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The mission is launched
We spend the final day catching each other up on what we've learned and making last-minute preparations. We're provided with sand-coloured sheets and strips of fabric to protect ourselves from the sandstorms and keep a little cooler in the desert heat – these we swathe over ourselves and wrap our heads and faces. Captain Mori found each of us in turn to wish us luck. She tells us to meet Mr Jelani on deck. The Mining Hammer is also brought up to the top deck and strapped down in preparation for travel.
At last we are all standing on the Main Deck. As the other crew members rush around tying down anything loose, Mr Jelani gives us one last briefing. "You all ready?" he asks. "I hope it will be a fun trip", Mr Jelani only has two expressions that I have noticed – a smile and a frown. He's smiling now, which despite the danger makes me feel perhaps it will be an enjoyable outing.
Most of the time the ship travels relatively quietly with only the Lift Thrusters and sails, carving gentle paths through the endless clouds. As the First Mate is briefing us, we hear the familiar sounds of pre-flight checks: whirring as parts of the rigging is pulled taut; a low rumble as The Mage performs incantations below deck to kick-start the fire-based engines; a distant clinking of pots and pans as the ship vibrates. As the noise increases, Mr Jelani has to raise his voice to a shout.
"There are a few last things we need to cover! Firstly this", he fishes in the pocket of his loose trousers and holds his hand out. In his palm is a pair of small red polished stones, each carved with an intricate mouth on one side and an ear on the other. "These are Sending Stones, you will need to use one of these to tell us when you're ready to be picked up. We will keep one on the ship".
He hands one of the stones to me. "Rhavafiel, you can only use this once per day, then the magic will need to recharge!" he cautions.
I bow to him, acknowledging the honour and tuck the Sending Stone into the little pouch where I keep my Emblem of Corellon. It will be safe and accessible there.
"The second is this", he shouts above the noise, producing a small piece of bamboo plugged at each end. Fufluns recognises it immediately as a flare and starts bouncing in joy. Black Powder is expensive and in short supply, so she's not been allowed to experiment with one of these yet (she tells us in her characteristic excited squeak). Mr Jelani hands it to her. "I think you will enjoy this the most, but it's important that you wait until after Rhavafiel has given us warning – otherwise we might miss it and you'll be forever lost in the sands." Over the din of the thrusters powering up, Mr Jelani shouts "Is this all understood? We don't want to have to send a search party".
Fufluns takes the flare carefully with wide eyes and turns it over a few times in herhands. "This is precious Mr Brother Jelani even apart from what we'll be using it for I'll keep it safe until we need to use it you can be sure". Then she wraps it up in thick material and stashes it in one of her many inside pockets.
Trouble on the descent
The deck of the ship beneath us lurches slightly as the rear thrusters are engaged. Building speed, the front of the ship rises slightly to ascend. I look up past the masts and rigging and can see the portal we're aiming for ahead, floating in the sky above the sea of clouds. The portal shimmers with orange and red light, planar energy licking at the sides of the disk like flames. I hear a bell ringing out from behind on the Quarter Deck, signalling to brace for planar travel. Looking back I see Captain Mori at the helm, holding the Pitch Lever tightly, slowly pulling it back to raise the bow of the ship. She's got a smile on her face, the wind pulling strands of her hair out and buffeting her clothes.
When the bell sounds we have little time to brace, so I reach for nearby ropes and handles (which are present across most of the ship) and hold on tight. We each adjust our centers of gravity forward, leaning into the ship's climb and preparing for the change in gravity. The engines are screaming, the ship starts to roll to one side as the Captain adjusts the wheel and the Roll Thrusters kick in, I can see the portal creeping closer and closer, and feel the heat of The Plane of Fire emanating from it.
As the bow reaches the portal and passes through, there's an almighty creaking as the ship adjusts to the new gravity. Portals do not always exit into the new plane at the same angle as you enter them by, and suddenly the ship is in a dive, plummeting towards orange sands below. Captain Mori expertly pulls out of the dive and your arms strain as ourr bodies are pulled in different directions.
