The storm had raged for two days, the Esmeraldas' Triumph was under full assault from the fury of the storm. Inside the galley of the ship, the crew sat around Elanna as she read from the log of the captain of the downed ship, Holten Armstrong. " 24th of 4th month; Received orders from the boss, travel to Josta to pick up some statue from a dealer named Ostrick. Crew is mighty pissed not getting any free time, but this is a sweet little run that is going to get us all a nice payment to chase the ladies with" read Elanna.
Sam staggered out of the kitchen carrying a big cake. " We can't have story time without something to eat" she said.
Sam started cutting the cake, the mere sight of food turned Elsenor a darker shade of purple. Sam offered Elsenor a piece; she turned dark plum and ran straight for the nearest porthole. The sound of her retching into the storm echoed through the galley, Elanna cleared her throat and continued to read; " 25th entered the Snake River Valley, had extra crew on deck keeping an eye out for the goblyns that are supposed to frequent the valley. Crew tense, we aren't equipped to take on any sizable force."
" No shit" said Sebastian, " bastards should have taken the long way around."
Elsenor pulled her head from the porthole, she looked pale, her light blue hair totally soaked and hung about her head like a wet mop. " 26th haven't seen any goblyns yet, guess these Vallic Maps aren't as exact as they claim them too be. Somebody is stealing from the galley, knew I shouldn't have taken on the new crew, nothing but a bunch of thieves."
" I take offense to him calling my maps shoddy" said Gabriel.
" Don't worry, they were proved right" said Tanis.
" 27th, we found some of our food was rotten. The cheese wheel my cook procured has a resident. A white worm has decided our cheese made a good home. He is about as long as my arm about half as thick. Sickly white body with those huge teeth, I saw it feasting on one of the ship's rats. Had torn open its guts and were feasting on them while the poor thing was still alive..."
Elsenor raced back to the porthole and began to retch again, this time even louder. " At least we won't have a rat problem for long" Elanna continued, " 28th, finally reached the north mouth of the valley, Josta is now only three days away. 29th bored, nothing to report, 30th crew starting to bicker over our shortening food supply, I keep telling these jackasses that we are a day from a huge city. 31st finally reached Josta, crew went straight to the red light district. Decided to spend my entire down payment on a little fun myself. 1st of the 5th month, bad hangover, but enjoyed my evening. When this missing is complete I'm relocating here. Met with this spooky bastard Ostrick. Guy gave me a box and told me never to open it. Fine with me, when somebody the creepy gives you instructions it is best to follow them. Planning on leaving tomorrow morning, I got a weird feeling that Ostrick might be up to something. 2nd received a message from the boss, we have to make a trip north to the Freeport of Hansee and pick up another package. If it is Hansee it is more illegal than the thing in the box. Guess I'm going to have to dust off my smuggler's hold."
" Guess that explains what we found in that secret hold" said Sebastian.
" You ever actually open that?" asked Audrey.
" No" said Sebastian, " we got too busy with the storm."
" Open it!" exclaimed Sam, " we might be carrying a fortune."
Sebastian got up and went into his cabin. He came back with one of the boxes. He quickly pried the top open. Inside were several small leather pouches. " Two guess what this is" said Gabriel.
Sebastian opened one of the pouches. " Is it red and powdery?" asked Audrey.
" It is at that" said Sebastian, " looks like our employer wanted to have one hell of a party."
" We have 5 boxes full" said Sebastian, " looks like pure Red Fairy.
" You know that is probably worth twice what that stupid statue is" said Alexis.
" Those five boxes we could sell them for 100,000" purred Audrey, her ears twitching, they always did that when she was getting ambitious.
" Need I remind all three of you that Tobias Schwartzenselbe isn't exactly the most generous black hearted son of a bitch that slimed his way across this world" said Elanna, " those have the seal of his empire, I do not want to fucking piss him off."
" I agree with Elanna" said Gabriel, " she of all people knows Tobias' generosity."
" I agree as well" said Tanis, " stuff that shit back in the box and let's hand it over to him when we give him the statue."
" I agree as well" said Elsenor, looking like death, " my people outlaw that garbage for a reason, and I do not like its name."
" It isn't spell the same way" said Alexis.
" I've seen my people go nuts on that" said Elsenor, " if that fat bastard Tobias wants to go insane that is his problem, besides I don't think we want to be caught with it."
" Unless we enjoying swinging from the business end of a rope" said Gabriel.
" All right" said Sebastian, " we'll pack it back up."

