Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 26: Westgate

As we slowly flew over to the town, I was still in awe of the natural beauty around West gate. The way that the city was nestled in along the coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, with the plains all around them, was rather beautiful. The city had large stone walls that cleanly and snugly wrapped around the various houses and buildings, and I noticed that the city was absolutely massive. It was so, so much bigger than CandleKeep, sprawling all over the coast and the surrounding plains. Above the city, there were a ton of airships, much more than CandleKeep, and while most of them were our size, and some of them were smaller, a lot of them were much, much bigger, and some of them were being escorted by other warships, as if they were cargo vessels that had to be protected by the much stronger combat ships. Around the city, there were also other ships that looked kind of like our ship, but, right as I was staring at the other ships, I saw a flickering set of lights, and I realized that it was a firework, that somehow spelled out the name Jeebs. I stared off the railing of the ship, leaning over the side rather precariously, and I saw another firework, this one red, spelling out the same thing.

"Right down there!" I said, pointing so that BahnBarr could see.

Once she saw what was happening, she began to steer us down towards the town below, slowly growing closer and closer to the ground below. As I looked, I saw that there was a collection of people where we were going to land, along with quite a few airships, some of them in the air, but one big one that was still on the ground. We soared towards the ground, cutting through the last of the clouds, and both Finana and I started to furl the sails to help slow us down. The ship slowed rather precariously, and BahnBarr pulled up as the ship slowed down, helping to level us out as the ship descended right to the ground. We finally landed, the rest of the sails were retracted, and when I looked over the side of the ship, I saw four people approaching us. All of them are humans.

"Greetings there, traveler!" One of the men in the front said with a smile. "We heard you got a little something for us! A little present from Jeebs?"

"Yup, got it all right here for y'all."

The man came forward, being about my age, but he was a little bit shorter and less sculpted than I was, with a rather Mediterranean complexion about him.

"Alright, show us the cargo."

"Uhh, I think it should just be you." BahnBarr hollered from the wheel.

The man looked up as I choked down a wince, and he shook his head.

"Does the pointy ear talk for you?" He yelled to us.

"WHAAAT??" BahnBarr screamed.

"Hey!!! Come on man, that's too damn far!!" Finana yelled.

The Mediterranean man smiled a big shit-eating grin, then held up his hands.

"Alright alright, I just need the potions. No need to get fussy."

I sidled up next to BahnBarr as Finana lowered the ramp, and I leaned toward her.

"Listen, let's just get rid of the potions and get out of here so we don't have to fight this prick. Alright?"

She didn't answer, but she gripped the wheel so hard that her forearms were flexed. I took that as a yes, and nodded as the men came aboard, the two of them in the back shouldering axes. They came down through the cargo hold, looking over all of the boxes of potions, and the man that I had spoken to nodded.

"Well, thats that then." He said. "All of the potions seem to be here. Thats good."

The man turned to me, then pulled out one of the potions, staring at the magical liquid on the inside with that same shit-eating grin.