I hear a pattering sound like hail before feeling the sand, then it's scattering against us and the deck as the ship skirts the edge of an almighty sand storm and is shunted around by strong winds. A particularly strong gust pushes unexpectedly against the side of the ship, throwing it into a steeper roll than ou were ready for. My arms are almost pulled from their sockets and several crew members around us let go of their handholds and skid across the deck.
Fufluns and I hold on tight. One of Otto's hands loses its grip but he just manages to hold on with one hand. Grímur's legs give out from under him as the ship rolls, slamming his torso into the deck and winding him. The unexpected shift in weight is too much for his arms and he lets go, sliding along the tilted deck towards the starboard side. There's a wooden rail along the edge of the deck designed to stop people from going overboard, and he's sliding over the hatch that leads down to the Gun Deck, a large 10x10 foot metal grate. Several taut ropes are tied to the railing, stretching up into the rigging above.
I tighten my grip on the railing with one hand and draw my long quarterstaff. I shout to Grímur to try and grab it. He tries, but his hands were gripping his chest where he was winded by the deck. He reaches out with one hand but his fingers slip off the edge of the staff. Otto reacts quickly -- he loosens his grip on the mast, and launches himself past Mr Jelani (who is clinging to the rails), trying to grab Grímur and at the same time trying grab onto something to keep them both on the ship. Otto's trajectory meant that he ran along the deck at an angle, colliding with the railing himself. He wedges his legs into the rails so that his arms are free to grab the dwarf. Grímur slides down the deck and collides with Otto.
I shout "Catch!" to Mr Jelani and toss my quarterstaff to him, in hope that he can use it to block Otto and Grímur from falling.
As the soldier and dwarf collide there's a wobble and it looks like they're both about to plummet to the ground, but Otto's legs hold in place, muscles straining against the weight and force. Mr Jelani deftly catches my staff, and turns to help Grímur and Otto, carefully moving along the railing.
With a loud burst of flame, the ship corrects its orientation and Captain Mori maneuvers it into a steady climb to get above the sandstorm. There are still winds buffeting the ship, but they're considerably less violent and it feels as if the worst is over. Now that the ship has levelled we get a proper view of the Plane of Fire. A huge orange sun hangs low in the sky, beads of sweat have started to form on our brows, partly from the sudden exertion and partly because of the large increase in temperature. As the ship pulls up, I see the endless sandstorms of Harea Zuritu below: huge swirling vortices of orange sand moving across the desert, occasional columns of sand erupt into the air as they collide. In the distance, perhaps 6–8 miles away, I can just see spires of rock jutting from the swirling sands below.
Mr Jelani lets out a sigh of relief, catches the Captain's eye, and smiles. "That was a close one, Captain! Are we sure about this?" he turns back to us all, "We almost lost you there!". He places a hand on Grímur's shoulder; he's breathing hard, all of us have a lot of adrenaline pumping through our systems.
"I think we go ahead", the captain shouts over the noise. "Though this storm is nasty, we might not be able to drop off near the spires without risking the ship". She glances down at us, still trying to focus on piloting the ship.
"Are you still comfortable with this?" she questions.
“That was quite a ride. Let’s hope the rest of the mission is slightly less exciting.” Grímur says, patting his ribs. "Nothing feels broken. Thank you Otto, everyone I am deeply in your debt. I say we head on to bring back the Jainkoen Gatza.”
I nod to the Captain, "We can deal with it." I congratulate Mr Jelani on his excellent reflexes, retrieve my staff and nod to Grímur and Otto. "Fufluns? Are you ready?"
She breathes a sigh of relief and nods. "I'm ready!"
Otto agrees. "Ready as I can be!"
Our adventure is truly beginning now. I am filled with a combination of trepidation and wonder on what awaits us below -- more trouble, no doubt.
Into the sandstorm
Mr Jelani nods, and we all find somewhere a little safer to strap ourselves while the ship maneuvers. Each time the captain attempts to lower the ship it shudders in the sandstorm, eventually she starts to turn and travel away from the spires of rock in the distance. She shouts out to us, "We're going to have to set you down a little further away than we hoped, I don't think it's safe to land any closer!".