Elanna turned the page, " 4th reached Hansee, picked up a package from a Mermadin, fishy bastard couldn't stop giggling the entire time. His rather unusual manner told me what was inside those boxes, first we are hauling antiques now we are hauling Red Fairy, and this job better pay better. 7th night watch saw movement tonight; some think we are being followed. 8th stood night watch myself, saw airships in the distance, crew very edgy, how these ships can follow us at night is uncanny. 8th airships came closer last night, crew not almost ready to grab the ropes and get the hell off the ship. They are after something onboard, whether it is the Fairy of the statue I don't know. 9th crew almost mutinied last night, we had a meeting, decided to land and hid the statue. 10th statue is safely hidden on the ground. If I am not able to get back to it, at least these clues will help those who came after: Three rocks not four show our prize, dust and cobwebs is its guardian, three and forty from the red boar stands your key, beware the spiders aren't the only guards that watch the ruin."
" Creepy" said Alexis.
" So apparently he hid the statue in some old ruins" said Sebastian.
" Only problem is that we are directly over the remains of the Dutchy of Toulo" said Gabriel, " we have a couple of thousand square miles worth of abandoned mansions, towns, castles, and millions of rocks. Finding it will require some clever work."
" That's why we have you" said Elanna, " put those navigational skills to work and try to plot a logical course from Hansee to the valley."
" I can't think of a better way to spend a dark and stormy night" said Gabriel, " the log book if you please."
Elanna gave Gabriel the logbook and he walked off to his quarters to start plotting, whether it was to chuck the crew off the ship or to find the course was up to him. " Story time is over" said Elanna, " I think it is bed time."
" Okay mom" the crew said together.

