Li Salagh, the Walking City, Last Wonder of the dying world

"Bjorn, I have here a dwarven representative from the armorers guild" Carlo says firmly from the pier above Bjorn's barge. Standing next to Carlo is a stout and lightly armored dwarven man, and a fierce looking Half-orc. "This is Vuron, Bjorn. He will be joining your party. You will be even handed I trust?" Bjorn nods in response, somewhat tongue tied. "Rifain and I will also be joining you." Carlo says as he and he and the other two begin descending to the barge.

Meanwhile Urindel arrives at the barge, and is welcomed as well.

After shouldering more than her share of the gear and stowing it in the barge's hold, Rifain casts an eye around for her charge. Best to not let the scaled one out of her sight - for more reasons than one.

The halfling 'locksmith', Preesha, stows her equipment and sits down across from Lucian. "This your first dig? You read to alleviate your nervousness or something?" she snorts.

The rigging harnesses are fixed and the tethers are released. The barges jolt as the aerwhal take the weight. The teamsters calm the aerwhal and the first barge begins to pull away from pier three. The gnomes working along the piers hoot and shout, as Gurn screams commands back at them from his position in Evan's barge. The halflings jockey the aerwhal, steering them with extremely long hook poles. The first barge, once clear of the end of the pier, rises abruptly bringing the barge level with the end of the pier. The other two barges slowly pass beneath and follow the path, so that all three barges are lined up near the end of pier three.

Evan shouts across the barges so that the whole group can hear him. "Lucio has dropped ahead of us. He is meeting up with the Devlvers scout team. They are clearing the canopy for a touchdown at basecamp. The aerwhal will be loosed on touchdown, and the teamsters will lead them back to the herd. We will need to unpack the equipment very quickly, get the scouts and their initial findings into the barges and ready for a second team of aerwhal to be rigged."

Gurn shouts some more orders and the teamsters steer the aerwhal away from the pier. Slowly the barges drift out from the upper tiers providing a stunning view of the back of the colossus in the morning sun. Evan takes the skin from Mrin and has a sip of the mead, nodding in thanks. To Arctorious Evan says "Hailed as gods? The gods themselves may have something to say before the day is done." He indicates the arcus cloud bank, which has developed into a roiling storm. "Cool air from the pass between the sixth and seventh sisters.. It pours into the valleys, mixes with the warm air coming in off the coast-" Evan smirks "Get ready to get wet."

The barges lurch and the aerwhal wail as warm updrafts buffet them during their rapid descent. Yenner takes on a green expression and grips at Arctorious as he lunges for the edge and hurls his breakfast and mead over the side. He sits back with a satisfied sigh, and reaches for the mead again.

All three barges enter a slow spiral. To those unaccustomed it seems a barely controlled plummet. The canopy rushing up quickly. The teamsters bark commands and the aerwhal emit loud gurgling, gulping noises- inflating rapidly. The descent slows and halts. The barges twist fitfully, hovering just above the branches of the upper canopy, and the swift flowing bank of fog that rushes between them, fleeing from the rising sun. Evan and Bjorn shout to one another regarding map directions. In turn Gurn shouts to the teamsters and the aerwhal begin to move along the valley to the northwest.

Evan looks up from double checking his map, "Huh? oh yes. You will be working almost solely with Lucio doing support work. Like the loading of the barges and such." He shakes his head at his map and shouts something in Kavalnic at Bjorn. He looks at Dairmida, clearly still frustrated with his brother. "The delvers down there, along with Carlo and on occasion a few of us with required skills, will have direct contact with the site. The rest will be maintaining the basecamp, guarding the gear and processing new finds." he pauses, "consider a fort under siege..."

Without glancing up from his book, Lucian says "I read to expand my mind, to gain understanding of the wider world, and to gain power. For there is great power in knowledge. Perhaps your time would be better spent wasting some one else's." If Preesha, or anyone looks at the book Lucian is reading, they would see that it is a spellbook.

After the barge gets moving. Lucian puts his book into his pack, and takes out a different book. He makes sketches of the geography as they pass, as well as notes.

(OOC) Since we are all together now. I figure this is a good place to describe what Lucian looks like physically. Lucian is somewhat tall, he isn't very muscled, nor is he gangly or thin. He obviously a tiefling. His skin is deep red, his hair is very dark black. His horns curl around the side of his head like a ram. He also has a tail that seems to always be moving, it seems to move more when Lucian's mind is elsewhere (while reading for example), but he also uses it to pull objects from his pack. Anyone who looks at Lucian closely would notice a bulge on his back, it would be difficult to notice when he wears his pack and cloak. The bulge is a pair of stunted wings. Lucian's garb look prestine. They have obviously never been worn before today. In or near his hand at all times is a beautiful cane, made of some kind of ivory and topped with light refracting crystals and precious stones. Lucian doesn't walk with a limp, and the cane would seem to be an affectation or eccentricity. When he speaks, his words are usually filled with smugness and condescension. Lucian also speaks with an Infernal accent.