Many, and I mean MANY sea dwellers were gathered around a single house. A colourful collection of assassins from the syndicate, marines from the grand navy, and regular ‘ol pirates. Some were ramming the door with whatever weapon they had, some were going batshit insane and some were trying to calm others down despite the situation. Who was the important person in the boat?
Enter Geuss Galleon, an overconfident pirate captain. He tells the marines bashing the door to step back. He grabs his greathammer, smashing it into the door. The door flies into the house.
“LADS, CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!” Geuss said, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Everyone starts flooding into the house like ants going back to their nest. Geuss sits back, watching the chaos from a distance with his crew.
After a while, a band of assassins carry a man out the house.
“LET ME GO DAMNIT-” The man flails his arms to no avail.
“You’re coming with us.” One of the Acolytes said.
People start flooding out the house to follow the man. Geuss and his crew follow the crowd to the docks. As they followed, a chat from a marine to an acolyte catches his attention
The man the acolytes were carrying was Grant Cirro, the man behind the skyships of Cirrus Island. The reason why there’s so many people here is because everyone heard skyships could safely go across the dark sea, since they float above the dangerous clouds. They want to evacuate to the Nimbus Sea for their own personal reasons, whether it’s to visit their families or to see if the sea’s corrupted.
The acolytes drop Grant on the skyship docks. As soon as he got up, they threatened him with their daggers and swords.
“How do we operate a skyship.” An assassin asked, his gaze casted the eyes of a predator onto the humble skyship shipwright.
“I-I’m telling you… it’s dangerous to operate a skyship right now-” Grant responded.
His response was met with a gunshot that grazed his cheek. Grant stumbles back, almost falling off the docks. The acolytes closed in, giving the shipwright less room to even stand on.
“I don’t think I need to repeat the question this time.” The assassin said.
“Y-you go onto the h-helm and you start…” Grant starts explaining.
Everyone was silent. It was clear everyone wanted to get out of the Bronze Sea as fast as they could. Geuss and his crew included.
“…and that’s all you need to know.” Grant finishes explaining.
“Alright, let’s go.” The Geuss tells his men. They bump through the crowd, reaching the assassin and his own men. Geuss puts his hand on the assassin’s shoulder.
The assassin responds by swinging his dagger. Geuss easily ducks it, sweeping the assassin’s legs. He grabs his wooden club, smashing the ground with it. The shockwave was large enough to knock any bystanders away, which also knocked the assassin into the air. Geuss tells one of his men to hand him a wooden club.
“HOMERUN!” Geuss said, swinging his bat towards the falling assassin.
The bat knocks the assassin off the island. Geuss simply spat at the ground, disappointed that he didn’t give that much of a fight. The acolytes the assassin commanded back into the crowd after witnessing his prowess.
“T-Thanks you for saving me-” Grant said.
“Alright lads raid the boat, we’re heading to the Nimbus Sea!” Geuss, completely lost in his triumph.
“NO- DON’T GO-”
“Look bird-man, I’m sure I read your manual correctly.”
“Besides, HOW HARD CAN IT BE DRIVING A SHIP, RIGHT LADS?” Geuss said confidently, his head raised high.
His crew bursts into laughter. The bystanders awkwardly stood still. Geuss hops onto his newly acquired skyship, his grubby hands already on the helm.
“WE SAIL!”
“AYE!”
Grant faints on the spot. The skyship descends until it was right above the purple clouds. It flew on and on and on, and it seemed like it was going pretty darn smoothly.
That was until the god of mischief rolled a D20.
NYOOOOOOOOO-
The skyship descended even further, making a hole through the dark clouds. Followed by a few distant screams before the very, very faint sound of an explosion confirms their death. There was even a flash of yellow that made it even more obvious.
Weeks past, now there’s a signboard beside the dock of skyships. It now lists…
Why you shouldn’t drive a skyship through the dark sea.
It is clear that there are still stubborn people on this island, so I’ll answer why you shouldn’t do it.
-
“I heard the engine requires the magic energy within clouds to operate, don’t we just have infinite fuel?” is a question I get asked alot before I get news that I have to bury another man’s grave again. The magic energy the dark sea clouds carry is WAYYYYY too dense for our skyship engines to even process. Sure maybe you’ll be able to get some distance before the engine gets clogged and you’ll fall to your demise.
-
“I’ll just survive the fall!” is also something I get after answering the question above. I cannot stress this enough but that is if you survive the EXPLOSION THAT FOLLOWS. Once the skyship expels magic energy in order to float and absorbs magic energy in order to even function. That means those dense magic clouds containing LIGHTNING will enter the engine, causing it to explode once enough magic energy has gathered. There’s no subtle signal either, so you’re getting a quick death once it ignites.
-
You seriously think you know where you’re going? With the dark sea invading the Bronze Sea our compasses have stopped working, and I doubt a map will be useful without it.
The sign ends here.
Are you afraid to set on a skyship now?
I thought so.
Idea inspired by @Goopman