Dawn finally brought an end to the storm; the sun broke through the clouds and poured light into Gabriel's quarters. Maps, books, and trophies from his many expeditions filled the room so full that a person would have difficulty navigating the room without knocking something off. Gabriel's large table in the center of the room held his masterpiece, the most complete map of Caracantha that ever had been made, 50 feet worth of map that spilled off the sides of the table and were folded underneath the rest of the map to keep it off the floor. It took three years of work to compile the map but each one sold brought in 300 gold coins to Gabriel, and they were hot sellers. Gabriel was slumped in his chair fast asleep, when Audrey stuck her head inside. She carefully made her way through the room, it might be hard for a human to sneak through his room, but for a Cataka and their natural stealthy skills, it just like any other room. Audrey set down a cup of steam Elven Tea and his favorite spice cake. The smells roused Gabriel who sat up, and stretched his sore back. " Thanks Aud" he said.
" How did it go?" asked Audrey, looking at the several lines Gabriel had drawn on a map of the area.
" Nothing is ever easy" said Gabriel, sipping his tea, " my best guess got me to three separate possible routes, but because there hasn't been a map of Toulo is about ninety years I have almost no idea if there were cities or taverns, or other buildings, which means we'll probably have to check each and every one of these routes."
" Well how bout we pick one and hope it is the right one" said Audrey.
Audrey closed her eyes and twitched her ears for good luck. She dropped her finger down and touched the furthest west route. " It's a start" said Gabriel.
" Great, finish up and we can tell the boss" said Audrey.
" He is actually up?" asked Gabriel, taking his watch out, " it isn't ten yet."
" I think our guest's air sickness kept him up all night" said Audrey.
" Lucky him, lets go give him the good news" said Gabriel.
Audrey and Gabriel started up to the flying deck and found Sebastian looking like he was dead. " We have three possible avenues of search" said Gabriel, " set course, north northwest two quarters west."
Sebastian grumbled something in response, Gabriel turned to look off the stern of the ship as the Snake River Valley slowly disappear behind them. Gabriel saw them, all of them. " Sails!" he shouted, " red sails!"
Sebastian spun around and saw them, at least fifteen blimps. It was the Goblyns of the Snake River. Their ships flying blood red banners each with a black death's head with long fangs on it. That death's head was the symbol of the Nosepicker Clan and its ruthless leader Twang Nosepicker.
Audrey scampered down into the ship raising the alarm by howling as loud as she could. The crew quickly got to their posts, and Tanis began to pull open the hatches and push his cannons out. Elsenor heard the racket; it didn't help her headache any. She left her cramped quarters and stumbled up to the top deck just in time for a volley of arrows to hit the ship right next to her. She yelped and hit the deck, then a thunderous explosion echoed across the entire ship. Elsenor watched as fire spit from the side of the ship and then one of the blimps that were chasing the Esmeraldas' Triumph suddenly explode in a great green cloud. Then Elsenor smelled it, it was the vilest smell she had ever encounter which brought her air sickness right back to her. She doubled over the side of the ship, not caring that more arrows were hitting the ship all around her. She composed herself and hurried to the bridge where Sebastian and Gabriel were hard at work trying to keep the big airship ahead of the fast blimps. " What is going on?" asked Elsenor.
" We are being chased by Goblyns" said Gabriel.
" Why aren't we turning to fight them?" asked Elsenor, " you have all those cannons."
" We have one dwarf to man them" said Sebastian, " we were able to buy all those cannons but couldn't afford to get enough Dwarves to man them all, so we just have Tanis. Duck!"
All three hit the deck as a shower of arrows landed about them. " I think it is time to make them work for their prize" said Sebastian.
Gabriel nodded and they both took the wheel that was full of arrows. They spun the wheel hard to the left, and the ship lurched almost knocking Elsenor over the side. The sails on the side of the ship suddenly turned and the ship dove for the ground. Elsenor was convinced that they had gone insane and were going to crash the ship. At the last possible moment the ship rose up and climbed high into the sky. Two of the Goblyn blimps that were in pursuit were unable to climb fast enough and their baskets crashed into the rocky terrain below. They spun the wheel to the left again, turning the ship's side in front of the pursuing goblyns. One by one each cannon fired its big black cannon ball at the blimps until all ten on the left of the ship had fired. Four more blimps exploded into green mist and dropped to the ground. " Why do they smell like that?" asked Elsenor, trying not to puke again.
" Swamp gas" said Sebastian, " Goblyns don't have the intelligence to use Rune Stones, so they fill those balloon with swamp gas that makes them float and smell like that."
" It is disgusting" said Elsenor.
" No that is" said Elanna, joining them on the bridge.
All four looked back, the enemy was still pursuing and the large blimps were getting close. " Why are they still following us?" asked Gabriel, " they aren't playing by the rules, they chase, we fire our cannons at them, they run away."
" I think we might have pissed them off" said Elanna, " I'll tell the girls to start pouring the spells on."

In the middle of Goblyn armada was the main blimp, twice the size of the Esmeraldas' Triumph, it was the flagship of Twang Nosepicker. Twang stood on the bow of his ship, cursing at his other vessels, " Faster You Dirty Swamp Fucker!" he shouted, " they are just one pathetic vessel, capture it! They have our prize! If you don't capture it, I will kill you myself."
Twang snarled, his thin green lips pulling back to reveal his large yellowed teeth. He watched as the airship ahead of him fired more cannon balls at them, this time from the ass of the ship. This was going to require more strategy that previously thought. " Release the Weapon!" Twang shouted at his men.
Several goblyns scurried below decks to open the underside of the ship.

