Z'phir climbs up the half-toppled tower to get a better look around for anything interesting.

The tower door is surrounded by orkish pictograms carved into the rock, and the stairs are still mostly intact, and certainly no challenge to an acrobatic climber with no need to fear a fall.

Z'Phir makes his way up to the crumbling masonry of the summit. From here, high above the ground but beneath the forest canopy, he can see a lot further.

There are overgrown paths and steps leading into the distance. Some way off along one of them he sees a wooden fortification containing a roundhouse of animal skin, a thin trickle of smoke escaping from a hole in the roof. Goats and pigs wander the area between the house and the wooden fence.

Closer to home he spots a few overgrown mounds that used to be buildings. From above it is easier to see the traces of the paths that lead to them and pick out possible entrances.

It is also easier to pick out the mix or predator and prey at the water hole.

Atrii is among the last to reach the ground; a misleading fact if one were to try and gauge his eagerness. Once his feet find purchase on the firm earth, he looks to see Z'phir already ascending a gutted tower.

Spotting the hieroglyphs on the tower's outer wall, Atrii decides that's as good a place as any to begin his recreational study.

Atrii dashes after his nimble friend and stops to examine the doorway.

The workmanship is, even after all this time, stunning. The old orkish pictograms seem to dance around the door. Having stopped to look in more detail Atrii also notices, beneath the many vines and roots, that the tower is decorated with bass relief scuptures showing orks going about their lives before the Scourge.

With their short livespans, a place like this would have taken tens of generations to come about, and, while functional, clearly shows a love and respect for beauty.

Many orks rushed out of the kaers and formed nomadic tribes of raiders and scorchers, but clearly there was more to their heritage than that. They were great warriors and they were often slaves, but clearly they also had a civilisation worthy of the name at one point.

Seeing this makes Atrii appreciate the wisdom of the Theran Founders, welcoming the orks into their society as equals while the Barsaivians still saw them as a slave race.

As Grabthar had given over the major part of this day to working on the modifications to Atrii's staff, but Atrii was too busy with other matters to come and visit him and let him know what he wanted, instead the dwarf spent much of the day working out a way to attach a sword to Z'phir's tail.

It presented some interesting problems, not least the likelihood of the sword blade actually severing the end of the tail while in use. Also, finding an effective way to keep the device secured to the tail during combat was a considerable challenge. The actual docking mechanism was a relatively simple matter compered with these.

By the end of the day (do you want to do a Forge Blade roll for this, Gordon, or is it mundane enough not to need one?) Grabthar has completed his device. It is, in effect, a metal tail sleeve, that fits snugly over the end of the tail. The last six inches or so of the tail is covered by a strong segmented casing, to protect the tip from being accidentally severed in use. Then there is the main docking port, made of strong steel and with the weight to provide the momentum for sword blows. The sword hilt is inserted into the docking port, where it is held in place by a series of valves. A manual release button is concealed under a sliding steel plate, so as to prevent accidental release in combat. Finally, the device is secured by chains along the length of the tail to a waist belt, providing additional security beyond the clasp of the docking port's metal band.

Grabthar takes the device with him and descends one of the ropes to the ground. He stands there for a few moments, just feeling the solid reassuring strength of the earth beneath his feet. He has been pleasantly surprised at the speed with which he has acclimatised to the ship (little realising that it is due mainly to the Air Sailing bonus from his gloves). In truth he expected his... problem... to make things more difficult. Still, it is good to get back on firm ground again.

He seeks out Atrii and Z'phir, who are examining a ruin, and hands over the device to Z'phir.

"Here, Z'phir, try this on for me. I may have to do a few tweaks to get it fitting snugly, but let's see how it works for you."

"Atrii, I thought you were going to come and see me about some alterations to your staff."

"Yes, right..." he says to Grabthar, his eyes glued to the ruin's etchings. The dwarf gets the feeling that Atrii isn't listening. After a moment, though, the wizard turns to face him, pointing at the glowing jewel atop his staff.

"I want this," he says, his finger moving down the shaft to a more natural grip. "Moved down to here, hidden by a casual grasp. This would make it easier to disguise the staff's value. It could also do with perhaps a couple of iron rings around the end for clobbering purposes."

"Ah, you want a knobkerry. Yes, I should be able to do that for you. What is the staff made from? And will it bite me if I try to tamper with it?"

Excellent! Although apart from the docking valves and release mechanism, there isn't much scope for moving parts. The segmented end-piece is flexible, and I guess it could have spring-tensioned chain mountings, to allow freedom of movement while maintaining a good fit on the tail.

Seeing Grabthar calling him, Z'Phir glides gracefully down to join the pair at the tower's entrance.

The crew have started spreading out, looking in the overgrown buildings, climbing steps.

Renn has sat down on top of a set of steps and is happliy sketching everything around you.

Monkeys screech in the distance and the air is full of bird song and insect chitters.