’t blame you for thinking that. I was much the same until it happened to me. It certainly was a surprise, let me tell you. So, what kinds of ships do you have on hand, and how much do they cost?”

It turned out that Cid was more than just some tinkerer. Using the knowledge of his own world, and his studies in this one, he had created wonders beyond comprehension. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to arm them, or create weapons at all. Something to do with past trauma, it sounded like.

However, the planes were a dangerous place, and sometimes you needed to be able to take a hit, and then make a convincing argument on why it was a bad idea to go hitting people’s ships. According to Cid, after a couple close calls, he developed weapons for his ships. Just enough to chase off an angry dragon, or something like that. Couldn’t always rely on having a wizard around to take care of it, after all, and the weapons would be just as dangerous to any passing pirates that happened to be near, too.

Silent image spells were displayed in the ‘showroom’ over each cube, with an image of the ship when it was ‘unfolded’, and its stats, as far as the Voice of the World was concerned. Not only were the ships all works of genius, but he even had multiple styles! What was more, despite the exorbitant price, with five million gold’s worth of chits, we could afford more than one ship, which would be perfect for when we eventually went our separate ways.

So, with some excitement, we started looking through the catalogue, to see what suited us.