The rock spires shrink more into the distance until I estimate that they are around 10 miles away. The storm is still raging but much closer to the ground and a little lighter than our point of entry. Several crew members along with Mr Jelani start preparing ropes and harnesses to lower us to the ground. The Mining Hammer is clipped onto a rope, Mr Jelani speaks to us: "One of you will need to travel on top of this, to make sure it's all secure on the way down. Fufluns, you are probably the lightest, would you object?".
Fuflun grabs the rope and slings around her shoulder. Climbing to the top of the mining hammer, using the ropes securing the coverings over the machine as foot- and hand-holds, she secures the loop around her waist. Then she clips herself to the top of the snatch block, take up the excess in the rope, brace my legs against the hammer, and shouts "I won't be able to catch it if you drop it!"
Mr Jelani offers me a loop of rope connected to an iron clip, which I use to attach my harness to the longer rope. I step into my harness and climb over the railing and signal my readiness to be lowered down.
"The rest of you, get clipped on, we're ready to start lowering you down". The ship is held fairly steady towards the edge of the storms, slowly and gently rocking back and forth as Captain Mori adjusts the controls to stabilise it.
Grímur, Otto and I position ourselves with our feet against the side of the ship. Looking down, I see the orange sands 40 feet below being whipped up by the winds and swirling in small circles. Now that we're closer I can see occasional reddish brown rocks and stones, and parched yellow shrubs devoid of leaves and looking ready to burst into flame at any moment. Aside from these there are no signs of life visible.
Fufluns bracing herself atop the Mining Hammer has a better view over the more heavily swirling sands in the distance. Now that the ship is closer to the ground, she can see that the worst of the storms are tossing sand hundreds of feet in the air.
We all brace ourselves as our shipmates untie the other ends of the ropes, holding on tight and starting to lower them inch by inch. We walk ourselves down the side of the ship and can feel the heat and pulsing air of the pitch and lift thrusters. Eventually we run out of ship, and there's a moment of hesitation as we drop below the hull. The lower I get the more sand I can feel being blasted against the parts of my skin that are exposed, sticking and caking to the sweat.
I swing a little as I'm lowered, and am glad after a few minutes when my feet and the Hammer touch solid ground. The sand beneath is packed firmly in places, and in others my feet sink in by an inch. The walk is going to be tough and tiring. We untie ourselves and the Mining Hammer, giving the ropes a tug to let the crew know to pull up. I look up to see Mr Jelani peering over the edge
"We will be waiting nearby!" he shouts, "Godspeed!", and with that the ship pulls upward. I can feel the pulse of the thrusters as it turns and sets off further from the storm to a place where it can set down.
I turn away and face the storm of orange sand that is Harea Zuritu. I am buffeted by the wind and have grit in my eyes. I shout to the others, "Can you see anything?!" I stagger forward and feel for the mining hammer. I manage to grab hold of one of the handles.
We are all immediately soaked in sweat. Grímur squints out across the rolling sands, looking for the spires. For a moment or two he thinks he has lost them, but then during a brief drop in the wind he tells us he has caught glimpse of the top of a spire in the distance. It's in the direction he'd expected.
Shouting to be heard over the wind, Fufluns says, "Did you see the storms as we came down it was just like Grímur said they'd be hundreds of feet high this is incredible", and does a little dance around the group. The wind catches her off balance and she's knocked on her backside on the ground. It has no effect on her mood.
I offer my hand to Fufluns to help her rise from the ground. "Shall we keep moving? Grímur, lead the way, please." My eyes are still burning from the grit and sweat. I have an idea. "Did anyone bring a compass? Will a compass even work here?"
Fufluns inspects the drill doubtfully. "Rhava maybe you and Otto should take the front and Grímur and I can take the back so that it doesn't tip forward into the ground it won't matter so much if it drops at the back."
I agree. "But let us try not to drop it in any case."
The little gnome puffs herself up to her full three feet in height. "Oh we won't just because we have shorter arms than you doesn't mean we're not plenty strong enough" and sticks her tongue out at me. She thinks I am unaware of this; I ignore her cheek.
Grímur nods, and points in the direction of the spires. He says, "I don't have a compass, but we should try to keep these in sight." I see him tighten his shawl, wrapping it so it covers mouth and nose. He takes hold of one of the rear handles on the drill. Fufluns takes one last check of the equipment in her pack to make sure I haven't dropped or lost anything, then takes hold of the second rear handle. I move to the front handle and follow Grimur's lead, wrapping my nose and mouth. I find a gauzy piece of linen in my pack to put over my eyes that I can still see through. The sooner we get there to start mining, the better.
