The thrall leads him over to an Azorius bureaucrat, who glances up at Tai, then back at his paperwork. "Omega team, you are assigned to the Balon. It is coming down to dock now." He motions his quill towards the recently vacated dock.
There's a loud groan accompanying a gust of wind from the dock. The enormous zepplid has come to a rest, gripping the ballast as it starts to reinflate its air sacs. As soon as the creature is secure, a few weird elementals start loading the supplies into the creature's rider under-harness.
The man with the clipboard gives a slight start at the sudden bellow. Tai catches the minotaur out of the corner of his eye, rolling his. Nevertheless, they follow Tai towards the zepplid.
"Zcuseme," One of the elementals bubbles as it cuts in front of Tai's group, ferrying a series of bags into the zepplid.
"Omega team, you're getting your supplies right now. They'll be done in a second. Get in there and get yourselves strapped in," a rather grizzled looking wojek says to Tai.
As soon as the last elemental comes out, the rest of the team starts to file in. Before Tai can move, he feels a huge hand rest on his shoulder. Not roughly, but with the immovability of a mountain. "I would like to have a quick word with the lieutenant before we embark, sir," a deep, surprisingly eloquent voice says behind Tai.
The wojek merely grunts, and turns to the weird elementals.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" says the minotaur behind him.
The minotaur, sergeant stripes on his sleeves, leans down so that his mouth is right next to Tai's. "I've seen a few people like you. Nervous in their new command. I can spot when those people have potential, though. So here's a tip from an old veteran: this isn't a book, or the theater. This is real life. Successful leaders don't act a part. They just do."
He straightened up, gave the salute properly and slowly so that Tai could follow, and gave a half smile.
Inside, Tai finds an arrangement of seats on the walls, facing inwards. The troops are strapping themselves in, the Minotaur in a larger-than-normal seat.
The troops are in various shades of nervousness. Some, especially the Selesnyans, are about as nervous as how Tai feels, but Tai's doing a slightly better job at hiding it.
From the front, he could hear a voice say "Hello, I'm Talax. I'll be your pilot." A goblin is sticking his head out from a separate chamber towards the front. "Balon's just having a quick snack, then we'll get out of here."
As if to punctuate this, the sound of crunching foliage can be heard, and a strange gurgling from somewhere above the ceiling.
"Just quick going over the safety features. There's an exit here," he jerked a thumb at the door the group just entered by, "and the big one in the back. When we land, you'll be leaving by that one. Make sure you're strapped in when we're in the air. If we're at our normal cruising altitude, feel free to move about if you need to but stay strapped in otherwise. Small windows can be uncovered over your shoulders to the left or the right, bathrooms are right here," he thumps a door at the front of the cabin, "and rations are in this cabinet. Alright, let's get in the air."
He heads into the cockpit, and sits in a chair. After a moment, you can hear the sound of ballast being dropped, and the whole cabin shakes.
"Oh yeah, sick bags are under your chair. Two per. Try not to need more."
The sounds above you, from what can only be the creatures stomach, make a strange rattling gurgling noise that is slightly distressing. There is a feeling that the bottom of Tai's stomach had just fallen out, then the slight sensation of being lighter than he should be.
Across from Tai, one of the Selesnyans opens up his little window, revealing the nearby buildings and the skyline of Ravnica slowly making their way down.
Once the zepplid levels off, the cabin comes to a relatively stationary position. Aside from a gentle rocking back and forth as the mighty creature above pushes its way through the air. Out the window, Tai can see other zepplids doing the same.
The rocking at first seems soothing. After an hour of it, not so much.
The minotaur gets up, causing the cabin to lurch slightly, and the goblin pilot to shout "Hey! Don't have that big guy movin' around so much!" The sergeant's response is merely a roll of his eyes, as he goes and gets something from the rations.
Fortitude save! Get below a 8 and you know what happens. Cumulative -1 each save until blerk.
"This way," he says, simply, motioning and shuffling away at a decent walking pace.
One of the soldiers surreptitiously mentions to Tai something about how he can help Tai learn the proper Boros salute.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The thrall leads him over to an Azorius bureaucrat, who glances up at Tai, then back at his paperwork. "Omega team, you are assigned to the Balon. It is coming down to dock now." He motions his quill towards the recently vacated dock.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
"Next!"
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
"Zcuseme," One of the elementals bubbles as it cuts in front of Tai's group, ferrying a series of bags into the zepplid.
"Omega team, you're getting your supplies right now. They'll be done in a second. Get in there and get yourselves strapped in," a rather grizzled looking wojek says to Tai.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The wojek merely grunts, and turns to the weird elementals.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" says the minotaur behind him.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
He straightened up, gave the salute properly and slowly so that Tai could follow, and gave a half smile.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The troops are in various shades of nervousness. Some, especially the Selesnyans, are about as nervous as how Tai feels, but Tai's doing a slightly better job at hiding it.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
As if to punctuate this, the sound of crunching foliage can be heard, and a strange gurgling from somewhere above the ceiling.
"Just quick going over the safety features. There's an exit here," he jerked a thumb at the door the group just entered by, "and the big one in the back. When we land, you'll be leaving by that one. Make sure you're strapped in when we're in the air. If we're at our normal cruising altitude, feel free to move about if you need to but stay strapped in otherwise. Small windows can be uncovered over your shoulders to the left or the right, bathrooms are right here," he thumps a door at the front of the cabin, "and rations are in this cabinet. Alright, let's get in the air."
He heads into the cockpit, and sits in a chair. After a moment, you can hear the sound of ballast being dropped, and the whole cabin shakes.
"Oh yeah, sick bags are under your chair. Two per. Try not to need more."
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
Across from Tai, one of the Selesnyans opens up his little window, revealing the nearby buildings and the skyline of Ravnica slowly making their way down.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The rocking at first seems soothing. After an hour of it, not so much.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
Fortitude
...as Tai hurriedly grabbed his bag, while his stomach rebelled violently.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
The minotaur heads down the aisle, and hands out to everybody a small piece of brownish root. "Chew that," he says.