The True and Impossible Adventures of Tenebrux Morrow, Vol. 4
[An excerpt from The True and Impossible Adventures of Tenebrux Morrow, a pulp serial following the 'real-life' exploits of an interplanar ship's captain. The real Captain Morrow is known never to have left her native Waterdeep, and emerges from her rooms at the Yawning Portal only to exchange scrawled manuscripts for fresh meals and ink.] It is quite a feeling, to fall forever. Of course, 'fall' does not exactly describe it, nor indeed does 'fly'. Each patch of sky in the Elemental Plane of Air is bound by no laws but its own, rendering petty attempts at direction or definition meaningless. It is exactly this ferocious freedom that makes a plunge through the eternal blue the only way I've learned to truly relax. 'You seem distracted,' observed Erules, shouting to be heard over the howling wind. That the goblin could so easily pierce my inscrutable façade was no surprise to me, for she is a sage of considerable wisdom, and a lifelong friend to boot. 'I am,' I acknowledged, expertly adjusting my posture to avoid a drifting aarakocra nest. 'Lord Primus was forewarned of my contract to infiltrate his Mind Palace. I had to leave my entire crew on Mechanus just to escape alive.' I could sense her frown beneath the bleached bone skull that eternally obscured her face. It was an affectation of her monastic order, and just one of the many things I had never truly understood about her. 'All perished? Surely the traitor was among them.' 'Perished? Oh, no - I traded them. Lord Primus wished to study mortal mannerisms, and he was most forthcoming with the identity of my betrayer in return.' I reached out across the divide and slipped from her finger the Ring of Command. With the loss of the magical item she instantly ceased to fly, and began to fall in earnest. A subtle distinction, but an important one. Her screams were already lost to the whipping wind by the time New Bride loomed into view. I climbed aboard, weighing the ring in my palm. Its exact twin was nestled upon my own finger, forged by Erules many moons ago as a symbol of our undying friendship. Worry not, dear reader - she is my friend still, and it is fully my intention to return and catch her. Some day.