Elanna looked in absolute shock, " Ahhh guys" she said.
" What?" asked Sebastian turning around, " holy shit."
Gabriel turned, and his jaw dropped. Rocketing towards them was a Hill Troll attached to a big balloon. Goblyns had been known to use the large and nasty Hill Troll in battle on the ground, but tie one to a blimp was new. The ten foot tall monster was snarling, spraying spit from his lips and swinging his giant club at them. " TANIS!" Sebastian shouted, " you have to shot that thing down."
" No shit" Tanis shouted back, " give me a moment."
" We don't have a moment!" Elanna shouted back.
Suddenly Elsenor grabbed the sword from Sebastian's waist and spread her wings. With the grace of an eagle she leapt into the air and began to fly straight at the flying Hill Troll. " She has gone insane" said Elanna.
" Maybe it was Sam's cooking" said Gabriel.
" She took my sword, hey that thing is expensive" said Sebastian.
Elsenor flew straight into the ropes that tied the Hill Troll to the balloon and began to cut the ropes. It took the Hill Troll several minutes to understand what was happening, they are after all incredibly stupid. When it figured out what was happening, Elsenor cut the last rope and the Hill Troll started to plummet to earth. It gave Elsenor a puzzled look as it rocketed to the ground like a stone. Elsenor flew back to the Esmeraldas' Triumph among a hail of angry Goblyn arrows. She reached the deck of the ship as it caught a strong wind and began to pull out of range of the goblyn arrows.

" Damn it, damn to the most foul places it can go" snarled Twang taking his black helmet off and violently throwing it the deck, where the large black spike on top stuck into the deck, " I want to know who they were, I know they have our treasure and I will not rest until I have it in my hands. You there!"
The first officer, You-There Nosepicker, walked over, " Yes sir" he said.
" You, send a message back to our base, get the rest of the fleet mobilized we are going to hunt them down at any cost" said Twang.
" Yes sir" said You-There.
Twang got one last glimpse of the ship as it floated away, no one ever got the best of Twang Nosepicker, he cheated too much for that to ever happen.

Dirk and his men were tearing the entire wrecked ship apart. They had been there all day, luckily the Goblyn Air Raiders had left early to chase somebody else. They had taken the entire ship almost apart, taking everything that was usable back with them, but they couldn't find anything. " Bring Me Harold!" Dirk shouted.
One his crew scampered up the rope ladder and came down carrying a severed head in one arm. This was Harold The Head, the former captain of Dirk's ship the Black Raider, who after being doubled crossed by River Trolls, the smart of the two species, was killed but his crew needed him, so they found a Necromancer and kept his head alive. " Harold" said Dirk, " is this the correct ship to find our package?"
Harold had a special ability, given to him by the same River Trolls that betrayed him, he knew everything that could be known, except he couldn't say it unless someone asked a specific question, River Trolls are very sneaky in that regard. " Yes" Harold said, " but you are late."
" Who has it now?" asked Dirk.
" Sebastian Martell" said Harold, a sick smile crossing his leathery lips.
Dirk let off a loud howl and kicked the ship hard enough to put his foot through the wood. " Get the men on board, load the cargo, I want full power to chase down Sebastian and his crew" said Dirk.

The Esmeraldas' Triumph, after spending all morning and afternoon zigzagging back and forth to make sure they had ditched the goblyns was now starting down the first of three possible routes to find the Fertility Statue of Lamech. With the exception of Gabriel who was piloting the crew was gathering the goblyn arrows up for extra firewood, goblyn arrows were often set on fire and shot at ships so they made excellent fuel for the cooking fires. Elsenor spent most of the time flying about the ship, very proud of herself. She finally landed and handed Sebastian is sword back. " No, you can keep it" said Sebastian, " you earned it."
" I would never dream of it" said Elsenor, " besides, I have two more in my quarters that are made of pure Elven Steel. I just need to borrow yours because I didn't want to walk downstairs. Thank you for the opportunity to stretch my wings though."
Sebastian took his sword back to the snickering of Gabriel, " Shouldn't you be watching out for rocks and ruins?" asked Sebastian.
" I have Audrey and Alexis on that" said Gabriel, " in any case, Elsenor, you have now become a fully useful member of the crew of the Esmeraldas' Triumph."
" Thank you" said Elsenor, " now if you'll excuse me I need to rest a bit."
Elsenor went below decks, " And you thought she would be nothing but baggage" said Elanna, dumping the last bunch of arrows into a barrel.
" I still think she is baggage, but at least she is baggage that can fly" said Sebastian.