We lift the Mining Hammer together; the heat from the metal noticeable though the palm of our gloves. We start the march towards the mines ahead, with all four of us carrying the Hammer it's not holding us up and we are able to move at a normal pace. We are careful not to trip on the rocks and small shrubs that litter the landscape. As we head into the storm proper I begin to understand why this place is called The Peeling Sands – it takes no time at all for exposed skin to feel raw and burned.
We trudge on for an hour through the heavy winds. There is sand getting into your eyes despite the covering and it's very hard going. A few times Otto seems to be veering off the path, and Grímur correct hims a little from behind, but with the effort of carrying the Mining Hammer I am unsure whether we are still on track. I am also finding that we are spending more time in soft and difficult-to-traverse soft sand, struggling to pick out the areas where it's more packed down.
After a further half an hour we pause to take a breath and readjust your clothing to better cover yourselves. We carefully place down the Mining Hammer. I hand round a canteen of water from the Bag of Holdin – the heat is getting very oppressive and everyone is glad of the chance to rehydrate.
I sit down, wearily. I'm suddenly aware that our magical lack of hunger has dissipated. "Do you think there's a chance of the winds dying down a bit? Or is this as good as it gets? I could use a rest. And something to eat. Shall we put up a shelter to block the wind?"
Fufluns is quick to reply. "The storms get much stronger as we get closer to the spires this is probably the easiest part so we should take advantage of it now before things get much harder what did you and Badger pack for us I hope it's tasty!"
I pull packed lunches from the Bag of Holding and pass them around. I am hopeful having something to eat will help us adjust to the conditions. Halfway through munching, I idly wonder if sand sandwiches will ruin one's perfect teeth.
To pass the time while resting, Otto brings out dice out from his rucksack, and asks everyone if they would like to partake in a little bit of gambling with gold.
"That might be a good distract-," I say. But. Oh! "Is a distraction a good idea? Who knows what might be creeping up on us under cover of this gods-forsaken wind?! Is anyone keeping a lookout?"
Fufluns takes this as an opportunity to leap up for another little dance. "I'm a monk, and I don't gamble" she says. "But as a member of the Incendiary Order, I do take this as an excellent opportunity to meditate on the nature and atmosphere of the Fire Planes in general and the Peeling Sands in particular. I can do this while keeping a lookout."
We others glance at each other, grateful she has volunteered. The only time she is ever still is when meditating. She sets herself in a spot where she has good visibility and becomes quiet as a mouse, placidly scanning the desert around us. She seems hypnotised by the swirling sands; it is not clear that she is actually looking out for anything. Grímur notices this more quickly than I.
"Hey, Fufluns!" he says. "Mind if I keep you company?"
She grins but doesn't look at him. "Please do this is a great place to watch the storms see the beautiful patterns in them!"
I say, "I will watch as well, while we rest just a bit longer. We should be going soon. As Fufluns says, this is as easy as it will ever be. But I am mindful of the many beings that will want to disembowel us should we linger too long." I say that, but my eyes still burn from the sand, so that I can barely see anything. However my hearing is still working.
As I speak, a sound catches all of our attention, something different to the constant wind. It is a dry rasping sound that sets the hairs on the back of our necks on edge, doubly so when the rasping graduates into a breathy cackle. We all look around for the source, suddenly on guard. A few moments pass, the four of us trying to locate whatever creature is nearby. Just when I think it has gone, I hear another cackle, closer this time. It has an unpleasant quality like fingernails on slate.
Then suddenly out of the clouds of airborne sand that surrounds us, a small creature rushes at our group. It has impish features with a long hooked nose and pointed ears, and papery wings protruding from it's back. I can see why I didn't spot it at first, its body seems to blend with the desert around it and whisps of sand are following it around like a cloud, helping to camouflage it. Above us, I hear a scream in the same raspy voice. I look up just in time to see another of these creatures diving down at me with wings spread.
It is a Dust Mephit, about the height of Fufluns!