1. Mirage in the Sky
General Summary
Imprisoned on charges of treason! On return from an adventure in The Grand Sultanate of Ignia, Marwa "Mirage" Noor was arrested, charged with standing aside and allowing Ignia's rampant slave trade to continue. She was thrown in an airtight fortress, her protestations ignored.
But then she got an offer. She could prove her loyalty to Auria and its principles of freedom, self-determination, and equity.
The Jade Fury is a cutting-edge airship, the latest design from genius developer Jadeira. It's a heavily-armoured transport vessel already in active service. It's designed to move ignian prisoners of war back to Auria, and to rescue citizens of the free Realms from Ignian clutches.
Even though the ship is already in service, Jadeira has requested one more test; she would hire a master safebreaker and rogue to break the Fury's defenses. When they failed, it would prove the Fury's invulnerability even against Aurian ingenuity, and would redouble support for more such crafts.
Marwa was given a tracking tattoo on her ankle; her jailer can divine her location from this magical sigil from almost any Realm. Then she was let loose.
She snuck aboard at a water station, hopping in one of the storage barrels. Being in the barrel meant she could see none of her surroundings as she was carried up the gangplank and down into the lower decks, but she manipulated the air to make a cone against the side, and was able to hear.
Dogs yapping - at least two. Many workers muttering about a strange mission; trying to guess what's in the vault. Some say a volatile weapon. Some say tactical maps - that's why no one was allowed to see it. It was transported aboard under total cover; even silenced with magic.
Eventually, she was set down, and when the coast sounded clear, lifted the barrel lid to find herself in a cramped closet. Her pet cloud, Nimbus, shed the wet in a small rainstorm, then scooted out to scout the hall, but didn't see much.
Cutting the closet door's deadbolt with a windblade took time, but she heard no other creatures save for a few rats scurrying.
Stuffing her floppy-hat disguise under the closet door to keep it from swinging freely, Mirage congratulated herself on her success, and began exploring.
Sneaking east, she heard a cook screaming above the stairs, and saw a pair of massive metal doors, all carved with glowing glyphs. She could hear nothing through them, and the doorjamb left no gaps. The glyphs were impossible to read, not being ordinary language, and, realizing she was in sight of the upper hallway when she stood before them, Mirage decided to leave them for now.
The doors facing the locker she came out of were ordinary doors, sized for a person and equipped with normal doorknobs, but were too small to hold the vault. She pressed on.
The southwest door smelled magical. The central door was marked ELEMENTAL CORE, and Marwa knew just enough about airships to know that meant it essentially led to the elemental engine, below. Elementals weren't known for being keen on surprise guests.
The north door was more promising. No sign of magic, and when Nimbus squeezed underneath, he saw a large room with a swirling pattern painted on the floor. The north and south walls held lockers. Six statues of genies in Aurian armour stood at attention, forming a wide columned path. A barred wall whose small central door had a comically-large lock on it cut off a massive safe from the rest of the room.
Report Date
08 Apr 2024
Primary Location
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